Reduce harm of drug laws to open cannabis banking

Cannabis banking provisions have easily been approved by the House seven times, most recently as an amendment to the fiscal 2023 defense reauthorization. 

However, the provisions have historically stumbled in the Senate because Brown, Booker and others want to wrap banking access into a bigger cannabis overhaul package that would address the disproportionate harm marijuana policy inflicts on Black and Latino communities. 

“They just want to take care of the banks, and that’s all they want,” Brown, who is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said of Republicans. “I don’t know how much we can get them to accept, but if they want to take care of the banks, just like if they want all their tax breaks for corporate interests, they’re going to have to take the child tax credit with it. It’s a negotiation.”

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., a member of Senate Banking, said in an interview that cannabis banking was “in the mix” of NDAA negotiations, but “not there yet.” Menendez is the co-sponsor of a bill introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., that would open banking services to cannabis companies. Retiring Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., introduced the House version. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., another co-sponsor of the bill, said the provisions are also under consideration for inclusion in an appropriations omnibus bill still being negotiated. One of the provisions under consideration is training for people convicted of nonviolent, drug-related crimes, she said in an interview.