Although U.S. Congressman Thomas Massie is typically against too much regulation, he is glad to see the SAFE Banking Act pass in the House, as it will help to undo other ineffective laws. Massie notes that the bill passed with the support of 91 Republicans, which is quite indicative of how far Congress has come as far as cannabis is concerned. Ideally, Massie would want the federal government to stay out of cannabis regulation and leave it all to the states to decide for themselves, which accounts for the Second Amendment Protection Act, a bill that he is cosponsoring. Although people often believe that getting a bill passed is all about cosponsors, Massie notes that there are many other factors involved, such as the speaker and the majority leader, the speaker in the House, and the majority leader in the Senate. Massie also discusses drug testing, the STATES Act, taxation, and more.
Seth Adler: US Congressman Thomas Massie joins us. Welcome to Cannabis Economy, I'm your host Seth Adler. Download episodes on canneconomy.com. That's two Ns and the word economy, or wherever you currently get your podcasts. Got a ton of direct insight on canneconomy.com from business, science, and policy leaders, so go there for that and listen to this from MedMen and then US Congressman Thomas Massie.
Speaker 2: MedMen is the most recognizable cannabis retailer in the US with operations across the country and flagship stores in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and New York. Recently, MedMen entered Florida for the first time, the third largest medical cannabis market where the company is licensed for 35 total stores. It's all part of MedMen's impressive footprint, which currently spans 86 licenses, including pending acquisitions. Learn more about how MedMen is creating a safer, happier and healthier world at medmen.com.
Seth Adler: We passed the SAFE Banking Act. I would imagine the inside of your mind is conflicted about this because we passed a law. So that's kind of regulation right there. That's a law. We don't like more laws on the books.
Thomas Massie: No, I always get excited when the laws undo previous laws.
Seth Adler: Okay. How did you see SAFE Banking? You know?
Thomas Massie: SAFE Banking, here's the summary. The rope growing states got with the dope growing states here in Congress and worked on a solution to a problem that's that affecting both cannabis, the one that's smoked for recreation or consumed otherwise, and also its cousin hemp.
Seth Adler: Yeah. 0.3% THC below and above got together.
Thomas Massie: Right. That's the way, 0.3% is the way it's defined in the Farm Bill.
Seth Adler: Sure.
Thomas Massie: I would argue that it should be higher than that and some states have set it higher than that, but it doesn't matter.
Seth Adler: It's 1% in Europe. So you know, there's many ways to skin that cat, which is always an interesting turn of phrase. But we did pass that, 76 I think, or over 70% of the House voted it, and 91 Republicans. We had 26 co-sponsors on that. What I'm trying to tell you, sir, is that this was not only rope and dope together, this was without question bipartisan.
Thomas Massie: Yes, absolutely. 91 Republicans is significant. This shows how far we've come since I've been in Congress. I got here in 2012, and really moved forward since then.
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