Federal Policy

Former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin has called on the federal government to eliminate the “hoops” making cannabis research so difficult.

A coalition of dietary supplement trade associations has called on Congress to pass consumer protection legislation for dietary supplement products containing CBD.

The National Industrial Hemp Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation are teaming up to lobby the EPA into approving 10 submitted pesticide applications for hemp production.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed that cannabis industry workers have the same rights under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act as workers in traditional (and federally legal) industries.

The House of Representatives passed the SAFE Banking Act this afternoon in a historic and bipartisan landslide of support for giving state-legal cannabis companies access to banking services.

The SAFE Banking Act, which would normalize banking for the cannabis industry, is expected to receive a House vote next week.

A cadre of cannabis legalization advocates has called on House Democrats to delay a vote on the SAFE Banking Act in favor of pursuing more broad and “holistic” cannabis reforms, first.

Democratic leaders in the House intend for a full floor vote on the SAFE Banking Act by the end of September; lawmakers in the Senate, meanwhile, could likewise consider the bill — or their own version of the bill — by the year’s end.

A recent projection by Prohibition Partners suggests that North America’s legal cannabis industry may be worth an annual $47.3 billion by 2024.

Federal health officials are launching a public awareness campaign about the dangers of cannabis use; the effort is funded by President Trump, who reportedly donated his full second-quarter salary of $100,000 to the effort.

Hemp farmers can file for federal crop insurance under a new directive from the United States Department of Agriculture.

The DEA has announced an expansion of medical cannabis research options and a change in policy: hemp cultivators no longer need to register with the agency in light of the crop’s federal legalization.

Dr. Sue Sisley of the Scottsdale Research Institute is suing the DEA over hurdles to cannabis research — specifically, that government-sourced cannabis is nothing like the products being used en masse throughout legal states.

With hemp legalization having spurred many prosecutors to turn away from cannabis cases, the U.S. Attorney for Florida’s Northern District says he will take over the prosecution of cannabis-related cases.

The National Credit Union Administration says that credit unions are free to serve hemp businesses now that the crop has been federally legalized.

During a campaign rally last week, Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang said that he would issue a mass pardon for federal nonviolent cannabis offenses if he is elected president.

The American Bar Association has called on the federal government to allow state-approved cannabis programs to operate without worrying about federal interference.

Bernie Sanders said in an interview this week that, if he is elected to be the next U.S. president, he would legalize cannabis nationwide via executive order.

A new proposal in the U.S. Senate would lift federal restrictions on cannabis research and direct multiple federal agencies to develop a cannabis research agenda.

Federal officials say that Utah’s medical cannabis plan — which some had worried would jeopardize the state’s federal funding — can move forward.

Massachusetts regulators have warned residents and tourists against bringing cannabis out to sea, and into other federal waterways, despite the plant being legalized in the state.

With $1.6 million already spent this year, the cannabis industry’s 2019 Capitol Hill lobbying efforts on are on pace to break the record set last year at $2.7 million.

Lawmakers yesterday held the first Senate committee hearing to be aimed at addressing banking challenges for the cannabis industry; the hearing included arguments from financial institution representatives, state-legal cannabis professionals, and elected officials from states with reformed cannabis laws.