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Did You Know Cannabis Legalization Now Has Its Own Super PAC Political Donor Fund?
Legalize America is the first Super PAC fund set up for get weed legalized at the Federal level
A newly established super PAC called “Legalize America” has been launched by a coalition of marijuana businesses and advocacy groups. The primary objective of this super PAC is to elevate the prominence of cannabis as a national issue in the upcoming 2024 election and beyond. Legalize America plans to collaborate with industry partners to encourage customers to make “round-up” donations at the point of sale when purchasing products from dispensaries.
The Legalize America super PAC’s formation involves their organization and its member companies, according to the U.S. Cannabis Council (USCC), which made the announcement. This super PAC is able to take donations of any size, unlike traditional political action committees, but it is not allowed to work directly with political candidates. The creation of Legalize America is a reflection of the efforts made by marijuana businesses and advocacy organisations to advance cannabis reform and increase public understanding of its importance on a national scale.
Legalize America’s Strategies to End Cannabis Prohibition and Create a Prosperous Industry
“Legalize America is dedicated to putting an end to cannabis prohibition and driving expungement initiatives and responsible cannabis use,” stated Matt Harrell, Chair of Legalize America and representative of Curaleaf, in a press release. The super PAC is determined to employ all available means, including scorecards, endorsements, and targeted independent expenditure campaigns, to advance cannabis reform and foster a thriving and equitable cannabis industry.
Despite widespread public support for ending marijuana prohibition, the coalition emphasises that Congress remains entrenched in outdated views. As a result, the super PAC aims to expedite the nation’s progress on cannabis reform. Legalize America plans to establish partnerships with influential public figures and prominent brands to achieve this objective. Additionally, the super PAC intends to explore collaborations with cannabis stakeholders to offer customers the option to make “round-up” donations at the point of sale, contributing the spare change to the campaign.
Legalize America Secretary Pete Meachum of Cronos Group believes that the 2024 presidential election will be decisive in the fight to end cannabis prohibition. Accordingly, the super PAC is laying the groundwork by employing advertising, grassroots engagement, voter outreach, and events to ensure cannabis remains at the forefront throughout the campaign. While Legalize America asserts itself as the first cannabis-focused super PAC dedicated to reforming cannabis laws, a California-based mobile cannabis dispensary filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in 2013 to establish the Legalize Marijuana Super PAC.com. However, no evidence suggests that this effort raised or distributed any funds following its launch.
In contrast, anti-legalization forces launched the Protect Our Kids PAC last year, which is specifically focused on opposing cannabis legalisation. Legalize America’s membership currently aligns with the U.S. Cannabis Council (USCC), which includes notable partners such as ATACH, Canopy Growth, Columbia Care, Curaleaf, Cresco Labs, Cronos Group, Dutchie, Houseplant, Marijuana Policy Project, PAX, PharamCann, Scotts Miracle-Gro, and Vicente, among others.
Political Landscape and Candidates’ Views on Cannabis Reform in the 2024 Presidential Election
Legalize America, initiated by the U.S. Cannabis Council (USCC) and its member companies and organisations, aims to establish a wide-ranging coalition that includes additional entities such as companies, organisations, celebrities, and grassroots donors, emphasising engaging consumers. The upcoming 2024 presidential election highlights the increasing significance of drug policy, as candidates from both the Republican and Democratic parties have already expressed their stances on marijuana reform early in the campaign.
During recent exchanges, Democratic presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. responded to Republican candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ opposition to federal decriminalisation of cannabis. Furthermore, former President Donald Trump appeared perplexed in a recent interview when confronted with the discrepancy between his proposal to impose the death penalty on drug traffickers and his prior pardon and promotion of a woman as a symbol of criminal justice reform achievement. At a CNN town hall event, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie emphasised his commitment to ending the war on drugs if elected, advocating for a treatment-oriented approach for individuals grappling with addiction while concurrently supporting heightened enforcement against drug sellers.
Legalize America’s website affirms its dedication to collaborating with advocates, industry professionals, and community leaders to craft thoughtful policies supporting cannabis legalisation. Their core focus revolves around promoting federal legalization, expunging non-violent cannabis offences from records, and ensuring that the advantages of legalisation are accessible to all Americans, irrespective of their race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.
Overcoming Challenges and Opposition in the Path to Cannabis Reform
While the momentum for cannabis reform grows, the path to ending prohibition still faces challenges and opposition. Various factors contribute to the resistance against comprehensive cannabis legalisation, including entrenched stigmas, public health and safety concerns, and conflicting views on drug policy. Additionally, the influence of anti-legalization groups and individuals, such as the Protect Our Kids PAC launch, underscores the continued opposition to cannabis reform efforts.
Legalize America acknowledges the obstacles ahead and is prepared to tackle them head-on. The super PAC seeks to influence public opinion, alter attitudes, and inform the public about the advantages of legalising cannabis by utilising alliances with prominent public figures, brands, and grassroots donors. In order to ensure that candidates address the topic and advocate for policies that support responsible use, the expungement of non-violent cannabis offences, and equitable access to the advantages of legalisation for all Americans, Legalize America plans to use targeted advertising, grassroots engagement, voter outreach, and events.
Legalize America seeks to dispel myths and overcome obstacles to cannabis reform by actively interacting with stakeholders, advancing evidence-based research, and encouraging discussion. Their ultimate objective is to establish a successful and just cannabis market representing public opinion and advancing American drug laws’ continuous reform.
Bottom Line
Legalize America, the first cannabis-focused super PAC, aims to elevate the prominence of cannabis as a national issue in the 2024 election and beyond. With a commitment to ending cannabis prohibition, promoting responsible use, and driving expungement initiatives, the super PAC plans to employ strategies such as endorsements, scorecards, and targeted campaigns to advance cannabis reform and create an equitable industry. Despite challenges and opposition, Legalize America intends to collaborate with influential figures, brands, and grassroots donors, utilising targeted advertising, grassroots engagement, voter outreach, and events to keep cannabis at the forefront of public discourse. Through these efforts, the super PAC seeks to dispel myths, address public health concerns, and foster a thriving and just cannabis market that reflects public opinion and continuously advances drug laws in America.
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.
According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”
Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”
The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.
The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.
Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.
One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.
In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.
In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.
Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.
“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.
“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”
Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”
While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.
“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
New Mexico cannabis operator fined, loses license for alleged BioTrack fraud
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