Marijuana industry hopeful for federal reform during lame-duck Congress
author Chris Roberts, Reporter
November 17, 2022
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Marijuana industry entrepreneurs and investors, exhausted and eager to catch a break after a difficult year of declining sales, tumbling prices, and vanishing capital, believe relief is on its way from an unlikely quarter: the U.S. Congress.
Headed into the brief “lame duck” session of Congress – the period between this past Monday, when Congress reconvened after the midterms, and Jan. 3, when the new Congress is seated – there’s hope among industry insiders that this slim window offers the best opportunity during President Joe Biden’s first term to pass substantive federal marijuana reform.
Lobbyists and Washington DC insiders agree the lame-duck session represents the best opportunity.
The problem: The chances are slim, and the votes might not be there in the Senate.
Roughly 50 marijuana-related bills are circulating in Congress – including Democratic and Republican visions of federal legalization plus bills to lift restrictions on cannabis research and allow MJ to be shipped via the U.S. mail.
But the legislation considered to have the best chance of passage is some version of the SAFE Banking Act, which would forbid federal banking regulators from punishing financial institutions that do business with “legitimate cannabis-related” firms.
Major industry lobbies such as the U.S. Cannabis Council (USCC) – which represents multistate operators and spent $220,000 wheedling lawmakers during the first quarter of 2022 – “believe the Senate has the votes to turn the SAFE Banking Act into law during the lame-duck session,” said Khadijah Tribble, USCC’s CEO and a senior vice president at Curaleaf Holdings, a Massachusetts-based MSO.
