Bjones2
2 days ago
Conversion of $15 Million Debt to 15% Equity in New Company
Start with that, it is HUGE. The 15% of Equity in the New Company will come from the Founders ownership, not from PVSP shareholders stake.
Pervasip Announces Restructuring and Spin-Out
Press Release | 02/01/2024
SEATTLE, WA, Feb. 01, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pervasip Corp. (OTCPK: PVSP) (“Pervasip” or the “Company”), a developer of companies and technologies in high value emerging markets, is pleased to announce the restructuring of its cannabis operations to convert about $15,000,000 in debt into 15% of a newly formed subsidiary. The restructuring is a prelude to the Company’s previously announced plan to spin that new subsidiary out into a standalone public entity on the OTCQB market.
The Company has completed its final audited financials, which have been instrumental in guiding this decision. A key aspect of this restructuring involves converting over 80% of the company's debt into equity in the new cannabis-focused entity. This move is designed to streamline operations and strengthen Pervasip's financial footing.
It's important to note that the impact of the subsidiary debt-equity conversion and the corresponding dilution at the subsidiary level will not impact the subsidiary common shares reserved for current Pervasip common shareholders in the subsidiary spin out. Thus, the subsidiary spin-out will still involve the 15,000,000 subsidiary common shares reserved for the Pervasip common shareholders as announced in 2023, 15,000,000 subsidiary common shares reserved for the newly restructured subsidiary debt, and the remaining 70,000,000 subsidiary common shares for holders of Pervasip’s Series K Preferred Stock. In addition to this restructuring, Pervasip is embarking on a strategic transition away from non-productive assets, focusing exclusively on higher-margin branded product sales in all of its operating markets. This shift is expected to enhance profitability and efficiency, aligning with the Company’s long-term growth objectives.
The goal through these changes is to position Pervasip in a way that allows the market to assess the Company’s performance based on profitability. We aim to establish benchmarks for stock performance valuations using metrics such as EV/Sales and EV/EBIDTA. Furthermore, this restructuring is anticipated to significantly reduce the company's debt-to-equity ratios, thereby strengthening our balance sheet and overall financial health.
"We are excited about this new phase in Pervasip's journey. Restructuring our operations and focusing on high-margin, branded product sales will not only streamline our business but also enhance shareholder value," said German Burtscher, CEO/President of Pervasip. "The long-announced spin-out of our cannabis assets marks a pivotal step in our strategy to become a more focused, profitable company. We believe these changes will positively reflect in our stock performance and overall market valuation."
This strategic restructuring represents a new chapter for Pervasip, positioning it for sustainable growth and profitability. The company is committed to transparency and will continue to provide updates as we progress through this transformative phase.
Bjones2
2 days ago
Kamala Harris Puts Marijuana Legalization On Presidential ‘To-Do List’ Alongside Border Security, Reproductive Rights And More
Published on October 25, 2024By Kyle Jaeger
Legalizing marijuana is one of the top items on Vice President Kamala Harris’s “to-do list” if she wins the presidential election next month, the Democratic nominee says.
On Thursday, Harris shared a list of 14 priorities on X, placing cannabis reform alongside other major initiatives such as enhancing border security, preserving reproductive rights, expanding healthcare, investing in clean energy and more.
“Legalize recreational marijuana,” the item, which appears sixth on the list, says.
CBD Is Effective In Treating Anxiety, Depression And Poor Sleep
Harris said that while her opponent in the race, former President Donald Trump, has “an enemies list,” she has “a to-do list” she wants to bring to the White House.
This comes just weeks after the vice president first pledged to federally legalize marijuana since becoming the party’s nominee, promising that access to cannabis will become “the law of the land.”
If elected, she will “break down unjust legal barriers that hold Black men and other Americans back by legalizing marijuana nationally, working with Congress to ensure that the safe cultivation, distribution, and possession of recreational marijuana is the law of the land,” the Harris campaign said.
Also, last month, Harris made clear she still supports legalizing cannabis, which she previously pushed for as a senator but had not publicly discussed since becoming President Joe Biden’s running mate in 2020.
Separately, she also recently said that part of the reason for the delay in the administration’s current marijuana rescheduling effort is federal bureaucracy that “slows things down,” including at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), has also been talking cannabis policy on the campaign trail. Last week, for example, he stressed that marijuana legalization must be coupled with policies that give those who’ve been disproportionately targeted by criminalization “the first shot to make money” in the legal cannabis industry.
While Harris and Walz are aligned in their belief that prohibition should be replaced with a system of legalization and regulation, the governor has largely focused on the rights of states to set their own cannabis laws, rather than weigh in on federal legalization prospects.
On the other ticket heading into next month’s election, Trump, the GOP nominee, has backed a Florida marijuana legalization initiative that will be on the ballot, as well as cannabis banking reform and rescheduling.
Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), has voiced support for letting states decide on their own marijuana policies, though he’s also said they should increase enforcement activities and complained about the smell of cannabis multiple times. Additionally, he’s repeatedly sounded the alarm about fentanyl-laced marijuana, though he more recently conceded that the issue isn’t widespread.
The Harris–Walz campaign, meanwhile, has accused Trump of lying about his support for marijuana reform—arguing that his “blatant pandering” runs counter to his administration’s record on cannabis.
Following Trump’s recent announcement of support for the Florida cannabis legalization ballot measure, the Democratic campaign has been working to communicate to voters that, while in office, Trump “took marijuana reform backwards.”
Also, on Thursday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) said Harris’s support for marijuana legalization is part of the nominee’s “freedom agenda.” He made the remarks at an event hosted by musician and marijuana icon Willie Nelson on Thursday.
Bjones2
3 days ago
Harris Will Legalize Marijuana As Part Of ‘Freedom Agenda,’ Democratic Governor Says, Noting Biden Has ‘Done Very Little’ On Issue
Published on October 25, 2024By Ben Adlin
Vice President Kamala Harris’s support for marijuana legalization is part of the Democratic presidential candidate’s “freedom agenda,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) said at an event hosted by musician and marijuana icon Willie Nelson on Thursday. He highlighted Harris’s backing for the policy change as a key difference between her and current President Joe Biden, whom he said has “done very little” on the issue during his term.
The Colorado governor was among a number of politicians, celebrities and cannabis reform advocates who spoke at the online event hosted by Nelson along with his wife, Annie D’Angelo, and fellow Texas musician Dahr Jamail. Others speakers included entertainer Whoopi Goldberg, U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Barbara Lee (D-CA), travel writer Rick Steves and former NFL player Ricky Williams.
Nelson himself, along with Goldberg, emphasized that despite Harris’s past as a criminal prosecutor, she’s now fully behind putting an end to penalties around marijuana.
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“If we want to see legalization become a reality, we have to do what we can to elect Harris,” the musician said. “We need you to drag your friends to the polls if need be.”
“At the end of the day, we can’t go on blaming her for enforcing the law when she was a prosecutor. That was the law, and that was her job,” he continued. “And we need to recognize when we have a real partner in this mission to legalization we’ve all been on, and in Vice President Harris, there’s no doubt that we have that partner.”
Nelson, who lives in Texas, also recently urged voters in Dallas to pass a marijuana decriminalization initiative that will appear on their local ballots in November. Early voting for that measure kicked off on Monday.
On Thursday, he also encouraged voters in Florida, South Dakota, North Dakota and other states to turn out and vote for cannabis reform as well.
Goldberg, who said she’s used marijuana to help manage menstrual cramps, explained that she believes Harris now understands cannabis prohibition as a failure following her experience as a district attorney in San Francisco and as California’s attorney general.
“She did her job, she put folks in jail, and now she’s saying, ‘Hey, listen, maybe under those guidelines, we made a mistake. Maybe we need to rethink this,'” Goldberg said of the vice president. “And anytime we can find growth in politicians, I say yay for them.”
“It’s really important that we get these things thought of as normal,” the she added. “When we talk about cannabis, it should not be something that is ever thought of as something harmful, because it’s not, and we have so many ways of using this, and Kamala knows this.”
Many of the speakers described Harris as the first-ever major party presidential nominee to ever call for marijuana legalization on the campaign trail. Polis called her “the first major party candidate to support leaving it up to the states.”
“People always like to talk about, ‘How are Joe Biden and Kamala Harris different?'” he said. “Well, Joe Biden has done very little on this. And finally, they have the rescheduling sitting there. We hope they approve it, but that’s just the first step.”
For Harris, Polis added, cannabis “is part of her personal freedom agenda,” grouping the issue with the vice president’s support for reproductive rights, marriage equality and other civil rights matters.
And despite President Donald Trump’s recent endorsement of cannabis legalization in Florida and certain other reforms, Polis said the Republican nominee already had a chance to enact reform from the White House and wasted the opportunity.
Blumenauer and Lee, both members of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, joined the webinar together and described Harris as a leader in the movement for marijuana reform.
“The progress we’ve made is unbelievable,” said Blumenauer, describing Democrats’ leadership on the issue as a “secret weapon” for the party. “If it weren’t for cannabis being on the ballot in Arizona in 2020, Joe Biden wouldn’t have carried those electoral votes,” he claimed. “The young people carried him across the finish line.”
“This is our secret weapon, and Kamala Harris has been on the forefront,” the Oregon congressman, who is not seeking re-election, continued. “She co-sponsored our MORE Act. She spoke out—not just in the campaign, but before. She has been on the cutting edge of cannabis legalization. And this is our secret weapon to win the election: It will motivate young people. It speaks to racial justice, to health and to public safety.”
Lee, for her part, asked viewers of the video event how many times they’d “ever heard a presidential candidate use the word ‘legalization’ of marijuana?”
“I don’t think any candidate has ever uttered those words publicly in a campaign,” she said.
Rick Steves, a travel writer and TV host who’s been a longtime advocate of state-level legalization, said that the election next month means that “right now, we’ve got an opportunity with Kamala Harris to end it—all of it—federally instead of state-by-state.”
“Pot is here to stay. You cannot wish it away,” he added, arguing that while regulation is needed to protect safety and ensure products aren’t accessible to children, the ability for an adult to consume cannabis on their own time should be protected as a personal freedom.
“I’m a hard-working, taxpaying, churchgoing, kid-raising—and now grandkid-raising—citizen of the United States,” Steves asserted, “and if I work hard all day long and I want to go home, smoke a joint and just stare at the fireplace for three hours, that’s my civil liberty.”
Another speaker, former NFL player Ricky Williams, said that while some political pundits have criticized Harris’s inclusion of her support for legalization in a broader plan focused on Black men as pandering, he instead sees the vice president’s message as one of understanding.
“The stories around this were, ‘She’s doing this to get the African American vote,'” he said. “And for me 100 percent worked, right? Because I know that she understands the experiences I’ve been through in Fort Bend, Texas, put in handcuffs and taken to jail because I had an eighth of cannabis on me.”
“When the officer realized who I was, he apologized,” Williams reflected, “and I realized how cannabis prohibition has been used to weaponize against the African-American community, and for me as a voter and as an African-American male to see that my vote could do something to change that so no one ever has to suffer that? I’m all in.”
Other speakers at the event included U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO)—who said Colorado’s cannabis legalization has brought in millions of dollars in tax revenue while underage use has in fact fallen—as well as singers Brittney Spencer and Margo Price.
“I’m looking at a joint, and I’m just like, ‘Man, I just want to spark it up right now, you know?” quipped Spencer when she joined the call. “But thank you all for having me, seriously.”
Spencer went on to say she supports legalization because of the toll that disproportionate cannabis policing has had on the Black community and because she’s experienced relief firsthand using marijuana to help manage symptoms of endometriosis. (A recent study found that women with endometriosis who used cannabis rated it as “the most effective self-management strategy to reduce symptom intensity” of the often painful inflammatory disease.)
The event hosted by Nelson and D’Angelo, announced earlier this month, was meant to emphasize “the importance of cannabis reform in America,” according to an earlier statement and came on the heels of Harris reaffirming her support for federal marijuana legalization and pledging to make it the “law of the land” if elected.
“I’m excited to bring together such an amazing group of people to talk about something we all care about deeply,” Nelson said in announcing the event. “Cannabis is a path to healing, opportunity and justice, and supporting leaders like Kamala Harris who understand that is crucial to putting an end to the federal prohibition and undoing the harms it caused to so many, particularly to communities of color where it has been disproportionately enforced.”
To that point, while Trump also recently endorsed a Florida cannabis legalization ballot initiative, as well as certain federal reforms such as industry banking access and rescheduling, Harris has stressed that her support for reform is rooted in a criminal justice-centered interest to right the wrongs of criminalization.
Late last month, Nelson also hosted Harris’s husband, Douglas Emhoff, and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) at his ranch in Luck, Texas. It’s unclear if the topic of marijuana reform came up, but O’Rourke has also been a longtime advocate for ending prohibition at the state and federal levels.
The singer said in 2018 that he’d be more than happy to smoke cannabis with a wide range of politicians, including Trump, former President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
For now, though, it seems Nelson’s ideal rotation centers around the Democratic candidates: Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), her vice presidential running mate.
Last month, Walz said he thinks marijuana legalization is an issue that should be left to individual states, adding that electing more Democrats to Congress could also make it easier to pass federal reforms like cannabis banking protections.
The Harris–Walz campaign has also accused Trump of lying about his support for marijuana reform—arguing that his “blatant pandering” runs counter to his administration’s record on cannabis.
Following Trump’s recent announcement of support for the Florida cannabis legalization ballot measure, the Democratic campaign has been working to remind voters that while in office, Trump “took marijuana reform backwards.”
For his part, Nelson, who owns the cannabis company Willie’s Reserve, also made headlines in 2019 after saying that he’d stopped smoking marijuana—while still consuming in other forms—his son later said that “it’s safe to say Willie will never stop enjoying Mary Jane.”
Former President Jimmy Carter also discussed a time when his son smoked marijuana at the White House with Nelson during his administration in a CNN documentary in 2020.
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Bjones2
1 week ago
Kamala Harris promises full marijuana legalization – is that a gamechanger?
The Democrat says she will end cannabis prohibition and seek to help Black men profit from the industry if elected
Hannah Harris Green
Sat 19 Oct 2024 10.36 EDT
Kamala Harris announced on Monday that if elected president, she would fully legalize adult recreational cannabis on the federal level – the first time a presidential nominee has taken such an unambiguous stance on ending cannabis prohibition.
As part of her pledge, she said she would take steps to ensure that Black men, disproportionately incarcerated and disenfranchised by the war on drugs, would stand to profit from the industry.
Vince Sliwoski, a partner at the cannabis law firm Harris and Sliwoski, said he “was happy to see it, because I like the messaging”, but added: “She can’t just snap her fingers and do it when she gets into office. It’s not something that can be done via executive orders.”
Griffen Thorne, also an attorney specializing in cannabis, felt the promise was “clearly political”, given the announcement came just three weeks before the election. Thorne and other experts the Guardian spoke to suspect Harris’s campaign is attempting to shore up numbers with Black voters, particularly Black men, who are currently less likely to support Harris than they were Biden, according to a New York Times poll.
“Federal marijuana legalization is a sound policy and supporting it is a smart strategy – not just with Black voters, but with Americans across the board,” said Cat Packer, director of drug markets and legal regulation with Drug Policy Action.
“As a Black woman and the first person of color to regulate marijuana for both medical and adult use, I understand the challenges in creating legal marijuana markets that work for Black men. I also recognize the profound harms caused by federal prohibition.”
Packer added that it makes sense for Harris’s plan to include provisions that will remove barriers for Black men in cannabis and other domains.
Notably, the pledge sets Harris apart from both her opponent and her predecessor. While Trump and Biden now support some level of cannabis legalization, Harris is the first to explicitly state that ending prohibition is a priority.
During his administration, Biden made a number of promises on cannabis, including to expunge criminal records for possession convictions and get cannabis rescheduled so that it is eligible for FDA approval. The DEA has made progress on rescheduling, but it won’t go through before the election.
And Biden only expunged a small fraction of cannabis-related convictions during his administration.
“It was kind of embarrassing, because he kept up on his website all this stuff he was promising,” said Sliwoski.
Meanwhile, Trump has changed his tune on cannabis during this election season, including by supporting an upcoming Florida ballot initiative that would legalize recreational cannabis. But the decisions he made during his presidency left a lasting sense of distrust among advocates.
“One of the first things he did was appoint war on drugs zealot Jeff Sessions as his attorney general,” said Sliwoski, “The industry was really on edge, at least for the first couple of years of Trump’s regime,” he explained.
Harris also distinguishes herself from Trump in calling for social equity provisions that help Black men benefit from the industry. But making such provisions work is tricky. Even when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress during Biden’s administration, Thorne pointed out that they were unable to successfully pass cannabis policy reform – in part because of disagreements about whether social equity provisions went far enough.
“They let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” said Thorne.
While some Republicans in Congress now support cannabis reform, Thorne adds, they are less likely to vote for bills with a lot of social equity stipulations.
Sliwoski suggests looking at the More Act to try to get a sense of what kind of provisions Harris might support if elected president.
Harris co-sponsored the bill when it was introduced in Congress in 2019. The act would require the Bureau of Labor Statistics to track demographic information about cannabis business owners and employees, and create a trust fund devoted to initiatives that help communities hurt by the war on drugs.
“Inequities in the cannabis industry are due in part to banking restrictions and the high cost of entry into the market,” said Katharine Neill Harris, a drug policy fellow at Rice University. “Individuals need to have money at the beginning of the process, or they need wealthy investors, and white men tend to have more of both.”
Social equity initiatives didn’t fully address barriers to entry in the industry, and sometimes gave funding to people with dubious connections to the marginalized communities they were intended to serve, according to reporting from Politico.
Within the industry, reactions to Harris’s pledge are mixed.
“I’m not shocked to hear another politician make claims for federal legalization of cannabis in hopes of catching a few extra votes during an election year. It’s not the first time, but I do hope it’s the last,” said Caleb Counts, CEO of Connected Cannabis. “This industry has been strung along far too many times with far too many broken promises.”
On the other hand, Bryan Gerber, CEO of the rolling paper company Hara Supply, found the news encouraging as Harris’s support for cannabis reform predated her presidential candidacy.
“With Harris’s stance clear, it seems hopeful that she would sign a full-scale legalization bill or related legislation, such as increased medical marijuana access for veterans, social justice initiatives and industry banking reforms,” Gerber said. “This, of course, is only possible if Congress can successfully land a bill on the president’s desk.”
Bjones2
2 weeks ago
Remember 80% of our Debt $15M, will be swapped for 15% Equity!!!
OTC Disclosure & News Service
Pervasip Announces Restructuring and Spin-Out
Press Release | 02/01/2024
SEATTLE, WA, Feb. 01, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pervasip Corp. (OTCPK: PVSP) (“Pervasip” or the “Company”), a developer of companies and technologies in high value emerging markets, is pleased to announce the restructuring of its cannabis operations to convert about $15,000,000 in debt into 15% of a newly formed subsidiary. The restructuring is a prelude to the Company’s previously announced plan to spin that new subsidiary out into a standalone public entity on the OTCQB market.
The Company has completed its final audited financials, which have been instrumental in guiding this decision. A key aspect of this restructuring involves converting over 80% of the company's debt into equity in the new cannabis-focused entity. This move is designed to streamline operations and strengthen Pervasip's financial footing.
It's important to note that the impact of the subsidiary debt-equity conversion and the corresponding dilution at the subsidiary level will not impact the subsidiary common shares reserved for current Pervasip common shareholders in the subsidiary spin out. Thus, the subsidiary spin-out will still involve the 15,000,000 subsidiary common shares reserved for the Pervasip common shareholders as announced in 2023, 15,000,000 subsidiary common shares reserved for the newly restructured subsidiary debt, and the remaining 70,000,000 subsidiary common shares for holders of Pervasip’s Series K Preferred Stock. In addition to this restructuring, Pervasip is embarking on a strategic transition away from non-productive assets, focusing exclusively on higher-margin branded product sales in all of its operating markets. This shift is expected to enhance profitability and efficiency, aligning with the Company’s long-term growth objectives.
The goal through these changes is to position Pervasip in a way that allows the market to assess the Company’s performance based on profitability. We aim to establish benchmarks for stock performance valuations using metrics such as EV/Sales and EV/EBIDTA. Furthermore, this restructuring is anticipated to significantly reduce the company's debt-to-equity ratios, thereby strengthening our balance sheet and overall financial health.
"We are excited about this new phase in Pervasip's journey. Restructuring our operations and focusing on high-margin, branded product sales will not only streamline our business but also enhance shareholder value," said German Burtscher, CEO/President of Pervasip. "The long-announced spin-out of our cannabis assets marks a pivotal step in our strategy to become a more focused, profitable company. We believe these changes will positively reflect in our stock performance and overall market valuation."
This strategic restructuring represents a new chapter for Pervasip, positioning it for sustainable growth and profitability. The company is committed to transparency and will continue to provide updates as we progress through this transformative phase.
Bjones2
2 weeks ago
Harris Pledges to Help Black Men by Legalizing Marijuana
“Vice President Harris will break down unjust legal barriers that hold Black men and other Americans back by legalizing marijuana nationally,” Kamala Harris’ campaign said.
Updated Oct. 14, 2024 8:28AM EDT / Published Oct. 14, 2024 8:07AM EDT
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a rally at the Dort Financial Center on October 04, 2024 in Flint, Michigan.
Vice President Kamala Harris promised to legalize recreational marijuana use at the federal level if elected president, her campaign announced as part of a slate of new policy promises Monday.
Recreational cannabis is currently legal in 24 states, but has remained illegal federally, often leading to a contentious clash between overlapping laws.
The announcement was made alongside new policies the Harris campaign said form an “Opportunity Agenda” for Black men, and are designed to appeal to the important voting bloc that traditionally votes overwhelmingly in favor of Democrats.
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In the case of marijuana legalization, Black Americans have long been disproportionately arrested, targeted and punished by law enforcement and the judiciary for marijuana and other drug-related offenses.
According to FBI data, U.S. law enforcement agencies made roughly 217,000 arrests for marijuana-related offenses last year. Black Americans, who make up 13.7 percent of the U.S. population, accounted for 29 percent of drug arrests, according to the same data. Research also shows Black Americans are convicted at higher rates, and given longer sentences, in criminal cases.
“Vice President Harris will break down unjust legal barriers that hold Black men and other Americans back by legalizing marijuana nationally, working with Congress to ensure that the safe cultivation, distribution, and possession of recreational marijuana is the law of the land,” said the Harris campaign, in a press release.
The campaign added that Harris will “fight to ensure that as the national cannabis industry takes shape, Black men are able to access wealth and jobs in this new market.” Notably, data has shown that Black entrepreneurs and workers have frequently been shut out of the cannabis industry as it has emerged across the country as it has become legalized.
Bjones2
2 weeks ago
Kamala Harris Rolls Out National Marijuana Legalization Plan, Pledging To Make It ‘The Law Of The Land’
Published on October 14, 2024By Tom Angell
Vice President Kamala Harris is pledging to federally legalize marijuana, ensuring that access to cannabis is “the law of the land.”
If elected, she will “break down unjust legal barriers that hold Black men and other Americans back by legalizing marijuana nationally, working with Congress to ensure that the safe cultivation, distribution, and possession of recreational marijuana is the law of the land,” the Harris campaign said on Monday.
The Democratic presidential nominee’s cannabis plan to “legalize marijuana at the federal level to break down unjust legal barriers that hold Black men and other Americans back” is part of what her campaign calls an “opportunity agenda” aimed at winning the votes of African-American men in particular.
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To that end, the campaign says Harris will “fight to ensure that as the national cannabis industry takes shape, Black men—who have, for years, been overpoliced for marijuana use—are able to access wealth and jobs in this new market.”
“This pathbreaking agenda includes…legalizing recreational marijuana and creating opportunities for Black Americans to succeed in this new industry.”
In contrast, the VP’s new plan says that former President Donald Trump’s administration “threatened federal prosecutions for marijuana in states where marijuana use is legal, continuing the unjust and disproportionate use of marijuana possession laws to put Black Americans behind bars.”
That appears to be a reference to his first attorney general’s removal of Obama-era enforcement guidance that generally directed prosecutors to respect state cannabis laws. There was no large scale crackdown on state-legal marijuana businesses in the wake of that move, however.
Last month, Harris made clear she still supports legalizing cannabis, which she previously pushed for as a senator but had not publicly discussed since becoming President Joe Biden’s running mate in 2020.
“I just feel strongly, people should not be going to jail for smoking weed,” she said in an interview with the All the Smoke podcast. “And we know historically what that has meant and who has gone to jail.”
“Second, I just think we have come to a point where we have to understand that we need to legalize it and stop criminalizing this behavior,” Harris told hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, who are former NBA players.
“Actually this is not a new position for me,” Harris, who sponsored a federal cannabis legalization bill as a U.S. senator, said. “I have felt for a long time we need to legalize it. So that’s where I am on that.”
Until now, Harris had not made her position on marijuana part of her current campaign for the White House.
Also last month, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz said he thinks marijuana legalization is an issue that should be left to individual states, adding that electing more Democrats to Congress could also make it easier to pass federal reforms like cannabis banking protections.
“I think it’s an issue for the states on some of those, and that’s the way the states have done it,” Walz, who is Minnesota’s governor and previously served in Congress, said, dodging a reporter’s direct question about national cannabis legalization.
During that interview, Walz highlighted two incremental reform issues: medical marijuana access for veterans who receive healthcare through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as well as passage of federal legislation that would ease restrictions for banks that due business with marijuana companies.
If Democrats take control of both houses of Congress, he said, those matters might be easier to address.
“There’s work to be done nationally around the banking issue,” he said in the Spectrum News interview that was posted on September 14, “and I think that’s something that if we get a working Congress who actually wants to solve some issues—when we have the Democrats in charge of the House and the Senate—then we can start to see if some of those things make sense.”
Harris, for her part, has spoken in favor of federal legalization in the past, for example at a closed-door roundtable event with cannabis pardon recipients in March. In her previous run for president, Harris also backed full federal decriminalization for simple drug possession.
Meanwhile former Trump said recently during his campaign for a second term that he now supports federal marijuana rescheduling and marijuana banking access.
“As President, we will continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug, and work with Congress to pass common sense laws, including safe banking for state authorized companies, and supporting states rights to pass marijuana laws, like in Florida, that work so well for their citizens,” Trump posted to social media last month.
Trump also recently discussed the medical benefits of cannabis and said legalization would be “very good” for Florida, which will consider the reform at the ballot box in November’s election.
The Harris–Walz campaign, however, has accused Trump of lying about his support for marijuana reform—arguing that his “blatant pandering” runs counter to his administration’s record on cannabis.
Following Trump’s recent announcement of support for the Florida cannabis legalization ballot measure, the Democratic campaign has been working to remind voters that while in office, Trump “took marijuana reform backwards.”
In a memo from a senior campaign spokesperson, the Harris-Walz campaign accused Trump of “brazen flip flops” on cannabis, saying it’s one of the Republican former president’s “several bewildering ‘policy proposals’ that deserve real scrutiny.”
The posturing by the presidential candidates comes amid an ongoing process of moving marijuana to the less-restrictive Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
The Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS) this spring recommended moving the drug to Schedule III, but the action has faced resistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which has scheduled a hearing on the proposal for December 2—after the presidential election, raising concerns that the process will not be completed until after a new president is inaugurated.
Meanwhile, Trump also recently went after Harris over her prosecutorial record on marijuana, claiming that she put “thousands and thousands of Black people in jail” for cannabis offenses—but the full record of her time in office is more nuanced.
Trump’s line of attack, while misleading, was nonetheless notable in the sense that the GOP presidential nominee implied that he disagrees with criminalizing people over marijuana and is moving to leverage the idea that Harris played a role in racially disproportionate mass incarceration.
As president, Trump largely stayed true to his position that marijuana laws should be handled at the state-level, with no major crackdown on cannabis programs as some feared after then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the Obama era federal enforcement guidance. In fact, Trump criticized the top DOJ official and suggested the move should be reversed.
While he was largely silent on the issue of legalization, he did tentatively endorse a bipartisan bill to codify federal policy respecting states’ rights to legalize.
That said, on several occasions he released signing statements on spending legislation stipulating that he reserved the right to ignore a long-standing rider that prohibits the Justice Department from using its funds to interfere with state-legal medical marijuana programs.
Before Biden bowed out of the race, his campaign made much of the president’s mass cannabis pardons and rescheduling push, drawing a contrast with the Trump administration’s record. The Harris campaign so far has not spoken to that particular issue, and the nominee has yet to publicly discuss marijuana policy issues since her own campaign launched.
Bjones2
2 weeks ago
Kamala Harris Rolls Out National Marijuana Legalization Plan, Pledging To Make It ‘The Law Of The Land’
Published on October 14, 2024By Tom Angell
Vice President Kamala Harris is pledging to federally legalize marijuana, ensuring that access to cannabis is “the law of the land.”
If elected, she will “break down unjust legal barriers that hold Black men and other Americans back by legalizing marijuana nationally, working with Congress to ensure that the safe cultivation, distribution, and possession of recreational marijuana is the law of the land,” the Harris campaign said in a press release on Monday.
The Democratic presidential nominee’s cannabis plan is part of what her campaign calls an “opportunity agenda” aimed at winning the votes of Black men.
States That Legalize Marijuana See Higher College Basketball Recruitment
To that end, the campaign says Harris will “fight to ensure that as the national cannabis industry takes shape, Black men are able to access wealth and jobs in this new market.”
Last month, Harris made clear she still supports legalizing cannabis, which she previously pushed for as a senator but had not publicly discussed since becoming President Joe Biden’s running mate in 2020.
“I just feel strongly, people should not be going to jail for smoking weed,” she said in an interview with the All the Smoke podcast. “And we know historically what that has meant and who has gone to jail.”
“Second, I just think we have come to a point where we have to understand that we need to legalize it and stop criminalizing this behavior,” Harris told hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, who are former NBA players.
“Actually this is not a new position for me,” Harris, who sponsored a federal cannabis legalization bill as a U.S. senator, said. “I have felt for a long time we need to legalize it. So that’s where I am on that.”
Until now, Harris had not made her position on marijuana part of her current campaign for the White House.
Also last month, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz said he thinks marijuana legalization is an issue that should be left to individual states, adding that electing more Democrats to Congress could also make it easier to pass federal reforms like cannabis banking protections.
“I think it’s an issue for the states on some of those, and that’s the way the states have done it,” Walz, who is Minnesota’s governor and previously served in Congress, said, dodging a reporter’s direct question about national cannabis legalization.
During that interview, Walz highlighted two incremental reform issues: medical marijuana access for veterans who receive healthcare through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as well as passage of federal legislation that would ease restrictions for banks that due business with marijuana companies.
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