A coalition of marijuana businesses and advocacy groups has launched a new super PAC that will work to \u201craise the profile of cannabis as a national issue in the 2024 election and beyond.\u201d And part of the strategy will involve finding industry partners to ask their customers to make \u201cround-up\u201d donations at the point of sale when shopping at dispensaries.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Cannabis Council (USCC) announced on Wednesday that it and its member businesses have formed the \u201cLegalize America\u201d super PAC, which unlike traditional political action committees can accept contributions of any size but cannot directly coordinate with political candidates.<\/p>\n
\u201cLegalize America is committed to ending cannabis prohibition and advancing expungement efforts and responsible use,\u201d Legalize America Chair Matt Harrell of Curaleaf said in a press release. \u201cWe will use all available tools\u2014including scorecards, endorsements and targeted independent expenditure campaigns\u2014to advance cannabis reform, with the goal of creating a prosperous and equitable cannabis industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite public support for ending marijuana prohibition, the coalition says that Congress \u201cis stuck in the past,\u201d so the super PAC \u201cwill help speed up the nation\u2019s transformation on cannabis reform.\u201d<\/p>\n
It will seek to achieve that goal through a combination of partnerships with \u201chigh-profile public figures and brands,\u201d and will also look into working with cannabis stakeholders to see if they\u2019d be willing to give customers an option to \u201cround up\u201d their purchases, with the extra change going to the campaign as donations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe the 2024 presidential election will be a pivotal moment in the fight to end cannabis prohibition,\u201d said Legalize America Secretary Pete Meachum of Cronos Group. \u201cWe are laying the groundwork now to use advertising, grassroots engagement, voter outreach and events to keep cannabis front and center throughout the campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Legalize America<\/a> said in a press release that it is the \u201cfirst\u201d focused super PAC in the U.S. focused on reforming cannabis laws, the owners of a California-based mobile cannabis dispensaries did file paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in 2013 to create a entity called the Legalize Marijuana Super PAC.com. It doesn\u2019t appear, however, that the effort reported<\/a> raising or distributing any funds following its launch.<\/p>\n Last year, prohibitionist forces launched the Protect Our Kids PAC focused on opposing cannabis legalization<\/a>.<\/p>\n Right now, Legalize America\u2019s membership overlaps with that of USCC, which counts among its partners ATACH, Canopy Growth, Columbia Care, Curaleaf, Cresco Labs, Cronos Group, Dutchie, Houseplant, Marijuana Policy Project, PAX, PharamCann, Scotts Miracle-Gro and Vicente, among others.<\/p>\n \u201cLegalize America is being launched by USCC and its member companies\/orgs but the intention is to create a broad tent that draws in additional companies\/orgs along with celebrities and grassroots donors, esp. consumers,\u201d USCC spokesperson Josh Glasstetter told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n It\u2019s already become clear that drug policy will be a prominent issue in the 2024 presidential election, with Republican and Democratic candidates weighing in on marijuana reform early in the race.<\/p>\n For example, Democratic presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shot back at Republican candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) this past weekend<\/a> over his recent remarks on opposing the federal decriminalization of cannabis<\/a>.<\/p>\n Former President Donald Trump seemed confused during a recent interview<\/a>\u00a0when he was confronted with the fact that his proposed plan to impose the death penalty on drug traffickers would have condemned a woman he pardoned and promoted as an example of a key criminal justice reform achievement during his administration.<\/p>\n At a CNN town hall event this month, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said\u00a0that\u00a0he would \u201cend\u201d the war on drugs if elected<\/a>, emphasizing the need for a treatment-based approach to people experiencing addiction\u2014while at the same time maintaining that he\u2019d seek to increase enforcement against those who sell drugs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are committed to working with advocates, industry professionals, and community leaders to create policies that support cannabis legalization in a thoughtful and responsible manner,\u201d the site for Legalize American says. \u201cOur primary focus is on promoting federal legalization, expunging records for non-violent cannabis offenses, and ensuring that the benefits of legalization reach all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.\u201d<\/p>\n California Voters Are More Supportive Than Ever Of Marijuana Legalization, And Most Want Retailers In Their Communities, Poll Finds<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Major Marijuana Industry Players Launch Super PAC To Advance Cannabis Reform As 2024 Election Heats Up<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A coalition of marijuana businesses and advocacy groups has launched a new super PAC that will work to \u201craise the profile of cannabis as a national issue in the 2024 election and beyond.\u201d And part of the strategy will involve finding industry partners to ask their customers to make \u201cround-up\u201dContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66290"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66290"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66291,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66290\/revisions\/66291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Major Marijuana Industry Players Launch Super PAC To Advance Cannabis Reform As 2024 Election Heats Up<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"