As the lame-duck Congress scurries to get its ducks in order before they get pushed out of the nest, lawmakers are doing their best for cannabis and psychedelics reform. 

Here’s what happened in the past several days.

The bill will facilitate research on cannabis and its potential health benefits by streamlining the application process for scientific marijuana studies and removing existing barriers for researchers who have stalled for decades.

“The Senate’s unanimous passage of this legislation represents a significant change in posture towards much needed and meaningful cannabis reform," said said Khadijah Tribble, CEO of the US Cannabis Council and a senior VP at Curaleaf Holdings (OTC:CURLF).

Then on Thursday, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) filed a new bill that would allow state-legal marijuana businesses to access certain federal Small Business Administration (SBA) loans and services. The cannabis industry is on the outs with the banking system due to weed's classification as a Schedule I drug.

Also on Thursday, Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Rob Portman (R-Oh) and Reps. Danny Davis (D-IL) and David Schweikert (R-AZ) filed legislation to repeal the onerous lifetime ban on receiving the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) for students with felony drug convictions.

“This backwards requirement makes it more difficult to ensure successful reentry for those who have served their time by limiting their ability to advance their education and pursue a career,” said the lawmakers in their filing.

Earlier in the week, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin (D) laid out a bill (not yet filed) in the House Oversight subcommittee that will deal with employment issues facing nearly 3 million federal workers who regularly get disqualified from jobs for admitting they’ve consumed cannabis at some point. 

And Then There Are Psychedelics

Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rand Paul (R-KY) jointly filed a bill requesting the DEA move psychedelic “breakthrough therapies” like psilocybin and MDMA from Schedule I to Schedule II.

And there is likely to be more where all of this came from, so stay tuned for all your cannabis news on Benzinga Cannabis.