MJBiz - September/October 2024 - 32

HIGH STAKES
V O T E
ment of Sessions, who rescinded the
Obama-era Cole Memo that granted
many cannabis businesses a sense of
security-Trump's first term in office
saw the opening of major adult-use
markets such as California, Illinois
and Massachusetts, as well as recreational
cannabis legalization via
the Legislature in his home state of
New York.
Amid the industry expansion,
Trump did very little. In all,
advocates agree, Trump's marijuana
policy might best be classified as
beneficial neglect.
He didn't offer any help-the
opposition to major reform in
Congress remains the Republican
caucus-but neither did the Trump
administration use its power to
make things more difficult for stateregulated
operators.
" He appointed an attorney general
who made a show of repealing the Cole
Memo and then, in terms of actual
policy, continued to follow the Cole
Memo, " Dutchie's Barash said. " That's a
far cry from, 'Cannabis is horrible, and
we should stop it at all costs.' "
But what would a Trump
administration do starting in 2025?
Pro-business Hopes
Most cannabis interests are banking
on the business acumen of the
former star of " The Apprentice "
reality-TV show applying to the
billion-dollar opportunities in
marijuana.
" The Trump administration
is pro-business and focuses on
seeking new revenue streams with
minimal regulations, " said Michael
Teller, chief operating officer of The
Panther Group, a New York Citybased
advisory firm that assists
cannabis companies seeking capital.
" While his base is not as procannabis
as the Democrats', there is
still support, " Teller added.
But these are educated
assumptions, and that's about all the
industry has to work with. Recent
developments offer little indication
of Republican priorities.
Beyond a speech from Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis bashing a
marijuana multistate operatorfunded
adult-use legalization
measure in the Sunshine State,
cannabis barely was mentioned at
the Republican National Convention
in Wisconsin in July.
Trump may have put some
cannabis legalization supporters at
ease with a post on Truth Social that
appeared to indicate acceptance,
if not approval, of Florida's
Amendment 3 ballot measure to
legalize recreational marijuana in
the state.
Recreational marijuana
legalization " will happen through
the approval of the Voters, so it
should be done correctly, " he said in
the Aug. 31 post.
" We need the (Florida) State
Legislature to responsibly create laws
that prohibit the use if it in public
spaces, so we do not smell marijuana
everywhere we go, like we do in many
of the Democrat run Cities. "
Trump added that " no one should
grieve a loved one because they died
from fentanyl laced marijuana. "
Vance at a Glance
U.S. Sen. JD Vance, an Ohio
Republican and Trump's pick for
his vice president, similarly offers
very few recorded opinions about
regulated marijuana.
A protege of libertarian Silicon
Valley magnate Peter Thiel, who
backed California's adult-use
legalization, Vance did spend time as
an investment banker in liberal San
Francisco. But since winning office
in his home state of Ohio, the Yale
Law School graduate has studiously
avoided staking out a position on
cannabis.
He did offer a passing comment
during a 2022 campaign debate
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32 September-October 2024 | MJBizMagazine
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MJBiz - September/October 2024

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