In a recent interview, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer revealed that he and his colleagues who are working to advance a bill to legalize cannabis at the federal level have a consensus to not get involved in the marijuana banking legislation until more broad reforms are advanced. Schumer noted that he was open to exploring alternative ways to advance the banking reform if legislators were able to include social equity provisions of legalization, such as expungements for previous marijuana convictions, into the defense policy bill that the chamber will be discussing in the coming weeks.
The interview was conducted on the Psychoactive podcast by Ethan Nadelmann, who is the founder of Drug Policy Alliance.
The majority leader stated that there was an agreement between Sens. Cory Booker and Ron Wyden, who is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to block the banking bill, which would offer protection to financial institutions that work with state-legal marijuana businesses. That is, of course, until a legalization bill that was social equity centered was advanced.
The bipartisan bill, dubbed the SAFE Banking Act (Secure and Fair Enforcement), has a strong chance of being approved in Congress, having already been passed by the House of Representatives a few times now. The House is set to pass a separate legalization initiative, sponsored by Chairman Jerrold Nadler, that is similar to the proposal to end federal prohibition on cannabis, which Schumer is sponsoring.
In the interview, Schumer stated that letting the banking legislation be approved would only make it longer and harder to pass comprehensive reform. He explained that the suffering people had to endure wouldn’t be reduced simply because banks could be allowed to fund the growing and processing of marijuana, noting that the quickest way to approve the banking act as well as federally legalize cannabis would be together.
Schumer added that letting the banking legislation be approved would also make it harder to get more conservatives on the federal cannabis legalization bill. However, the majority leader didn’t eliminate the possibility of including some marijuana reform initiatives to the Senate’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act if other provisions focused on justice could be added.
The SAFE Banking Act was attached to this defense legislation, which lacks most of the social equity provisions that activists would like to see. Schumer did recognize that allowing banks to work with cannabis businesses without incurring penalties would allow some disadvantaged communities to obtain access to capital required to take part in the market.
In the long run, all cannabis industry actors, including Hero Technologies Inc. (OTC: HENC), would be better off after comprehensive federal legalization is implemented rather than the piecemeal approach being pushed by some industry advocates.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Hero Technologies Inc. (OTC: HENC) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/HENC
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