The Drug Report
The Drug Report
Capitol Hill Update: Delta-8-THC Ban, Farm Bill, SAFE Banking, and More with Jordan Davidson
Join us for an eye-opening discussion with Jordan Davidson as he unpacks the latest legislative movements on Capitol Hill. From the inclusion of a Delta-8-THC ban in critical bills to the intricate lobbying efforts that shape these laws, Jordan brings firsthand insights that you won't want to miss. This episode is packed with updates on the Farm Bill, the agriculture appropriations bill, and the powerful forces working behind the scenes.
Tune in to understand how public health advocates are making strides in a space traditionally dominated by industry lobbyists. Jordan and I also discuss the potential impacts of the Safe Banking Act and the Harris rider amendment, providing you with a comprehensive look at what's next for marijuana and hemp regulation. Whether you're a policy wonk or just curious about how these legislative processes unfold, this episode promises to enlighten and inform.
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Yes or no? Do you believe nicotine is not addictive?
Speaker 2:I believe nicotine is not addictive. Yes, Congressman, cigarettes and nicotine clearly do not meet the classic definitions of addiction. I don't believe that nicotine for our products are addictive.
Speaker 1:I believe nicotine is not addictive. I believe that nicotine is not addictive. I believe that nicotine is not addictive. Hello everyone, welcome to the TDR podcast. It's Wednesday, my name is Luke Niferatos, I'm your host and just want to thank SAM Smart Approaches to Marijuana, as well as FDPS, the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions, for co-sponsoring this podcast and making it possible. Thank you all for listening and subscribing. Today, I want to get into an update on just everything that's going on in federal affairs that relates to marijuana and hemp and Delta eight and everything else, and so, uh, there's no one better in the world to have give us this update than, uh, my friend and colleague, jordan Davidson. So I've got him back on the show. Hi Jordan, how are you doing?
Speaker 2:Hey Luke, how are you doing? I'm doing well. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Great, cool. Thank you for coming on. Uh, what's going on? Let, maybe, maybe we should just I mean, maybe that's a loaded question because there's a million things going on. So you've been all over the hill. Let's start with hemp-derived intoxicants like Delta-8. What's happening with that? What's the latest?
Speaker 2:Yeah, a lot is happening with the Delta-8 issue. As many people listening may know, in the Farm Bill it was added as an amendment that got included in the package that was passed out of the committee led by Mary Miller, to provision to ban Delta-8-THC and other hemp intoxicants Some great news. We just got that same language that Representative Miller wrote for the farm bill included into the base text of the agriculture appropriations bill. So that bill passed the subcommittee just last night and that means that now a ban on Delta 8 is in two really must pass bills appropriations bill and the farm bill which pretty much just doubles our chances of getting this across the finish line and signed into law. So this is a great development. The full committee will be taking up this appropriations bill next month, but I expect that this provision will remain intact.
Speaker 1:And when you say the full committee, you mean the full house appropriations committee.
Speaker 2:Yes, so the timeline will be. The subcommittee just passed it with the Delta 8 ban in the base text. The full appropriations committee will mark up the bill, which means that they will have the chance to add amendments, strip things from the bill if they'd like to kind of change it, and then they send it to the rules committee and then they send it to the House floor where it will get voted on. We've got some great leaders who are promoting this effort and some powerful folks behind us, so I'm expecting that this provision will sail through and we will see the Delta 8 ban and yet another must pass bill.
Speaker 1:It's pretty exciting because I think you know a lot of people who are advocates. You know there's just such a convoluted process, it's hard to understand how it all works. But the industry has been pulling the levers on bills like this for quite a number of years, trying to, you know, been pulling the levers on bills like this for quite a number of years, trying to, you know, very sneaky attach pro pot amendments to must pass pieces of legislation. And they've just understood how to work the system over the recent years because they've engaged all of the top K Street lobbying firms which you know. For those of you who don't know, that's, that's like the big power street of all the top lobbying firms in Washington DC. So it's pretty cool that you know the side of public health has been able to leverage this process now, getting important amendments into important places. Maybe you can talk a little bit about that, jordan. I mean, what have our allies looked like? You know, how is this? How are we just getting all this momentum right now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're getting a lot of momentum on Capitol Hill. I mean some other kind of updates for anyone In another appropriations bill. They added the Safe Banking Act in there and they removed the Harris rider, which is a rider that an amendment that prevents DC from having legal recreational marijuana dispensaries. I'm expecting those issues will actually be resolved in our favor quite soon here.
Speaker 2:A lot of members are upset about these things, but the industry, as you said, for years has been trying to push for all these pro-marijuana, pro-drug provisions. What I really think has happened, luke, is I think some things have just pushed people over the edge. I think people are upset about this rescheduling move. I think people see it for what it is, which is just a tax write-off for the industry that will increase their profit margins and allow them to commercialize more. I think people are kind of waking up to this as the news, as the media kind of is sharing stories and this is becoming more in the forefront of people's minds. And what I'm really pleased about is obviously we at SAM have had our core group of allies who have done a lot for us.
Speaker 2:We are now getting just a flood of new members of Congress who are saying we want to be active on this, we want to be champions for this and lead pro-public health measures, and that has happened really since marijuana rescheduling was announced, and so now we've got a whole host of new folks who are willing to go to the mat with us and fight against the industry, and that's helped us greatly.
Speaker 1:That's great, thank you, and obviously I would love to chat about who some of those people are and kind of some of the other things we have in the works, but we're not going to share all of our secret sauce on this podcast. I know, much to the chagrin of the MSO gang who has been following us ever since our huge update on marijuana rescheduling, yes, the MSO gang who loves sharing every single rumor that they see.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yes, we're not going to do anything that's not racist. We'll be a little more tactful here, yep, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So that's great. So that's kind of the hemp update. And again we want to thank CADCA for their great partnership in this process as well. They've really, I think, helped bring some of these new people to the table, so that's been fantastic. We are seeing some big discussion around this amendment that would ban the military from testing for marijuana with military recruits. So can you kind of give us a synopsis of that and where that stands? And then also we had a really exciting development on that too that you can share.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So there's an amendment or provision in the NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act, which is a must-pass bill. It basically sets some spending and policy items for the Pentagon, included provision by everyone's favorite congressman, Matt Gaetz, of course.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, truly, the paragon of governance and statesmanship.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he got a provision in there that would prohibit the military from testing for marijuana for recruits. Now this is kind of put in there under the guise of military readiness and recruitment, saying we have a recruitment crisis, which I'm not an expert in defense policy but from what I've been reading and hearing that is true. But we don't think that eliminating forms of drug testing is the right way to approach the military readiness and recruitment problems and apparently the Biden administration agrees with that. They don't think that that's the best way to attack it either. There was just yesterday what's called a SAP, a statement of administration policy that the administration released about the NDAA and different items that they don't like.
Speaker 2:And there's a section on the prohibition of cannabis testing for enlistment commission and certain armed forces. And there's a section on the prohibition of cannabis testing for enlistment commission and certain armed forces. And the administration says quote the administration appreciates Congress's desire to increase the available military accessions pool. However, the administration opposes section 532, which is this gate section which would prevent DOD from testing applicants for Delta 9 and Delta 8 THC containing marijuana. The use of marijuana by service members is a military readiness and safety concern. That is what the Biden administration is saying about that, and we couldn't agree more.
Speaker 2:And it's just, it's just a pretty big, it's a pretty big moment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a pretty big state. It's a pretty big statement obviously we disagree with. He continues to be opposed to legalizing marijuana. He continues to be opposed to normalizing marijuana, and to put out an official statement from the White House on this is a pretty big deal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I couldn't agree more, Luke. It's just showing also that this policy area you know we talk a lot about the false dichotomy of marijuana Either you have to lock people up or you have to have full legalization. And I think it's clear that the White House and the president understands that this issue is a lot more nuanced and be on the side of public health and public safety and not be all in all in for legalization and and kind of pro marijuana measures. And that's exactly what we're seeing with the statement of administration policy.
Speaker 1:That's great. So do we anticipate this? This provision is going to get stripped out. What do you see happening here?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So so you know, I it's. It's almost, I think, a done deal that this provision will be in the House bill, unfortunately, but there are the House version of the NDA, yeah, the House version of the NDA, yeah, but the Senate folks are really upset about this, even Democrats, certainly Republicans, and I expect that they're not just going to go down without a fight. So I think we're going to this is not the end of this story and I would doubt that this makes it into the kind of final package that's agreed on by both chambers of Congress.
Speaker 1:Great. Well, we'll look forward to hearing more about that. Thank you, Jordan. Now moving on to the Safe Banking Act, which is, you know, really always a hot item. It's really the only piece of marijuana legislation that's ever got a chance. Each Congress you've given us updates in the past. You know, for a while it's been pretty dead, so to speak. Where are we at now with the Safe Banking Act? What's happening with that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so in the appropriations process that we were talking about before, there is a new subcommittee chairman in the Appropriations Committee on the chairmanship for FSGG. That's Fiscal Services and General Government, and it's David Joyce. David Joyce is a Republican congressman who is very pro-marijuana. He actually kind of Ed Perlmutter passed the torch really to David Joyce. He is now the one who-.
Speaker 1:And Perlmutter is kind of the mastermind behind the Safe Banking Act. Former congressman from Colorado.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yep, and now David Joyce has kind of taken the lead on this. So in just a few months into his chairmanship he decided to try and put the Safe Banking Act into an appropriations bill and almost instantly we saw a huge backlash from members from outside groups, from congressional leadership who is squarely opposed to the Safe Banking Act. And we won't necessarily know technically what happens until tomorrow, because tomorrow is going to be the markup of FSGG. But I do not expect that the Safe Banking Act makes it into the final appropriations package. I think the writing is pretty much on the wall and that people can see that this is a poison pill amendment.
Speaker 1:Great Jordan. Thank you. Those are the three things I wanted to know about going on in federal affairs, and I think that's what everyone's been kind of wondering about. Is there anything else we're missing that you want to update our listeners on in terms of what's going on on the Hill?
Speaker 2:I think there will be certainly more things coming down the pipeline, especially as more of these appropriations bills move forward. We have some priorities there that I'm not going to share just yet but that we're excited to, and, you know, in the future I think we'll have an opportunity to discuss what Congress is going to do about marijuana rescheduling, because you bet there are some members who are pretty upset about it and who want to make their voices heard. So there are some fun things coming down with that. But as for now, I think that's pretty much all the major updates that we've got from here in Washington DC.
Speaker 1:Great, and so, for those of you who want to get involved if you haven't already you can go to our website, learnaboutsamorg, to the rescheduling page. You can submit your public comment, which we encourage you to do. Again, the DA is required to review these public comments, so definitely submit your public comment. Your voice will be heard. Make sure to do that, and subscribe to our emails weatherthedrugreportorg, Also learnaboutsamorg, where you'll get updates on how you can get active with this process going forward. So, Jordan, thank you so much as always, Appreciate the update. And to everyone else who listens, whatever podcast platform you're listening, please leave us a five-star rating and review. It's very much appreciated. And, again, check out our websites, whether it's learnaboutsamorg, whether it's learnaboutsamorg, whether it's gooddrugpolicyorg or thedrugreportorg. Thank you all very much. Have a great rest of your week.