A ray of light, probably not but at least it got on the agenda.
It’s only discussion but it does feel like progress in some weird and rather twisted way
Marijuana Moment
U.S. senators on both sides of the aisle addressed the lack of banking access for the marijuana industry at a committee hearing on Wednesday, with one GOP member suggesting that the issue warrants a broader examination of federal cannabis policies.
Meanwhile, a separate House committee also met to discuss banking issues, where the marijuana industry’s unique financial challenges were also raised.
The repeated mentions of cannabis businesses at the Senate Banking Committee hearing were all the more notable considering that the panel’s chairman, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), emphasized on multiple occasions—before and during the meeting—that the focus should be on de-banking issues for “federally legal” companies.
But Democratic and Republican members alike called attention to the cannabis industry nonetheless.
For example, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in her opening remarks noted that “lawful cannabis businesses have been unable to open accounts and employees of those businesses have been debanked.”
“This shouldn’t be happening, and we need to figure out why and who is responsible,” the senator, who also entered into the record stories from marijuana businesses that have been impacted by debanking, said.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), meanwhile, questioned the germaneness of talking about marijuana banking in the debanking context given that, “the last time I checked the cannabis business is illegal at a federal level.” But he said he would be inclined to examine that policy disconnect.
Full report
