Congress Is Shaking It Up On Cannabis Reform, Some Wish They'd Started Sooner But Better Late Than Never

As the lame-duck Congress scurries to get its ducks in order before they get pushed out of the nest, lawmakers are doing their best for cannabis and psychedelics reform. 

Here’s what happened in the past several days.

Let’s start with the fact that President Joe Biden intends to sign the bipartisan marijuana research bill that Congress passed on Wednesday. This marks the first time ever that a standalone piece of cannabis reform legislation will be signed by a US President. 

The bill will facilitate research on cannabis and its potential health benefits by streamlining the application process for scientific marijuana studies and removing existing barriers for researchers who have stalled for decades.

“The Senate’s unanimous passage of this legislation represents a significant change in posture towards much needed and meaningful cannabis reform," said said Khadijah Tribble, CEO of the US Cannabis Council and a senior VP at Curaleaf Holdings CURLF.

Then on Thursday, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) filed a new bill that would allow state-legal marijuana businesses to access certain federal Small Business Administration (SBA) loans and services. The cannabis industry is on the outs with the banking system due to weed's classification as a Schedule I drug.

Also on Thursday, Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Rob Portman (R-Oh) and Reps. Danny Davis (D-IL) and David Schweikert (R-AZ) filed legislation to repeal the onerous lifetime ban on receiving the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) for students with felony drug convictions.

“This backwards requirement makes it more difficult to ensure successful reentry for those who have served their time by limiting their ability to advance their education and pursue a career,” said the lawmakers in their filing.

Earlier in the week, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin (D) laid out a bill (not yet filed) in the House Oversight subcommittee that will deal with employment issues facing nearly 3 million federal workers who regularly get disqualified from jobs for admitting they’ve consumed cannabis at some point. 

And Then There Are Psychedelics

Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rand Paul (R-KY) jointly filed a bill requesting the DEA move psychedelic “breakthrough therapies” like psilocybin and MDMA from Schedule I to Schedule II.

This move came shortly after Congress announced the creation of a Congressional Psychedelics Advancing Clinical Treatments (PACT) Caucus led by Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman(R-MI). The caucus will consist of bipartisan members of Congress who are committed to addressing ways to alleviate the national mental health crisis through psychedelic science and research.

And there is likely to be more where all of this came from, so stay tuned for all your cannabis news on Benzinga Cannabis.