This Saturday will be the \u201clast 4\/20 celebration that cannabis will be on Schedule I,\u201d a Democratic congressman predicts, adding that he\u2019s \u201cquite confident\u201d the GOP House will take up a bipartisan cannabis banking bill if lawmakers \u201cbreak this loose in the Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, founding co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, spoke to reporters during a briefing on Friday, discussing marijuana policy progress and his message to Democrats that they should seize upon the popularity of the issue ahead of the November election.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe public is not waiting anymore. They have led the charge in state after state and are responsible for much of the remarkable progress,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is the year that I think we can break the federal logjam. One thing is certain: This is the last 4\/20 celebration that cannabis will be on Schedule I.\u201d<\/p>\n
As far as his own cannabis holiday plans go, Blumenauer told Marijuana Moment that \u201cevery day is like 4\/20,\u201d but \u201cunfortunately I\u2019m here voting in our nation\u2019s capital so it takes a little bit of the edge off.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has recommended that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), but the timing of the agency\u2019s final rulemaking is currently unknown\u2014though there are strong expectations it will be announced ahead of the upcoming elections.<\/p>\n
A DEA official recently said\u00a0it sometimes takes up to six months for\u00a0DEA to complete its analysis of health officials\u2019 scheduling recommendations<\/a>, which is less than how long it has now been since the agency began its current cannabis assessment.<\/p>\n On marijuana banking reform, Blumenauer was asked about the prospects of the GOP House taking up the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act if it advances out of the Senate, possibly as part of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization package with cryptocurrency legislation attached<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n While, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) recently said he thinks it\u2019s \u201cunlikely\u201d that the House would move the cannabis bill<\/a> given tenuous partisan politics in the chamber under anti-marijuana Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Blumenauer said he sees a pathway.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery day we\u2019re closer on SAFE Banking,\u201d he said. \u201cNegotiations are ongoing in the House and Senate, and we are, in fact, making progress.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe vote on SAFE Banking is the ultimate whip count,\u201d the congressman said. \u201cThere is no doubt in my mind that, the same way that we had overwhelming support in the House\u2014repeatedly passing the SAFE Banking with overwhelming bipartisan majorities\u2014that bipartisan support is getting stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m quite confident that if we\u2019re able to break this loose in the Senate, which looks increasingly likely, it won\u2019t be a problem in terms of ultimate consideration in the House,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is an issue that commands broad bipartisan support in the House and is exactly the sort of thing that I would counsel House leadership, particularly Speaker [Mike] Johnson, to facilitate.\u201d<\/p>\n Blumenauer, who is retiring from Congress at the end of the year<\/a>, predicted in a January memo that 2024 would be a \u201cproductive year\u201d in federal marijuana reform<\/a>\u2014with lawmakers positioned to leverage \u201ctremendous bipartisan investments\u201d from 2023, while pushing the Biden administration to move further on the issue ahead of this year\u2019s election.<\/p>\n Blumenauer and fellow Cannabis Caucus co-chair Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) also told Attorney General Merrick Garland last month that it is \u201cunacceptable\u201d that the Department of Justice has yet to reissue federal cannabis enforcement guidance<\/a> to discourage interference in state cannabis programs, leaving Americans in a \u201clegal limbo\u201d despite promises to update the policy.<\/p>\n He also laid into HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra last month\u00a0over the \u201cpolitical malpractice\u201d that is the president\u2019s failure to end marijuana prohibition<\/a>.<\/p>\n Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), meanwhile, recently reiterated his intent to pass legislation to \u201csafeguard cannabis banking\u201d as part of a \u201cbusy agenda\u201d<\/a>\u00a0that he hopes to achieve in the \u201cweeks and months ahead,\u201d though he again stressed the need for bipartisan cooperation.<\/p>\n He also recently asked people to\u00a0show their support for the SAFER Banking Act by signing a petition<\/a>\u00a0as he steps up his push for the legislation. A poll released last month by the American Bankers Association (ABA) shows that roughly three out of five Americans\u00a0support allowing marijuana industry access to the banking system<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) said that that\u00a0\u201cif Republicans want to keep the House,\u201d they should pass the marijuana banking bill<\/a>, arguing that \u201cthere are votes\u201d to approve it.<\/p>\n Schumer told Marijuana Moment last month that\u00a0the bill remains a \u201cvery high priority\u201d for the Senate<\/a>, and members are having \u201cvery productive\u201d bicameral talks to reach a final agreement.<\/p>\n New Hampshire Lawmakers Weigh Medical Marijuana Expansion Bills Amid Recreational Legalization Debate<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The post This Will Be The \u2018Last 4\/20 Celebration\u2019 With Marijuana Still In Schedule I, Congressman Says, While Predicting House Action On Cannabis Banking Bill<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
This Saturday will be the \u201clast 4\/20 celebration that cannabis will be on Schedule I,\u201d a Democratic congressman predicts, adding that he\u2019s \u201cquite confident\u201d the GOP House will take up a bipartisan cannabis banking bill if lawmakers \u201cbreak this loose in the Senate.\u201d Rep. Earl Blumenauer, founding co-chair of theContinue 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\/74401"}],"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=74401"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74402,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74401\/revisions\/74402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: This Will Be The \u2018Last 4\/20 Celebration\u2019 With Marijuana Still In Schedule I, Congressman Says, While Predicting House Action On Cannabis Banking Bill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"