"People is the Law, and Law is people" - Logan Roy, Succession.
Trying to tie TV satire to Cannabis legalization, unfortunately, we have come to real-life satire where @SenSchumer controls cannabis law, and Cannabis law appears to be at the discretion of Schumer's political ambitions. Hill.com reports that Congressional Democrats are gearing up for a sweeping set of initiatives to decriminalize marijuana this spring. "The growing bipartisan momentum for cannabis reform shows that Congress is primed for progress in 2022, and we are closer than ever to bringing our cannabis policies and laws in line with the American people," Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) wrote in a memo to the Congressional Cannabis Caucus on Thursday. The memo is a road map to dozens of bills that seek to reimagine the federal government's role in every aspect of the cannabis industry, with some measures receiving GOP support. Despite the heroic effort of a few individuals, the cannabis world is stopped in its tracks until the senator makes his move on the CAOA. The one big problem is that his bill is DOA and needs a significant overhaul.
We will be hosting a 1Q22 cannabis themes call in early January, and a significant catalyst in 2022 is New York rolling out its recreational cannabis program, and the clock is ticking. New York localities have just 14 days to decide whether to opt in or out of cannabis retail and onsite consumption spaces. The looming deadline came up during the recent meeting of the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM). Tremaine Wright, head of the Cannabis Control Board (CCB) within the Office, reminded localities of this deadline and pointed local leaders toward a new portal to streamline the process. OCM executive federal government's role update of opt-in and out statistics as of December 15: 365 municipalities, representing roughly 24% of all localities, including 10% of cities, 28% of towns, and 19% of all villages, have opted out. These numbers are relatively consistent with the experience of other states, which is not great news. As the CEO of California-based Glass House, @Graham Farrar, said on Twitter about the NY news, "Currently watching this movie in California.. hope NYC does a better job."
Passing SAFE in the NDAA may have made the NY program more successful in the early innings, but that is water under the bridge.
Howard W. Penney
(C)
