The U.S. Cannabis Council (USCC) announced on June 28 that it has created Legalize America, which is the first United States’s Super Political Action Committee (or Super PAC) that is specifically dedicated to cannabis reform. A Super PAC is an “independent expenditure only political committee” that can receive unlimited contributions from various sources “for the purpose of financing independent expenditures and other independent political activity,” according to the Federal Election Commission.

“We’re excited to share that we’ve launched Legalize America, the nation’s first Super PAC devoted to cannabis reform. The new independent expenditure group will work to raise the profile of cannabis as a national issue in the 2024 election and beyond,” the USCC wrote on Twitter.

Legalize America also states how it plans to take action. “We are committed to working with advocates, industry professionals, and community leaders to create policies that support cannabis legalization in a thoughtful and responsible manner,” it stated on its website. “Our primary focus is on promoting federal legalization, expunging records for non-violent cannabis offenses, and ensuring that the benefits of legalization reach all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.”

Legalize America has garnered support of numerous cannabis companies with the intent of raising awareness for cannabis reform in next year’s election and in the future. Legalize America Chair Matt Harrell, who also holds the position of vice president of government relations with Curaleaf, explains what Legalize America plans to accomplish. “Legalize America is committed to ending cannabis prohibition and advancing expungement efforts and responsible use,” said Harrell. “We will use all available tools—including scorecards, endorsements, and targeted independent expenditure campaigns—to advance cannabis reform, with the goal of creating a prosperous and equitable cannabis industry.”

David Culver, senior vice president of public affairs with the USCC, told Market Watch that congress is not doing its job in reflecting the will of the people. “Congress is stuck in the past,” Culver said. “They’re way behind what Americans want. It’s not unusual for Congress to be a lagging indicator.”

Legalize American Secretary Pete Meachum, also senior director of government affairs at the Cronos Group, explained that action is needed now to help push legalization along. “We believe the 2024 presidential election will be a pivotal moment in the fight to end cannabis prohibition,” said Meachum. “We are laying the groundwork now to use advertising, grassroots engagement, voter outreach and events to keep cannabis front and center throughout the campaign.”

Legalize America added that it plans to partner with “high-profile public figures and brands” to raise funds and support reform efforts. It also plans to work with legal dispensaries to ask consumers for “round up” donations.

The USCC member list currently includes 38 companies, such as Ayr Wellness, Cresco Labs, Green Thumb Industries, Scotts Miracle-Gro, Vicente LLP, Wana Brands, and more. It’s led by chair Jessica Billingsley of Akerna, Vice Chair Dan Pabon of Schwazze, Meachum as treasurer, and chair emeritus Christian Sederberg of Vicente Sederberg LLP.

News regarding the 2024 election continues to take shape, with candidates speaking in support or opposition of cannabis and other psychedelic substances. Last week, current Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stated that if elected to become president, he would not decriminalize cannabis. “I don’t think we would do that,” he said in response to an individual who represents military veterans who could benefit from decriminalization. “If you do something with that, it could be goodnight right then and there. You could die just by ingesting that, so I think that that’s problematic.”

However in June, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said that he would partially end the War on Drugs if he is elected. At a CNN townhall, he addressed a question from a mother whose son was put in prison for fentanyl use, asking what he would do “about the war on drugs, which has obviously failed so miserably.”

“End it,” Christie said. “I want to focus on treatment. Look, your son—and I don’t want to pretend to know him, but I know a lot of people have gone through this. And I’ve had some dear friends who have lost their life to this. He has a disease the same way heart disease, diabetes, cancer. It is a disease, and he can be treated.”

Back in December 2024, musician Afroman announced that he is also running for president in 2024 with the intent of legalizing cannabis. “There comes a time in the course of human events when change must be affected,” said Afroman’s campaign manager. “That time is now. Americans are suffering, and the status quo is no longer acceptable.”

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The U.S. Cannabis Council (USCC) announced on August 19 that it has named Khadijah Tribble to serve as the organization’s new CEO. Tribble succeeds former USCC CEO Steven Hawkins, who led USCC since the organization was first founded in February 2021.

“We thank Steven Hawkins for his integral role in launching USCC, and we are thrilled to welcome Khadijah Tribble’s to the role of CEO at this critical juncture for the cannabis industry,” said Jessica Billingsley, chair of USCC and CEO of Akerna. “She is deeply respected for her leadership, expertise and wide-ranging experience and is well-positioned to advance our mission of ending prohibition and creating an equitable, values-based industry.”

Tribble founded Marijuana Matters in 2020, and the organization serves as a cannabis education and advocacy incubator. She also served as CEO of the Marijuana Policy Trust, which helps develop and run DEI (Diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs in the cannabis industry.

Tribble often focused on fair and equitable policies on behalf of marginalized communities throughout her career, and also serves on USCC’s DEI Task Force. She holds a master’s degree from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

“USCC is focused on securing critical reforms in this session of Congress,” Tribble tells High Times. “My chief priority is doing the work to make that happen, with the understanding that the banking bill will broadly make our industry safer and more equitable, and expungement will meaningfully improve the lives of countless Americans with cannabis records.”

Tribble continues, “These concrete wins are the stepping stones we need to reach our ultimate goal: comprehensive federal reform that deschedules cannabis while fostering an equitable, inclusive industry.”

USCC’s mission is to improve legal access to cannabis—but in an equitable and values-driven way, advancing cannabis legalization at the federal and state levels. The organization also promotes restorative justice for communities hit the hardest by the War on Drugs.

The USCC’s Recent Work

Earlier this year, USCC launched the DEI Task Force with leaders in law, business, and civil rights, partnering with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation to create an internship program for Black college students and recent graduates at leading cannabis companies and organizations.

Steven Hawkins, former CEO of the USCC, left his role gracefully as the organization unveiled a powerful briefing and ad campaign in support of the SAFE Banking Act.

On July 27, Reps. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), as well as Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) joined Hawkins for a briefing in support of federal banking reform.

Dennis Brown, whose son Jordan, was murdered during an armed robbery of a dispensary in Tacoma, Washington was featured in one of two new video ads presented by the USCC during the event.

“My son Jordan was the ultimate loss,” Brown says in the video. “He got his life taken because we don’t give these businesses the opportunity to use credit cards. It should have been all credit cards and no cash. My son graduated from college, he was an artist, he was working to supplement his income, and had a wonderful life. Leaves a very big void in my life.”

The second video in the campaign shows small cannabis business owners in Washington state who were the targets of a worsening trend of crime.

The USCC calls itself “the voice of America’s regulated cannabis industry,” with business members from many of the largest cannabis companies in the nation, as well as leaders in cannabis policy and criminal justice reform.

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Sen. Cory Booker, Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plan to release cannabis legislation to both end the federal prohibition of cannabis and help communities that are most impacted by the War on Drugs, possibly by the end of the month.

Sens. Booker, Wyden, and Chuck Schumer introduced a discussion draft of the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA) last July, which would decriminalize cannabis at the federal level and allow states to decide whether to make it legal. It would also expunge nonviolent cannabis crimes, and taxes would be allocated to help communities hit hardest by the War on Drugs.

Since releasing the outline of the bill, lawmakers called for feedback on what to include and exclude from the final bill. The community responded. NORML, for instance, called for strengthening civic protections to clear records, revising outdated testing requirements, and providing a pathway for small businesses to compete with large ones. Others showed concern about tax rates.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced at a press conference in February that he intends to formally introduce the bill in April. NJ.com reports that the bill is almost written, and due to drop towards the end of the month. While the media is targeting April 20 as a good symbolic date for an announcement, the Senate is in recess through April 22, so a bill being introduced during the week of April 25 is more likely.

“I don’t mean this to be fully in jest but there’s been a lot of conversation about doing it on 4/20,” Booker told news outlets at the U.S. Capitol. “Aspirationally, I would love to see it done on 4/20 but I can’t speak to that, given all the things that are sort of backing up in the Senate.”

The U.S. House approved another comprehensive cannabis bill on April 1, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, but that gained support from only three Republicans. Booker needs the support of at least 10 GOP senators if the Senate is to pass any sort of legislation, but remains optimistic about ending prohibition the right way.

“This cannot just be about simple legalization,” Booker said. “It has to be about restorative justice. We had a really awful run of prohibition. This war on drugs has been not a war on marijuana. It’s been a war on people. This idea that you can just suddenly legalize or decriminalize and have so many Americans still suffering the consequences for having a criminal conviction where they can’t get a job, a loan from a bank, that’s just patently unfair. So this is a bill built around those ideas of restorative justice.”

Steven Hawkins is president and CEO of the U.S. Cannabis Council (USCC), as well as the former executive director of Marijuana Policy Project. Hawkins said that we don’t have the full bill quite yet, but a few things stand out. A full list of the USCC’s guidance for the draft discussion was released last September, but a few immediate issues come to mind.

“First of all, the proposed tax, at least in the draft, had the federal tax at 25% on top of high state taxes that exist currently,” Hawkins told High Times. “It would just make it impossible for the industry to succeed in most states. So that would have to be addressed. And then the question of primary jurisdiction. The draft proposed that the FDA have primary jurisdiction. We certainly have concerns with the role of the FDA. We’d rather see the Tax and Trade Bureau have primary jurisdiction.” 

The CAOA would also establish a regulatory framework for cannabis under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). Descheduling would also normalize income tax for legal cannabis businesses, meaning existing businesses would no longer be subject to Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code. But some argue cannabis should be regulated more like alcohol. “The Tax and Trade Bureau is already dealing with adult-use products with alcohol and tobacco,” Hawkins said. “We’d want that agency to have jurisdiction over cannabis as well.” 

The bill, once introduced, will head to the Senate, where it will pass through several committees and converge with more. “The bill—to our knowledge—will intersect with at least a dozen committees,” Hawkins said.

The CAO Act (or CAOA) has been characterized as a states’ rights bill, allowing states to choose, and differs from bills such as Rep. Nancy Mace’s States Reform Act, mostly due to the inclusion of items such as social equity provisions.

“Normally legislation this comprehensive doesn’t pass on the first go,” Hawkins said. “You have to build support. What we saw with the MORE Act, was that there were some Republicans asking questions: How do we protect children. How do we deal with intoxication. There were a couple people who said, absolutely not, we should not allow this ever, but there were not anywhere close to the majority in terms of comments during the hearing. What we’re seeing is the maturity of our movement. There are now competing bills in the House of Representatives with Nancy Mace’s bill, the MORE Act, etc.”

While some leaders worry about the bill’s odds in the Senate under the current Congress, others worry about the tax implications. Rep. David Joyce opposed the MORE Act, issuing an announcement citing that it has no chance of passing the Senate, while others disagree.

“The movement towards cannabis descheduling and legalization is growing stronger and stronger,” Hawkins said. “We now have competing visions in the House. We’ll see what Republican support emerges in the Senate. It may be—given the partisan nature of the Senate—that the CAO bill will just be seen—rightly or wrongly—as simply a Chuck Schumer bill. But that doesn’t mean if a Republican bill were to emerge in the Senate, that there would not be [more supporters].”

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