Lawmakers across the nation are hearing the voice of the people. The voice of the nation has led to a rise in elected representatives calling for cannabis legalization and legal access to banking for cannabis businesses. The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) voted in favor of adopting a revised policy on cannabis banking and federal rescheduling of cannabis, based on an existing directive passed in 2018. The policy supports cannabis banking reform and federal marijuana descheduling.
Marijuana has been a schedule 1 drug in America since it was added to the Controlled Substance Act (CSA) that was signed in 1970. I guess it’s only a coincidence that the abbreviation for the Controlled Substance Act (CSA) and the Confederate States of America (CSA) is the same. I guess it’s also just another coincidence that marijuana prohibition and the Confederate States of America were fueled by racism. Perhaps it’s yet even another coincidence that this issue has been stretched out until election time. Let’s just hope lawmakers in our nation can get it together before they dig holes so deep that they pop out the other side on a beach somewhere in China with Nancy Pelosi.
Putting medical cannabis patients in the position of carrying large amounts of cash on them to make medical purchases puts their health and safety at risk. This makes them targets for would-be criminals who scope out cannabis dispensary locations looking for potential victims. Someone carrying a small amount of cash or a few hundred dollars suddenly becomes a target with a bullseye on them for those with a criminal mentality.
Forcing legal cannabis business owners to work in the business of cash only also poses a risk to them. In several instances, cannabis dispensary owners have made the news by becoming victims of horrible atrocities. Some escaped with their lives, and others were not so lucky. With large sums of cash, criminals assume that dispensary owners keep it with them or will tell them where it is. This puts a giant bullseye on dispensary owners’ backs across the nation. This worries the federal government none. Come tax time, they show up to collect, like members of an organized crime syndicate. If you don’t pay, you don’t get to play, and the FEDS will shut you down.
Part of the directive adopted by the NCLS says, “Under federal law, cannabis businesses in states that have legalized the sale of cannabis are unable to utilize the country’s banking system, forcing them to operate as primarily cash-only entities. This reliance on cash makes cannabis businesses prime targets for theft, burglary, armed robbery, and other property crimes. NCSL urges Congress to pass legislation allowing financial institutions to provide banking services to legitimate state authorized cannabis-related businesses.”
Currently, cannabis is a schedule 1 drug in the United States of America. According to this scheduling, cannabis has no accepted medical use and runs a high risk for abuse and addiction. On countless occasions, cannabis has been proven to have medical value. It even has accepted medical value in today’s field of medicine in the form of Epidiolex, an FDA-approved cannabis-derived drug only available by a prescription from a licensed doctor or physician.
What Does Cannabis Legalization in America Look Like in 2022?
Cannabis legalization in 2022 is looking better across the nation than it has in a long time. Thirty-five states currently allow legal access to medical cannabis. While this is a good sign for cannabis legalization, the industry is still burdened by archaic marijuana prohibition that started in the early 1900s. The reefer madness propaganda of the 1940s painted a picture of marijuana being the devil’s lettuce. Marijuana was the drug of choice for degenerate races, according to popular media reports of the time.
The United States federal government has only ever supported cannabis when in crisis. It supported cannabis in the form of Hemp For Victory in 1942 to help promote the effort of winning World War II. Once this was achieved, they quickly began throwing dirt over cannabis, including hemp, in an attempt for some reason to eradicate the plant. Financial crisis (politicians misappropriating funds) caused lawmakers to look for money in previously off-limits places. Suddenly the federal government saw a gold mine in the green industry of cannabis, and here we are standing at the doorstep of cannabis legalization after eight decades.
The federal government says that it will not interfere with state efforts for cannabis legalization. Yet they will not change their outdated viewpoint on cannabis legalization. This blocks all kinds of research, access to banking and creates all kinds of other issues that don’t have to be. Issues such as countless dollars being dumped into lawsuits surrounding gun rights for medical cannabis patients. Let’s not forget environmental issues such as not allowing cannabis to be imported or exported across state lines. By doing this, they prevent areas like Texas that could grow virtually all of the cannabis for the US from doing so. Let’s put a strain on resources across the nation instead of utilizing resources needed for growing cannabis like the sun, where it’s abundant.
Support for Cannabis Elevating Among Politicians
If the federal government rescheduled cannabis, advanced studies could be conducted that could allow for all sorts of medical advancements with cannabinoid therapies. Contrary to what the US government says about cannabis, it has many medical uses and medical attributes. It’s time for Congress to listen to their friends across the nation when they urge them to take positive steps toward legal access to banking for cannabis businesses and rescheduling marijuana at a federal level. The voices of political cannabis supporters like Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Congressman Jared Polis (D-Colo.), Lieutenant Governor of California Gavin Newsom, and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) are echoing across the frontlines of marijuana legalization calling on the colleague’s support.
Every once in a while, you get an honest answer from a politician regarding cannabis legalization, as was the case when Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.), was quoted by the Las Vegas Sun, saying, “If you’d asked me this question a dozen years ago, it would have been easy to answer — I would have said no, because [marijuana] leads to other stuff. But I can’t say that anymore. … I think we need to take a real close look at this. I think that there’s some medical reasons for marijuana. … I guarantee you one thing. We waste a lot of time and law enforcement going after these guys that are smoking marijuana.”
Times are changing and looking better for federal cannabis legalization in the coming years. Not to mention, election time is just around the corner.
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