Trade To Black Podcast: Talk Of Regulatory Reform On The Upswing In U.S. Cannabis
In this midweek Trade To Black Podcast, TDR Founder Shadd Dales and lead financial writer Benjamin A. Smith join ranks with millennial entrepreneur and OnlyGems Founder, Anthony Varrell. With cannabis stocks trying to rally and speculation of regulatory reform abounding, the panel discusses how they see U.S. cannabis investing landscape play out over the next couple of quarters.
One topic of conversation is the possibility of president Joe Biden re-scheduling cannabis to Schedule 2 from its current status as a Schedule 1 drug. This possibility was first presented last April, when then-Press Secretary Jen Psaki explained that Biden was open to such a measure:
Well, the President supports leaving decisions regarding legalization for recreational use up to the states; rescheduling cannabis as a Schedule II drug so researchers can study its positive and negative impacts; and, at the federal level, he supports decriminalizing marijuana use and automatically expunging any prior criminal records. He also supports legalizing medicinal marijuana. So that’s his point of view on the issue.
Former Biden Administration Press Secretary, Jen Psaki (April 20, 2021)
The possibility of rescheduling picked up steam this week, when it was reported that Joe Biden met with Democratic Senate hopeful John Fetterman, who has consistently advocated the complete de-scheduling of U.S. cannabis. Thereafter, Biden discussed potential changes to the status of cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act prior to his speech at a union hall on Monday.
While details of their conversation have not been revealed, Joe Calvello, Fetterman’s communications director told the news outlet that Fetterman remained firm in his demands and “continued to advocate for the President to use his executive authority to begin the process of rescheduling marijuana so that people convicted of nonviolent offenses can go on with their lives.”
As well, several analysts and industry pundits believe that SAFE Banking—with or without adjoining social justice and/or expungements measures—has a realistic chance of passing during the current Congress. Currently, a majority of American voters support allowing banks to work with state-legal marijuana businesses, and banking lobbyists are pushing hard to enact these measure.
To view our previous Trade To Black podcast, click here.
