MJBizMag October 2020 - 44

Marijuana on the Ballot
" The best chance of anything
getting done is a Biden-Harris
White House and the Democrats
taking the Senate, " said Geoff
Bacino, a partner at consulting
firm Bacino & Associates in
Alexandria, Virginia, and a former
federal bank regulator, referencing
Biden's running mate, U.S. Sen.
Kamala Harris.
" Republicans are much less socially elastic and morally
Geoff Bacino
elastic on cannabis than the Democrats, " Bacino said,
adding that most of the senators holding up cannabis
banking reform have been Republicans.
Currently, Republicans control the Senate 53-47, but
35 Senate seats are up for grabs in November. Of the
23 incumbent Republican senators, 13 are in competitive
races, compared with only two of the 12 Democratic
incumbents, according to The Washington Post. (See story
on page 48.)
Five of the senators defending seats-three Republicans
from Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina, plus two
Democrats from Minnesota and North Carolina-sit
on the Senate banking committee, and the outcomes of
those races could be the difference in whether the SAFE
Banking Act passes or not. That measure-currently
stalled in the GOP-controlled committee-would enable
financial institutions to serve cannabis-related businesses
without fear of federal punishment.
Here's a closer look at how key federal marijuana
policies might change after November's election.
CANNABIS BANKING REFORM
Assuming the House stays blue, the best chance for banking
reform is a Democratic White House and Senate majority.
" If you have a Democratic takeover of the White House
and the Senate, I think you're going to see legislation that's
probably more favorable to cannabis banking, " Bacino
said. He added that while it's unlikely the change would
happen in the first 100 days of a Biden presidency, it could
happen in the first year.
While the 2020 Democratic Party platform doesn't
explicitly call for cannabis banking
reform, vice presidential nominee
Harris sponsored the SAFE
Banking Act, and support from a
Biden-Harris White House for such
measures is more than likely.
" The issue with the Senate right
Steve Fox
now is not really a vote-counting
issue as much as it is a committeecontrol
issue, " said Steve Fox, a
44 Marijuana Business Magazine | October 2020
Platform Pointers
The Republican and Democratic platforms lack specifics
about marijuana reform. But coupled with the positions of
the presidential candidates, they can offer a glimpse at how
the U.S. legal marijuana marketplace might change depending
on whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden occupies the White
House in 2021, and which party controls Congress.
2020 Republican Party Platform: Primer
The Republican Party maintained the same
platform it adopted in 2016, which said next
to nothing about marijuana except that state
programs flouted federal prohibition.
2020 Republican Party Platform: Verbatim
" The progress made over the last three decades against
drug abuse is eroding, whether for cultural reasons or for
lack of national leadership. In many jurisdictions, marijuana
is virtually legalized despite its illegality under federal law.
At the other end of the drug spectrum, heroin use nearly
doubled from 2003 to 2013, while deaths from heroin have
quadrupled. All this highlights the continuing conflicts and
contradictions in public attitudes and public policy toward
illegal substances. Congress and a new administration
should consider the long-range implications of these trends
for public health and safety and prepare to deal with the
problematic consequences. "
2020 Democratic Party Platform: Primer
* Remove marijuana from Schedule 1 of the
federal Controlled Substances Act.
* " Appropriately " regulate marijuana by
" providing a reasoned pathway for future legalization. "
* Allow states to decide their own marijuana policies.
* Pave the way for more scientific research into
marijuana use.
* Change laws to eliminate " uncertainty " for legal
marijuana businesses.
2020 Democratic Party Platform: Verbatim
" The 'war on drugs' has led to the imprisonment of millions
of Americans, disproportionately people of color, without
reducing drug use. Whenever possible, Democrats will
prioritize prevention and treatment over incarceration when
tackling addiction and substance-use disorder. We will build
on effective models of drug courts, veterans' courts and other
diversionary programs that seek to give nonviolent offenders
opportunities for rehabilitation as opposed to incarceration.
" Because of conflicting federal and state laws concerning
marijuana, we encourage the federal government to remove
marijuana from the list of 'Schedule 1' federal controlled
substances and to appropriately regulate it, providing a
reasoned pathway for future legalization. We believe that the
states should be laboratories of democracy on the issue of
marijuana, and those states that want to decriminalize it or
provide access to medical marijuana should be able to do so.
We support policies that will allow more research on marijuana
as well as reforming our laws to allow legal marijuana businesses
to exist without uncertainty. And we recognize our current
marijuana laws have had an unacceptable disparate impact in
terms of arrest rates for African Americans that far outstrip
arrest rates for whites, despite similar usage rates. "
- Omar Sacirbey
MJBizMag October 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of MJBizMag October 2020
