"Legalization Is Not a Moment; It's a Process" Feat. Saphira Galoob

Put away your notions of what should have happened with cannabis at the federal level in 2022 and jump into the realities of what really did happen, because cannabis legalization is not a moment; it’s a process.

Saphira Galoob, Executive Director of the National Cannabis Roundtable and Principal & CEO of The Liaison Group, joined Vangst’s CEO & Founder, Karson Humiston, on this week’s episode of Proud to Work in Cannabis, to talk through the recent history of cannabis legislation, touching on topics such as the SAFE Banking Act, the Cole Memorandum, and 280E (oh my!)

Context

The SAFE Banking Act has to be included in a “vehicle legislation,” as it is too small to be considered “stand alone” legislation. This vehicle legislation is a combination of many different initiatives that are brought together and voted on in the Senate in its entirety. Meaning, SAFE Banking isn’t just at the mercy of lawmakers giving them the thumbs up, but is also restricted by whether it is able to be included in different pieces of vehicle legislation, with hopes that one of the vehicles passes.

Where We've Been

While there is a lot of reason to remain hopeful about SAFE Banking Act as the bill has passed 7+ times in the House, garnering bi-partisan support including that of 100+ republican supporters, there is also a lot of reason to remain skeptical. For example, SAFE Banking act was excluded from a $1.7 trillion government funding bill. in late December 22, 2022, something that many in the cannabis community was a safe bet. However, while we didn’t accomplish everything in cannabis in 2022 that we set out to accomplish, it’s important to note that we are leaps and bounds from where we were last year, and we are continuing to positively move forward.

Where We Are

Thanks to the trajectory of previous cannabis legislation, legislators are finally starting to learn what it takes to move cannabis legislation forward. Previously there was an “all-or-nothing” approach, with the one and only goal being cannabis legalization at the federal level. However, this is slowly changing to make way for a “tiered” approach, that aims to federally legalize cannabis incrementally by addressing cannabis business pain points in order to slowly build up a viable industry. This has been much better received by lawmakers in Washington, and seems to be the most beneficial path forward.

Where We're Going

There is a bright future ahead for cannabis with more support from all levels of the government, a trend that we will surely see continue as more markets open up. So this leads to the question – What does this mean for the future? Galoob leaves listeners with 3 predictions for 2023 – Listen now to find out what they are!