Minorities for Medical Marijuana, the largest community-based nonprofit in the cannabis and hemp industry, spent 4/20 week walking the halls of Congress for their annual Lobby Days. The event culminated with a Judiciary Committee Markup where a large faction of the organization assembled to address Senator Corey Booker (D-NJ). 

While the group thanked Booker for his support, they urged him to help bring relief to the industry by passing the SAFE Banking Act, including a provision for better access to the capital markets.

McCarthy was a panelist at the recent Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Miami where she spoke on the topic of Funding an Inclusive Cannabis Future.

Sen. Booker acknowledged the struggle to ensure that Black, Brown and non-traditional entrepreneurs, especially those impacted by the war on marijuana, have economic opportunities.

The group also urged Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) to focus on new hemp provisions that could be added to the upcoming Farm Bill to help those affected by the War on Drugs to gain better access to the hemp sector.

“We want to see the Farm Bill have more language in there that is going to support felons that want to get into the industry and also being able to make it expansive for Black farmers. We know they have had a hard time in other sectors, this is it, hemp is where it is, hemp is a future crop,” McCarthy said.

Booker admitted that the hemp felony ban was news to him, but agreed to do something about it.

“But it’s not new to my team, I know they support it, but I didn’t know about the felony ban there, so let’s figure out what we can do,” Booker said.

Photo courtesy of M4MM.