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Marijuana Is Still Illegal – Whose Fault Is It, Senator Booker or Emperor McConnell?

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While many blame Senator McConnell for blocking cannabis legalization, Twitter says Senator Booker is also to blame.

Both a Democrat and Republican are taking a beating on why weed is still illegal.

A funny thing happened on the way to blaming Emperor McConnell for blocking cannabis legalization, the Twitterverse is just as upset at Senator Booker, co-sponsor of one of the marijuana legalization bills in Congress. Our tweet of the story about Booker blasting McConnell over the lack of legalization was met with anger from anti-Booker twitter accounts.

Wait, what?

Why is a Democrat who is sponsoring a legalization bill getting the big raspberry on Twitter for not getting cannabis legalized at this point?

For those not in the cannabis industry and following every turn and twist, let me summarize it for you in a nutshell.  The general belief is that the Democrats and Republicans could have an agreement on Federal legalization, but Booker and other Democrats will not pass any legalization bill that does not include a strong social justice and economic empowerment clause.  Our sources in DC say that Republicans are on board with legalization, but social equity and economic empowerment clauses is a non-starter for them, and it won’t get done if those clauses are included in the bill.

Senator Booker refuses to agree to any bill that does not include social equity and economic empowerment clauses as he doesn’t want the marijuana industry to be just a “bunch of rich white guys and powerful corporations”, while I paraphrase, that is the jist of it.

Do you win the war and loose the battle? Do you make sure you win the battle and worry about the war down the road?

I think the smarter play would have been to accept the deal and win the war first, then go back at the state level and implement commonsense social equity and economic empowerment rules.  The current system of social justice if failing miserably in many states and handing out “Willy Wonka Licenses” to people without funding or the business knowledge necessary to run a business is leading to many SE and EE applicants to be left high and dry out in the cannabis world.

While I do not agree with Booker’s strategy, I can understand it. 

Let me repeat that.

I do not agree with Booker’s decision to basically block legalization without social equity and economic empowerment clauses, I do understand why he is doing it and what it means to him.

Of course, in full disclosure, I am rich white guy, so I am okay with the “let’s legalize it and worry about the details later”, where as Booker would tell me, “Exactly, you are fine with it but the SE and EE applicants harmed by the War on Drugs would be forgotten about and left behind”.

One thing to remember that most industry experts agree on is that any full legalization plan that includes interstate commerce will be a death sentence for many of the businesses and licenses given out to SE and EE applicants.  The massive margin compression and price drops that would come with full state to state commerce would crush margins on all cannabis businesses as presently constituted and destroy the artificial barriers that protect SE and EE licenses and applicants.

So, while Booker wants those businesses protected, in reality, in the course of finding an efficient market, those business will be decimated either way with federal legalization.  I didn’t support the Republican view on legalization because I was a rich, white guy, I supported “winning the war, get legalization first” because of what was going to happen anyway to SE and EE businesses when interstate commerce kicked in.

Twitter has accused Booker of being a pawn for Big Pharma, protecting his girlfriend’s cannabis business, and a variety of conspiracy theory ideas on why Booker is a wolf in sheep’s clothing on this issue.

While Cannabis.net has always said weed will be legal in America when Mitch McConnell and his 8 friends say so, there is growing frustration with Senator Booker and the Democrats for blowing their majority in the 3 houses of government and pushing for a deal that was “a bit too liberal” for Republicans’ liking.

Should Booker have looked to win the war and lose the battle, or held firm on his promise to SE and EE applicants under a federal law agreement?


Weigh in like everyone else on this Tweet!

Senator Booker Joins https://t.co/L28gXiIH4J in Blasting Emperor McConnell for Halting #Marijuana Legalization in America https://t.co/hOtLx9DIFF— CannabisNet (@cannabis_net) December 19, 2022

Thanks!

Source: https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/marijuana-is-still-illegal-whose-fault-is-it-senator-booker-or-emperor-mcconnell

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New Mexico cannabis operator fined, loses license for alleged BioTrack fraud

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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:

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/

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Marijuana companies suing US attorney general in federal prohibition challenge

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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.”

Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/marijuana-companies-suing-us-attorney-general-to-overturn-federal-prohibition/

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Alabama to make another attempt Dec. 1 to award medical cannabis licenses

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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/

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