Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has made it clear that he is a strong supporter of comprehensive marijuana reform at the federal level. For the past couple of months, he has been working with Senator Cory Booker and Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden on a bill that would federally legalize cannabis and regulate sales. Dubbed the Cannabis Administration & Opportunity Act (CAOA), Schumer’s bill was first unveiled in 2021 to mixed reviews. The draft bill intended to deschedule cannabis at the federal level, expunge prior nonviolent cannabis convictions from people’s records, allow states to continue running their own cannabis markets, and even allow people with prior cannabis convictions to petition for resentencing. It would also use some of the funds raised from marijuana sales for programs that support communities that were disproportionately affected by the war on drugs. Schumer has now revealed that he will not introduce his Cannabis Administration & Opportunity Act this month due to a timeline extension. The additional time will be spent working on various provisions with the help of more than 10 Senate committees and input from several federal agencies.

CannabisNewsWire, 04/25/2022 04:20:00

Open article: https://www.cannabisnewswire.com/420-with-cnw-schumer-postpones-tabling-cannabis-legalization-bill-as-consultations-continue/

At long last .. let’s see all other states do this and ASAP Yahoo News “Pot,” “weed,” “grass,” “Mary Jane,” “flower” — there is no shortage of terms to describe cannabis. However, Washington state is taking one word officially off the table: “marijuana.” Legislators recently passed a law that changes every Revised Code of Washington with the word “marijuana.” The change gets rid of the term, swapping it out for the word “cannabis.” Supporters say the word “marijuana” has a long history of racism. “The term ‘marijuana’ itself is pejorative and racist,” said Washington state Rep. Melanie Morgan during testimony in 2021. Morgan is a Democrat representing the 29th Legislative District and sponsored the bill — House Bill 1210. Morgan discussed the history of the word, which originates from Spanish. “As recreational marijuana use became more popular, it was negatively associated with Mexican immigrants,” Morgan said. Governor Jay Inslee signed the bill that passed unanimously into law on March 11. The changes will take effect in June. “Even though it seems simple because it’s just one word, the reality is we’re healing the wrongs that were committed against Black and Brown people around cannabis,” Morgan said.

Cannabis Law Report, 04/23/2022 20:20:00

Open article: https://cannabislaw.report/washington-legislators-strike-the-word-marijuana-from-all-state-laws-calling-term-racist/

A bipartisan duo of Colorado and Ohio attorneys general recently sent a letter to U.S. Senate leadership, imploring the passage of a bipartisan bill to protect banks that work with state-legal marijuana businesses. The Senate has faced significant pressure to approve the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which has cleared the House in some form in six times at this point. Now Colorado Attorney General Philip Weiser (D) and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) are again adding their voices to the chorus, sending a letter to leaders of the Senate that underscores the urgent need to provide a federal fix to the banking issue for the cannabis industry. The top state prosecutors, who serve as co-chairs of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) Federalism Committee, said in the letter last week that “states and federal government share a strong and common interest in protecting public safety and bringing grey market financial activities into the regulated banking sector.” “To address these vital goals, we yet again urge the Senate to bring the SAFE Banking Act to the Senate floor for a vote as soon as possible,” they wrote. The legislation from Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) would prevent financial institutions from being penalized by federal regulators for servicing state-legal marijuana businesses. One path to enactment could be a separate, large-scale manufacturing bill that’s being negotiated by appointed conferees from both chambers before it’s sent to the president’s desk. To that end, the third-highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate will be among the conferees pushing for the inclusion of SAFE Banking in the America COMPETES Act. In the new letter, the attorneys general wrote that they “urge the Senate to advance the SAFE Banking Act or similar legislation to provide a safe harbor for depository institutions that provide a financial product or service to a covered business in a state that has implemented laws and regulations that ensure accountability in the marijuana industry.”

Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 04/21/2022 15:40:00

Open article: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/bipartisan-state-attorneys-general-call-for-marijuana-banking-fix-in-new-letter-to-senate-leadership/