In a Washington, D.C., basement, cannabis advocates and enthusiasts came together to celebrate 4/20–but not how you might expect. There were no plumes of smoke or food deliveries; not a single video game console or acoustic guitar in sight.
Instead, Congressional representatives including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), policy leaders, supporters and members of the public descended into the subterranean auditorium of the Capitol Visitor Center for panel discussions, legislative updates and predictions at Thursday’s Congressional Forum, presented as part of the National Cannabis Festival’s annual Cannabis Policy Summit.
Republicans Supporting Cannabis
An early panel featured Republican representatives Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Brian Mast of Florida sharing a conservative perspective on legalization. Elected in 2018 and 2016 respectively, both have introduced significant pieces of cannabis legislation this session and have been two of the loudest GOP voices supporting reform.
Mace, whose States Reform Act proposes a broad legalization framework that leaves most policy decisions to individual states, pointed to the results of a recent Winthrop poll showing high levels of support for cannabis even in her home state, a GOP stronghold.
“76 to 77% of residents in bright red, conservative South Carolina support medical cannabis,” said Rep. Mace. “55, 56% of all the residents in bright red South Carolina support adult-use cannabis.
“The only place that cannabis is controversial is up here in D.C.,” she said. “The rest of America is way far ahead of where we are in Washington, and that’s got to change. We need voices like Brian’s, voices like mine, voices like everybody in the room here today advocating to their members of Congress.
“It shouldn’t be controversial for Republicans. This is a winning issue for us if we do it in a responsible manner.”
Mast, an Army veteran who lost both legs serving in Afghanistan, has thrown his weight behind the Veterans Equal Access Act, which would allow medical providers in the Department of Veterans Affairs to talk about cannabis reform with patients. He shared stories of veterans he knew personally whose lives were helped by cannabis.
“I saw friends that were debilitated…and likewise just as clearly as I could see how debilitated they were, I could see how they found a peace with cannabis use. It was a difference in their life,” he continued. “Something about it made it so that they could cope–they could get back to work, they could deal, they could sleep, they could not need whatever other prescriptions they were on.”
When asked about being a vocal proponent of cannabis in the GOP, he explained that he viewed the issue as a states’ rights matter.
“For me, I try to come to it like any policy and be intellectually honest,” said Mast. “I’m a states’ rights guy, libertarian in many of my views … and so much of my GOP audience talks about states’ rights constantly. If they’re going to talk about it, find the places that they talk about that, remind of them of where they made those intellectually sound states’ rights arguments, and then say, ‘What is the difference here?’ Because I don’t see it.”
Data released by the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education and Regulation (CPEAR) earlier this year indicated 68% of likely Republican voters supported reform ending federal prohibition.
Cannabis Banking…in the Senate?
Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) joined the forum to discuss the impacts of banking on the sector and small businesses specifically. In the last session of Congress, Rosen introduced a bill to allow cannabis businesses to participate in the federal Small Business Administration (SBA) loan program. Merkley, one of the earliest advocates for legalization in the Senate, helped lead a late push to include SAFE banking language in last year’s omnibus bill.
“They’re operating legally in their state,” said Rosen of cannabis businesses in her home state of Nevada and beyond. “They deserve to have the same banking rules and responsibilities as every other business…it’s about equity, it’s about inclusion.”
Merkley discussed the dangers of the cash-based transactions that currently represent a majority of deals within the retail industry.
“If you want an open invitation to crime, do everything in cash,” he said. “I had the experience in Oregon of accompanying one of our entrepreneurs with his backpack to pay his quarterly taxes. Inside of his backpack was $70,000 in cash.”
Both senators acknowledged the racially biased history of prohibition and explained how their bills would rectify wrongs of the past while also giving business owners and cannabis entrepreneurs access to financial services.
“In the SAFE Banking bill that we will send to committee will be the incorporation of community development, financial institutions, CDFIs [community development financial institution], MDIs [minority depository institutions],” said Merkley. “We want to make sure that gate is wide open to serve our inner-city, our minority communities.”
Rosen pointed out that cannabis businesses could access state and federal resources already in place if the laws were different.
“I sit on the [Senate] Committee for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, so we understand with our Minority Business Development Agency, all the other things we have to allow small business to grow and thrive…there’s tons of programs,” said Rosen. “My bill for the SBA will really open these gates for small business owners to compete with large corporations that are already there. The infrastructure is already there, we just want to plug into it.”
Merkley also shared that Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, had announced intentions to hold another hearing on cannabis banking legislation.
“We will be very close, somewhere around 50 votes from the Democratic caucus. It means we have to make sure we have at least 10 from across the aisle,” explained Merkley. “We had nine Republicans as co-sponsors last time, that puts us very close…I think there’s a real path to getting it done.”
Schumer Continues the Full Legalization Push
Schumer closed out the forum’s programming with a general update on legalization. He touted incremental achievements and noted he is the first Senate Majority Leader in history to support federal cannabis legalization, while stressing the need for further action.
“When social activists and entrepreneurs and veterans’ groups and liberals are all able to come together on one issue, it’s a sure sign the momentum is real … but Congress is behind the rest of the country on this issue,” said Schumer. “While we’re working to pass SAFE Banking-Plus, I still firmly believe that the ultimate solution has to be comprehensive cannabis reform. So, we can once and for all close the book on the awful, failed, destructive War on Drugs which really was nothing more than a war on people, especially people of color.”
Toward the end of his remarks, Schumer announced a new push to re-introduce his comprehensive legalization bill from last year, the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA).
“We will get passed as big and broad a bill as we can, but we know we have to go further,” Schumer said. “There is no excuse for us in Congress to walk away from this effort.”
Despite the optimism by legislators, public reception appeared to be mixed. On the Minority Cannabis Business Association’s Twitter stream of Schumer’s remarks, one comment concluded: “He will do nothing again.”
