Final week, we found that U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker cited our personal Vince Sliwoski in a letter to Merrick Garland, the U.S. Legal professional Basic, urgent for the tip of hashish prohibition. The Warren-Booker letter, dated October 6, 2021, advocates for DEA to take away hashish from the federal Managed Substances Act— which might decriminalize the plant on the federal degree. The letter cites a 2018 weblog submit by Vince discussing worldwide developments with hashish on the United Nations degree. Readers, we really feel heard!
Warren has written just a few of those high-profile letters on hashish through the years, going again to 2016. Again then, her objective was re-scheduling “marijuana”, from Schedule I to Schedule II underneath the federal Managed Substances Act. Vince critiqued Warren’s proposal on the time, explaining why rescheduling would have minimal impact and why descheduling is the much better course. Was Warren listening? We’d wish to assume so.
This more moderen Warren/Booker letter does take the beneficial course, and is a superb instance of how high-profile politicians have developed on hashish coverage over the previous half-decade. The most effective information of all is that Warren, Booker and others proceed to press. Most not too long ago, Warren signed onto yet another letter with a number of others, once more addressed to Garland–and President Biden, and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra–urgent for hashish descheduling together with pardons. We’re fairly skeptical any of that’s occurring anytime quickly. That mentioned, relentless advocacy is vital.
We must also observe that the Warren-Booker letter is just not the primary time our hashish enterprise legal professionals have had the U.S. Authorities’s ear on hashish. In 2019, our regulation agency was employed by the Nationwide Credit score Union Affiliation (NCUA) to assist write steerage for federally chartered credit score unions serving the hemp trade. Vince and our observe group chair, Hilary Bricken, flew to D.C. to advise NCUA throughout the course of. Vince additionally has suggested the Office of U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer on federal hashish regulation and coverage going again to 2017.
We’ve got been publishing the Canna Legislation Weblog each day for over a decade. In that point, our hashish enterprise legal professionals have established the gold commonplace for evaluation on hashish regulation and coverage. It’s gratifying to be cited and even employed on the highest ranges of presidency. We’ll hold pushing to advance the hashish trade, together with on the highest ranges. Please attain out should you assume we may help.