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  • Senate Leadership Pushes End of Federal Prohibition Of Cannabis

    Senate Leadership Pushes End of Federal Prohibition Of Cannabis

    In a big week for the marijuana industry and a surprise to most of the industry, Senators Schumer (D-NY), (Murray D-WA), Wyden (D-OR), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and 14 others have deduced to follow the public and make a change.  As of today, Senate leadership pushes end of federal prohibition of cannabis.

    Senator Patty Murray, a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) has long been a champion of veterans.  This falls in line with PTSD treatments and with the American Medical Association’s backing of rescheduling and more medical research to see how the cannabis plant can help more patients.

    RELATED: California or New York, Which Has The Biggest Marijuana Mess

    They have reintroduced the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA), legislation that would end the harmful federal prohibition of cannabis by removing cannabis from the list of federally controlled substances and empowering states to create their own laws. This legislation would be a historic step toward rectifying the failed policies of the War on Drugs and would help federal law better reflect the will of the vast majority of Americans, 91% of whom believe that cannabis should be legalized for either adult or medical use.

    “It is far past time that the federal government catch up to Washington state when it comes to cannabis laws. This legislation is about bringing cannabis regulations into the 21st century with common-sense reforms to promote public safety and public health, and undo deeply unjust laws that have for decades disproportionally harmed people of color,” said Senator Murray.  “The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act will help set us on a safe and responsible pathway to legalization—I’ll keep working to secure the necessary support to get it done.” 

    Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

    The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act establishes a federal regulatory framework to protect public health and safety, prioritizes restorative and economic justice to help undo harm caused by the War on Drugs, ends discrimination in the provision of federal benefits on the basis of cannabis use, provides major investments for cannabis research, and strengthens worker protections. By decriminalizing cannabis at the federal level, the CAOA also ensures that state-legal cannabis businesses or those in adjacent industries will no longer be denied access to bank accounts or financial services simply because of their ties to cannabis.

    The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act:

    • Protects public health by:
      • Establishing a Center for Cannabis Products to regulate production, labeling, distribution, sales and other manufacturing and retail elements of the cannabis industry.
      • Instructing the FDA to establish standards for labeling of cannabis products, including potency, doses, servings, place of manufacture, and directions for use.
      • Establishing programs and funding to prevent youth cannabis use.
      • Increasing funding for comprehensive opioid, stimulant, and substance use disorder treatment.
    • Protects public safety by:
      • Removing cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and eliminating federal prohibitions in states that have chosen to legalize medical cannabis, or adult-use cannabis.
      • Retaining federal prohibitions on trafficking of cannabis in violation of state law; establishing a grant program to help departments combat black market cannabis.
      • Requiring the Department of Transportation (DOT) to create standards for cannabis-impaired driving.
      • Directing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to collect data on cannabis-impaired driving, create educational materials on “best practices,” and carry out media campaigns.
      • Incentivizing states to adopt cannabis open container prohibitions.
    • Regulates and taxes cannabis by:
      • Transferring federal jurisdiction over cannabis to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).
      • Eliminating the tax code’s restriction on cannabis businesses claiming deductions for business expenses, and implementing an excise tax on cannabis products.
      • Establishing market competition rules meant to protect independent producers, wholesalers, and retailers and prevent anti-competitive behavior.
    • Encourages cannabis research by:
      • Requiring the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study and report on metrics that may be impacted by cannabis legalization.
      • Requiring the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct or support research on the impacts of cannabis.
      • Requiring the VA to carry out a series of clinical trials studying the effects of medical cannabis on the health outcomes of veterans diagnosed with chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder.
      • Requiring the Bureau of Labor Statistics to regularly compile and publicize data on the demographics of business owners and employees in the cannabis industry.
      • Establishing grants to build up cannabis research capacity at institutions of higher education, with a particular focus on minority-serving institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
    • Prioritizes restorative and economic justice by:
      • Using federal tax revenue to fund an Opportunity Trust Fund to reinvest in communities and individuals most harmed by the failed War on Drugs.
      • Establishing a Cannabis Justice Office at the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs
      • Establishing a grant program to provide funding to help minimize barriers to cannabis licensing and employment for individuals adversely impacted by the War on Drugs.
      • Establishing expedited FDA review of drugs containing cannabis manufactured by small businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.
      • Directing the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish a grant program to provide communities whose residents have been disproportionately affected by the War on Drugs with additional funding to address the housing, economic, and community development needs of such residents.
      • Initiating automatic expungement of federal non-violent cannabis offenses and allows an individual currently serving time in federal prison for nonviolent cannabis offense to petition a court for resentencing.
      • Disallowing the denial of any benefits or protections under immigration law to any noncitizen based on their use or possession of cannabis.
      • Prevents discrimination in the provision of federal benefits against people who use cannabis.
    • Strengthens workers’ rights by:
      • Removing unnecessary federal employee pre-employment and random drug testing for cannabis
      • Ensuring worker protections for those employed in the cannabis industry.
      • Establishing grants for community-based education, outreach, and enforcement of workers’ rights in the cannabis industry.

    RELATED: Cannabis Industry Employs The Same As These Companies

    The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Gary Peters (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Rev. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), John Fetterman (D-PA), and Laphonza Butler (D-CA).

    Senator Murray has been a leader on common-sense cannabis reforms. She helped introduce the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act last Congress, and in 2017, she first introduced the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act which would allow state-legal cannabis businesses to access banking services. She has reintroduced the bill multiple times and is pushing hard for its passage. An updated version of the legislation—the Safe and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act of 2023, which Murray also cosponsored—passed through committee after a bipartisan markup last fall.

    Terry Hacienda

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  • New York Democrat has ‘a lot of questions’ for Biden administration about Pentagon leak | CNN Politics

    New York Democrat has ‘a lot of questions’ for Biden administration about Pentagon leak | CNN Politics



    CNN
     — 

    Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York said Sunday she has “a lot of questions” for the Biden administration about the circumstances around the leak of highly classified Pentagon documents.

    “I have a lot of questions about: Why were these documents lying around? Why did this particular person have access to them? Where was the custody of the documents and who were they for?” Gillibrand said in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

    The Biden administration spent much of the past week scrambling to rectify damages after Jack Teixeira, an airman with the Massachusetts Air National Guard who held top-secret security clearance, posted documents online that revealed blunt details on the US intelligence assessment of the war in Ukraine as well as the extent of US eavesdropping on key allies.

    Teixeira, who worked as a low-ranking IT official, was arrested and federally charged last week for facilitating the leak. He allegedly began posting information about the documents online around December and photos of the documents in January, court records show.

    Gillibrand, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, sidestepped criticizing the military’s vetting process for security clearances but said questions needed to be answered at a Senate briefing this week.

    “It sounds like he was extremely immature and someone who did not understand the weight and the importance of these documents. And so we need to figure it out and put proper protections in place,” she said.

    The Pentagon breach has left looming questions about national security implications. In a statement acknowledging the extent of the problem the leaks exposed, President Joe Biden said Friday that he had directed both the military and intelligence community to “take steps to further secure and limit distribution of sensitive information.”

    Pentagon officials have said the Defense Department has moved to tighten the flow of highly sensitive documents, limiting who across the government receives its highly classified daily intelligence briefs. Those briefs are normally available on any given day to hundreds, if not thousands, of people across the government.

    Congress is also vowing to investigate what happened and why the US intelligence community failed to discover its secrets were on a public internet forum for weeks.

    “We need to know the facts. We need to know who this airman was, why he felt he had the authority or ability to show off confidential documents, secret documents to his friends,” Gillibrand said.

    Meanwhile, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Sunday that there was “no justification” for Republicans who have appeared to defend the leaking of classified information.

    “Those who are trying to sugarcoat this on the right, you cannot allow a single individual of the military intelligence community to leak classified information because they disagree with policy,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”

    House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner echoed that message Sunday in an interview with “Face the Nation” on CBS.

    Teixeira, the Ohio Republican said, “is someone who has compromised his country and has certainly compromised our allies. That’s not the oath that he took. That’s not the job that he took.”

    “If he’s brought through this process, and he’s found guilty, it will be of espionage. It’s of being a traitor to your country. That’s not someone … to look up to,” Turner said.

    Their comments come after Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia tweeted a defense of Teixeira’s actions last week.

    “For any member of Congress to suggest it’s OK to leak classified information because you agree with the cause is terribly irresponsible and puts America in serious danger,” Graham said.

    This story has been updated with additional information.

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