Bill to Protect Banks That Work With the Cannabis Industry Gets a Vote in Congress Next Week

The House Financial Services Committee will vote next Tuesday on a bipartisan bill that would protect banks that service businesses in the cannabis industry from being penalized by federal regulators.More than a quarter of the House is in support of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act. The bill was formally filed earlier this month. Its chief sponsors are Reps. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), Denny Heck (D-Wash.), Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio). There are 138 cosponsors of the bill, according to the Marijuana Moment.

Bipartisan bill shields federal workers from being fired for marijuana

Marijuana Moment is a wire service assembled by Tom Angell, a marijuana legalization activist and journalist covering marijuana reform nationwide. The views expressed by Angell or Marijuana Moment are neither endorsed by the Globe nor do they reflect the Globe’s views on any subject area.Federal agencies couldn’t fire employees in legalized states simply because they test positive for marijuana if a bipartisan bill that was introduced in Congress on Tuesday is enacted.The legislation, filed by Representatives Charlie Crist and Don Young, along with eight other cosponsors, is designed to provide protections for federal workers who consume cannabis in compliance with state law. Under current law, federal employees can be terminated — or not even hired in the first place — over marijuana, regardless of state law.

The marijuana industry looks like the fastest-growing job market in the country

At a time when the rest of the labor market appears to be tightening up, the marijuana industry is just getting started when it comes to job creation, according to a recent report.Pot manufacturers and distributors, on both the recreational and medicinal sides, saw massive job creation in 2018, with 64,389 new positions added to the rolls. That brings to 211,000 the number of jobs directly related to the industry, part of a total of 296,000 in all related areas combined, industry site Leafly said in a report it compiled with Whitney Economics.

Congressional Bill Would Let VA Doctors Recommend Marijuana To Veterans

Doctors with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would be able to recommend medical marijuana to military veterans under a new bill filed by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and a bipartisan list of cosponsors.The legislation is similar to bills that the congressman has continually introduced since the 113th Congress. The latest version has 12 initial cosponsors, while the previous interation ended the 115th Congress with 30 lawmakers signed on.The proposal, which was introduced in the House late last week, stipulates that the VA must authorize health care providers to issue “recommendations and opinions to veterans who are residents of States with State marijuana programs regarding the participation of veterans in such State marijuana programs,” according to text of the bill.

Model Legislation Aims To Help Cities Bring People Of Color Into Marijuana Industry

In the continuing work to diversify the legal cannabis space and include communities that have been hurt the most by the war on drugs, advocates have unveiled a model local ordinance that would help more people of color enter the industry.The Model Municipal Social Equity Ordinance, released Monday by the Minority Cannabis Business Association (MCBA), “creates a baseline framework for adopting and advancing social equity in the cannabis industry as official public policy.”The document was drafted with assistance from the National Cannabis Industry Associationand the Drug Policy Alliance.

Nielsen, Headset partner to study U.S. cannabis market

(Reuters) - Consumer research services provider Nielsen Holdings Plc said on Wednesday it had teamed up with cannabis analytics company Headset, to help packaged goods companies understand the U.S. cannabis market.The U.S.-specific strategic alliance builds on Nielsen’s recent acquisition of Cannabiz Consumer Group, a firm which focuses on studying the impact of marijuana legalization on consumer spending and shopping trends.

House Bill Introduced to Remove Marijuana from List of Controlled Substances

Even before it began, 2019 has been hailed as the year of marijuana, with good reason: the number of Americans who support legalization has reached record highs, and an increasing number of Democratic presidential candidates are advocating for drug reform and an end to our draconian, racist drug laws.On Thursday morning, Reps. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) and Don Young (R-AK) introduced what they called a “landmark” piece of legislation, the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2019, which is “the only bipartisan piece of legislation that would allow states to make independent choices about their marijuana programs,” according to Young.

Beto O'Rourke calls for nationwide legalization of marijuana

Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) on Monday expressed support for the federal legalization of marijuana as he mulls a potential presidential bid in 2020.CNN reported that O'Rourke sent an email to supporters in which he backed the repeal of the federal criminalization of marijuana and called for the records of those jailed over marijuana possession to be expunged.O'Rourke pitched the overhaul of federal marijuana laws as part of a broader array of criminal justice reform proposals, CNN reported. Others included allowing convicted criminals to apply for loans, and banning the box on job application forms that requires job applicants to disclose their criminal history.

Barbara Lee Files Three Pieces Of Social Justice Marijuana Legislation In One Day

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) introduced three wide-ranging marijuana bills in Congress on Thursday.The congresswoman, who was named as a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus last month, re-filed legislation to end federal cannabis prohibition, bar the federal government from using funds to interfere in state-legal marijuana programs and encourage reform policies to help communities of color participate in the legal market.

Brooklyn DA: Prosecution of low-level marijuana cases down 98 percent

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said last week that his office is no longer prosecuting low-level marijuana possession cases and is vacating more than 1,400 related warrants.Over the past year, the number of simple marijuana possession cases prosecuted in Brooklyn was down by 98 percent, Gonzalez told attendees at a Community Board 2 meeting last Wednesday night.“It costs my office about $2,000 a pop to process a marijuana arrest. That’s your tax dollars and it’s not keeping us safer,” he said. “I’d rather spend that $2,000 working on a sex crime or domestic violence case.”Gonzalez said that looking over the statistics made it glaringly obvious that something was wrong with marijuana arrests in Brooklyn.