Federal Policy

The U.S. House scheduled a vote this week for the MORE Act, which would federally legalize cannabis.

A bipartisan federal bill would instruct the U.N. to deschedule cannabis, arguing the war on drugs has negatively affected human rights, health, security, and development on a global scale.

The U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board declined to register a hemp CBD company’s trademark, citing the federal prohibition of CBD and saying the product meets the definition of a drug but has not been approved by the FDA.

The California Senate is considering a bill to allow cannabis sales between states that have also approved such reforms.

The Chief Equity Strategist for Wells Fargo suggested recently that the U.S. supply chain issues and a trucker labor shortage are due to drug testing policies under the ongoing federal prohibition of cannabis.

A U.S. House proposal is seeking to reform the 2018 Farm Bill by increasing THC limits in hemp products, removing DEA lab testing requirements, and eliminating drug-related licensing restrictions.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the SAFE Banking Act for the sixth time as an amendment to the China competition bill.

The SAFE Banking Act — which has sought for years to let the cannabis industry access banking services — was revived last week as an attachment to the America COMPETES Act of 2022, a domestic spending bill.

Amazon has endorsed a Republican-led federal cannabis legalization bill, noting that federal prohibition has a negative effect on their workforce.

The University of Mississippi launched the National Center for Cannabis Research and Education to conduct scientific research and aid in policymaking and legalization-related outreach.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Gary Chambers Jr. from Louisiana was featured smoking a blunt in his first campaign ad, which emphasizes the many failures of the war on drugs.

Congressional Democrats are planning to take on numerous cannabis reform proposals during the upcoming legislative session, including banking, expungement, decriminalization, and social equity considerations.

Groff North America Hemplex and BRC, two cannabis cultivation firms, have harvested federally sanctioned cannabis for research purposes, ending a 50-year monopoly by the University of Mississippi.

A set of GOP companion bills in the House and Senate seeking to curb illegal fentanyl sales would also streamline the research of cannabis, psychedelics, and other Schedule I substances.

Toi Hutchinson, who was Illinois’ top cannabis official as senior advisor to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, joined the Marijuana Policy Project last week as the organization’s new president and CEO.

57% of Americans believe cannabis should be made fully legal at the federal level, according to a new poll by YouGov.

Lawmakers have removed language from a national defense bill that would have given state-legal cannabis companies access to banking services.

A bipartisan cannabis bill by Reps. Dave Joyce (R) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) would offer grants to states and local governments to establish and improve cannabis expungement programs.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said lawmakers behind his federal cannabis bill want to ensure smaller businesses have access to the cannabis industry, that states expunge records for nonviolent cannabis crimes, and that funds generated go to restorative justice initiatives.

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) filed a bill with other GOP lawmakers to federally legalize adult-use cannabis this week but some Republicans are less-than-excited by the proposal.

Dr. Robert Califf, President Joe Biden’s pick to head the Food and Drug Administration, has prescribed cannabinoid therapy as a cardiac doctor and actively encourages research into cannabinoid medicine.

In a letter to President Joe Biden this week, several Democrats in the Senate requested the president use his executive authority to pardon all individuals with non-violent federal cannabis convictions.

Today marks the launch of Cannabis in Common, a new cannabis legalization advocacy initiative backed by the Cannabis Voter Project, the U.S. Cannabis Council, and with support from celebrity cannabis advocates Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman.