Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 10-14-22

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Advocates Hope Biden's Marijuana Executive Order Jumpstarts Federal Legalization Push
Biden Move Is A Boom For Cannabis Capitalism
WASHINGTON — Presi- dent Joe Biden’s executive order last Thursday granting mass pardons to thousands of Americans is a significant step forward in the federal legaliza- tion of marijuana despite its limited practical impact.
The White House an- nounced the pardons last week, which senior adminis- tration officials said will im- pact about 6,500 people. Biden granted pardons to everyone with a federal “sim- ple possession” charge, which also applies to the District of Columbia.
“As I often said during my campaign for president, no
one should be in jail just for
using or possessing mari- juana,” Biden said in a state- ment. “Sending people to prison for possessing mari- juana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit.”
It is rare for people to serve jail time for simple possession charges and the administra- tion said they weren’t aware of anyone currently serving a sentence solely for it. Pardons also don’t expunge the charge from a person’s record, though the Justice Department said it will lift restrictions on the right to vote, hold office or sit on a jury.
President Biden on Thursday said that he'll ask for a review of whether marijuana should remain classified as a Schedule 1 substance under federal law.
Why it matters: This could be momentous for the upstart U. S. cannabis indus- try, which has been slowed at every turn by federal prohibi- tions.
What to know: Most cannabis companies are un- able to use federally chartered banks, largely owing to the Schedule 1 designation, and instead are relegated to using state-chartered banks and credit unions.
• Not only does this limit borrowing opportunities, but it also negatively impacts cannabis companies' abilities to take credit cards and other- wise process payments.
• A proposed bill called The SAFE Banking Act would help remedy this situation, but Biden's move could help set the conditions for passage.
Other impacts: Removing the Schedule 1 classification also could help more cannabis companies move public stock listings from Canada to the U. S., and also better enable fed- erally funded researchers to study the plant's medicinal benefits.
Caveats: Removing the Schedule 1 classification isn't necessarily synonymous with full legalization in all 50 states.
• There's no public timetable for when the Departments of Justice and Health & Human Services will begin their re- views, let alone complete them. Nor are the outcomes predetermined.
By the numbers: 330 U. S.- based cannabis companies raised around $3.1 billion in
PRESIDENT BIDEN
venture capital in 2021, ac- cording to research firm Pitch- Book. The data through late August of this year was a bit more modest, with around $900 million for 109 compa- nies.
Elsewhere: Biden also announced plans to pardon all federal offenses of simple mar- ijuana possession, and called on governors to do the same in their states.
What they're saying:
"This is massive. Both for the industry and obviously from a social equity perspective," ex- plains Karan Wadhera, managing partner of cannabis- focused VC firm Casa Verde Capital. "People have been waiting for this ever since Biden took office."
• Wadhera adds that ven- ture capital has always been comparably scarce for cannabis startups, which helped keep valuations from rising apace tech startups be- fore this year's correction.
The bottom line: Biden's move could spark a ton of new investment in U.S. startups, as a burgeoning in- dustry gets normalized.
PAGE 6-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2022