Pro-Cannabis Elected Officials: Meet 3 Champions Of Legalization And Find Out Who's Who In This 2023 Congress

After the overwhelming success of last year's 4/20 business event, the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference is returning to Miami beach April 11-12, 2023 with events taking place simultaneously on two stages at the historic Fontainebleau Hotel.

As part of celebrating individuals, entrepreneurs, and organizations doing amazing things in the cannabis industry, Benzinga will feature representatives and lobbyists championing cannabis legalization in 2023. According to the latest polls, a majority of U.S. voters support federal marijuana legalization, but do politicians care? Who are these champions in Congress? Meet them at the conference and find out what can we expect from legislators in 2023. 

Rep. David Joyce

“We've made tremendous progress and I like to say we're getting closer and closer,” U.S. Rep. David Joyce, an Ohio Republican, said at the last Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in 2022 in Chicago.

As co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, Joyce is fighting for federal cannabis reform, and his efforts were honored in 2022 with the Benzinga Cannabis Friend of the Industry Award. At the time Rep. David Joyce said it is important to get the federal government out of the way and create an industry where cannabis businesses are honored and served by tax and banking systems.

"I can't wait for the day that when I leave a doctor's office or hospital, they prescribe cannabis versus all the hydrocodone that they're willing to give you as you walk out that door," Joyce said. The congressman said he had an eye-opening experience the first time he went to look at a grow operation. Furthermore, as he dug into the industry and all the work that is being done to ensure quality and educate the consumer, he took a new view of the legitimacy of the industry.

Rep. Nancy Mace

Nancy Mace, the conservative, military school-educated, Republican House Representative for South Carolina, is behind the most comprehensive cannabis legalization in bill the U.S. - the States Reform Act. Mace’s bill has supporters that run the gamut from Amazon AMZN to Charles Koch’s Americans for Prosperity and a whole lot in between.

“When you talk to our soldiers who come home from war, you see the rate of suicide in our country [is out of control], the rate of addiction to hardcore drugs like opioids… Those have had a tremendously detrimental effect on our military, our soldiers, and our veterans,” the Representative told journalist Javier Hasse in an exclusive interview.

In crafting the States Reform Act, Mace added protection clauses for veterans as well as doctors working in Veterans Affairs (VA) who wish to use or prescribe cannabis as a medication. This means these people would no longer face the risk of being discriminated against for their health choices.

“Veterans’ issues are really near and dear to my heart, so I wanted to make sure that, when I was crafting this bill, I included those protections… When they come home from war, they have a lot to reconcile emotionally and physically, and cannabis can be a healer, it can be a lifesaver, for many of those men and women in uniform,” Mace said.

Mace noted cannabis legalization is one of America’s best tools to fight the raging opioid epidemic plaguing this great country.

“When you have one single dispensary in your state, the rate of addiction to opioids, the rate of dying from opioid addiction, is reduced by almost 20% by just having one dispensary. So, imagine how many lives you could save if you included these reforms in your state. It's crazy to find out about the benefits that we can have when you do sound, safe, and responsible cannabis reform,” she said.

Sen. Cory Booker

“I think it has a good chance because our Republican allies also understand that if one of the houses of Congress shifts to Republican, it will be very hard to do anything about marijuana. We’ve got a good shot. I wouldn’t say it’s a great shot, but it’s on a good path,” said Rep. Cory Booker in 2022.

Booker along with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced a marijuana bill that would decriminalize and deschedule cannabis on the federal level.

With legalization, “the communities most impacted will benefit in three ways,” Booker said. "One is the criminal justice way, which Biden has started to move towards. The second is reinvesting the tax revenue from legal businesses into the communities that were disproportionately impacted (...) And the third area is in business opportunity: I thought it would be equally shared, but there were dramatically fewer minorities with licenses.”
Join us in April at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference and stay at Miami Beach’s historic Fontainebleau Hotel. Don't miss out on a chance to hear about future market forecasts and worldly advice on investing and finance from those embedded in the cannabis industry. Are you ready?
Buy your tickets HERE before prices go up. Book your room HERE.

Image Via El Planteo.