The NAACP’s board of directors approved a resolution on Thursday calling for the “immediate passage” of a bipartisan cannabis banking bill and expressing support for federally legalizing cannabis. And the vice chair of the group is specifically directing the message at Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who has held up House-passed legislation on the issue.
The organization said that the banking reform is critical to ensuring industry equity, giving small- and minority-owned businesses access to financial services that could help them compete in an increasingly consolidated market.
And while NAACP backs more broadly ending marijuana prohibition, it wants Congress to leverage the bipartisan momentum behind incremental reform and quickly pass the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which has cleared the House seven times now.
“The SAFE Banking Act could enable cannabis businesses with social equity licenses, diverse ownership licenses, or other licenses made available by states with medical- and adult-use cannabis laws that aim to foster a diverse and equitable industry, to better compete in the industry if it was coupled with the federal de-scheduling of cannabis and explicitly provided for fair terms and rates for Black-owned and social equity licensed cannabis businesses,” the resolution says.
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