Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) says that lawmakers are working to “resurrect” a package of cannabis reform legislation from the last session, acknowledging that failure to advance a banking fix for the industry “literally means that hundreds of businesses go out of business.”
Advocates with the non-profit Minorities for Medical Marijuana (MMM) approached Booker following a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on unrelated issues on Thursday, urging the senator to push for passage of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act to free up financial services for cannabis entrepreneurs.
“We know you support social justice and social equity opportunities, but we also have to be pragmatic about what’s going to pass,” MMM Founder Roz McCarthy told Booker. “This is where we are right now—but what can we do to get incremental changes passed?”
Booker, who has faced criticism from certain advocates and stakeholders for initially insisting that he wouldn’t allow SAFE Banking to pass without specific equity-focused provisions, said that he and colleagues secured a “good deal” last Congress that “got stomped at the one-yard line.”
Read more at marijuanamoment.net