Trump Rescheduling Marijuana Would Be An ‘Important Domino’ Toward Passing Cannabis Banking Bill, GOP Senate Sponsor Says

If President Donald Trump moves forward with marijuana rescheduling, the
reform would be an “important domino” to advance bipartisan cannabis
banking legislation, the GOP Senate sponsor says.

In an interview with Ask a Pol reporter Matt Laslo that was released on
Friday, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) was asked about his earlier comments
about how his legislation, the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation
(SAFER) Banking Act, would be taken up this fall, which began last week.

“We’re still seeing what we can do to get it done in Q4,” the senator said.
“As you know, the Democrats give us a lot of stuff to do. We have to fund
the government, we have to get [the National Defense Authorization Act, or
NDAA] across the finish line. We’ve gotta get [Trump’s judicial
nominations] done.”

Pressed on Trump’s prior endorsement of moving cannabis from Schedule I to
Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), Moreno said that
modest reform is “obviously” an “important domino” in the process, and
“there’s a lot of my colleagues that would have that concern if we didn’t
do the rescheduling” before enacting the banking legislation.

“So we’ll look at that—but we have time. We have time,” the Republican
senator, who has not yet actually filed the SAFER Banking Act this
Congress, said.

Whether Trump ultimately decides to move forward with rescheduling remains
to be seen. Despite his endorsement of the policy change on the campaign
trail ahead of his election for a second term, he declined to restate that
support when asked about it during a briefing late last month—though he did
say a decision would come within weeks.

On Sunday, the president posted a video on his Truth Social platform
promoting the health benefits of cannabis—suggesting that covering CBD
under Medicare would be “the most important senior health initiative of the
century.”

Reclassifying cannabis as a Schedule III drug would allow marijuana
companies to take federal tax deductions they’ve long been precluded from,
but it would not inherently address the lack of access to banking services.
The SAFER Banking Act, which has passed the House in some form seven times
in recent sessions, would resolve that problem. But its pathway to passage
has been in doubt given GOP leadership’s general reluctance to advance even
incremental cannabis reform proposals.


*— Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug
policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon
supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps,
charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.*


*Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on
Patreon to get access. —*

Meanwhile, during a House Appropriations Committee markup earlier this
month, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) criticized the exclusion of provisions to protect
banks that work with state-licensed marijuana and hemp businesses from a
key spending bill

Relatedly, a bipartisan coalition of 32 state and territory attorneys
general from across the U.S. recently called on Congress to pass a
marijuana banking bill to free up financial services access for licensed
cannabis businesses.

The Democratic Senate sponsor of the marijuana banking bill recently said
that, despite efforts to coordinate meetings around the legislation, other
priorities have taken precedence for now.

In January, the office of Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), who is again leading the
effort on the House said, told Marijuana Moment that he would be filing the cannabis
banking legislation this session but that its introduction was “not
imminent” as some earlier reports had suggested.

The post Trump Rescheduling Marijuana Would Be An ‘Important Domino’ Toward
Passing Cannabis Banking Bill, GOP Senate Sponsor Says appeared first on Marijuana
Moment.