D.C. Update: Victories in House Show Momentum for Cannabis Legislation
As Washington State celebrates its first retail sales of marijuana, and one state after another continues lowering the burdens to accessing medicinal marijuana, across the country in the “other” Washington (D.C.), Congress continues to lag public opinion polls and is slow to embrace the marijuana movement sweeping the nation.
But even as stand-alone legislation to address issues like banking access and unfair taxation has remained bottled up in Congressional committees, two recent victories show that positive momentum is gathering and progress is being achieved.
Every year Congress appropriates funds for the government to operate in the upcoming fiscal year. This is usually accomplished in 13 separate appropriations bills, each of which affects different departments. Each appropriations bill has to pass the House and Senate before it’s signed by the President, and in some years Congress consolidates multiple appropriations bills into one large bill. Gridlock and partisanship have gotten so bad in recent years that the “normal” budget process has not worked and government has been shut down. But this year, the appropriations process has presented an opportunity to offer amendments affecting the marijuana movement.
The specific appropriations legislation funding the Department of Justice was debated on May 30 in the House of Representatives, and Congressmen Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Sam Farr (D-CA) introduced an amendment that would forbid the Department of Justice from using federal funds to interfere with medical marijuana patients or caregivers who are compliant with state and local laws. A similar amendment has been proposed in Congress before but never met with success. This time, the amendment was approved by a 219-189 vote, including the support of 49 Republicans.
Although there are still several challenges to surmount before the amendment’s language can become law, the vote was nonetheless historic as the first time in history the House of Representatives passed pro-marijuana legislation and agreed that individual states should be allowed to determine its own marijuana laws.
In the Senate, a bipartisan amendment introduced by Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) would accomplish the same goals as the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, but Republican and Democrat Senators can’t even agree on debate procedures, so the legislation languishes and we continue to wait until Senate leaders bring appropriations bills up for a vote.
This month, the House debated the Financial Services Appropriations bill, which funds the Department of the Treasury. During that debate, Representatives Denny Heck (D-WA), Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), and Barbara Lee (D-CA) offered an amendment that would forbid the use of federal funds to penalize financial institutions for serving cannabis businesses that are operating in compliance with state and local laws. In a vote that sent a strong message of support for opening up banking access to the legal industry, the House passed the amendment 231-192.
That amendment faces the same challenges of a gridlocked Senate that the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment does. But the combination of these two votes in the Republican-controlled House shows that the work of NCIA and our allied organizations to educate federal legislators about our issues is having a very real impact.
NCIA Member Profile: CannLabs
NCIA Member Profile: CannLabs, Inc.
About: CannLabs, Inc., is a solutions provider with intellectual property, proprietary cloud-based analytics, and scientific methods to serve the cannabis industry. Through Carbon Bond Holdings Inc., CannLabs provides laboratories with the necessary business intelligence technology and other solutions required to serve the cannabis industry, and these include the first state-licensed laboratory in Denver, Colorado.
Cannabis Industry Sector: Analytical Testing
NCIA Member Since: 2011
Membership Status: Sustaining
Led by: Genifer Murray
How has CannLabs evolved since you founded the business?
CannLabs has made leaps and bounds since we founded the company in April 2010. I started in a lab space that was 150 square feet with one instrument. We recently moved into our new lab space that is 4000 square feet with 2500 square feet of office space. We currently have 20 employees and continue to rapidly grow. We just signed a lease in Connecticut and we’re excited about expanding our services there. Testing in Colorado is mandatory for adult-use only, and we were the first state-certified lab in the country. The industry is changing fast and I’m extremely happy at the way CannLabs is positioned to support it.
Why did you choose to go into cannabis testing, and how does testing and analysis fit into the future of the cannabis industry?
It was literally started on a napkin in Arizona when I was visiting my Dad at the beginning of 2010. My first business partner had the idea and after returning to Colorado I did my due diligence and absolutely loved the idea. I have a B.S. in Microbiology and I love science. It seemed like a perfect fit for me as it allowed me to bring together my business brain and my natural desire to do something different.
CannLabs started as a lab offering a full range of testing services, but we have found that our expertise, experience, and quality of our service has allowed us to be heavily involved in other areas beyond testing.
For example, if a grower finds that the quality of the product is not good during testing, we can advise them on how best to deal with the issue. This allows for improved quality of the product all around which means a better and safer product for the consumer. We also have medicinal chemists who research deep into cannabis and look for ways to reformulate for better products. The science and technology behind cannabis is an area we excel in at CannLabs.
We also have a proprietary, cloud-based technology that feeds real-time data via our web portal. This allows clients to post their test results instantly on our ‘Product Finder’ or our other partner sites (MJ Freeway and WeedMaps) which allows consumers to find CannLabs-tested and -certified products fast and easy. This not only gives customers reassurance that the products they are finding are certified by CannLabs, but it also drives traffic to the dispensaries we test for as it is a fabulous location-finder. We also offer statistics so our clients can push one button and see trends. For example, the Colorado MED process requests a 3-month average for potency. Our clients do not need to take the time to do that. Instead they simply push a button and our system does it for them. Whatever our customers want to see, we can customize it.
What was the licensing process like?
Comprehensive. The CDPHE (Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment) was at our lab for about nine hours going through methods, SOP’s (Standard Operating Procedures), testing our lab director and lab staff, and thoroughly going through the lab. Heather Despres, our lab director, was very prepared, so we were able to get our license without many changes. We were very happy to finally get certified, as I have been waiting for the opportunity for four years.
Why did you get involved with NCIA?
Why wouldn’t CannLabs? I remember in the very beginning of 2011 when it started, I wanted to join so badly but I was barely making enough to keep afloat. Once I could, I joined immediately; I believe at the end of 2011. It is very important to support the industry not only locally but nationally. NCIA is the ONLY one out there working for us. NCIA has been so wonderful to be a part of and you meet some amazing people leading the industry in this group. If only the entire industry felt this way, we might have banking issues solved by now.
NCIA Board Plans Future for Industry’s Trade Association
By Aaron Smith, NCIA executive director
The National Cannabis Industry Association’s newly-elected Board of Directors met last week in Seattle to receive presentations from staff and provide strategic direction for the organization’s core efforts.
One of the primary responsibilities of the board is to oversee NCIA’s financial affairs, which are very healthy as membership rolls have reached nearly 700 cannabis businesses midway through the year. NCIA’s revenues are 10% over the projections for Q1 and Q2 and spending is on target. The success of our national conference and growth in membership have allowed NCIA to hire an additional events coordinator who will assist the organization in building out a robust agenda of educational and networking events for members.
The board also received presentations from Deputy Director Taylor West and Director of Government Relations Michael Correia on NCIA’s communications and lobbying efforts, respectively. NCIA and the cannabis industry have garnered more media attention in 2014 than ever before, raising awareness of the positive contribution responsible cannabis businesses make to the national economy and growing public support for the federal and state policy reforms needed to advance the regulated industry across the country.
The addition of a full-time staff lobbyist at the end of last year has allowed us to provide more political representation in Washington, DC than ever before. NCIA’s director of government relations has already made contact with every congressional office and has personally met with over 200 House offices and 30 Senate offices to build support for amending the 280E provision of the tax code as well as reforms to banking regulations so that the cannabis providers will someday (hopefully soon) have access to basic financial services all other industry’s take for granted.
A former Republican Hill staffer himself, Michael Correia, has focused primarily on building relationships with conservative members of Congress and appealing to them on issues of states’ rights and limited government. This effort helped lead to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voting for the first time to block federal resources from to be used to undermine state medical marijuana laws or penalize financial institutions for doing business with state-legal cannabis providers.
The board also collectively donated over $8,000 to NCIA’s federal PAC during the meeting so that the industry can further support candidates that support our issues in the months ahead.
Before concluding the meeting, board members re-elected Ean Seeb of Denver Relief as the board chairman and elected John Davis of Northwest Patient Resource Center as vice-chair.
The future is bright for the cannabis industry and its trade association but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done before our members are treated fairly under federal law. As NCIA grows, we will continue to dedicate resources to important government and public relations work as well as building a culture of responsibility and political engagement within the industry.
Medical Marijuana on the U.S. House Floor
State medical marijuana laws will get a discussion on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives next week, when Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Sam Farr (D-CA) plan to introduce an amendment to the Department of Justice’s funding bill which would bar federal funds from being used to prosecute medical marijuana patients and caregivers who are abiding by state law.
The discussion follows on the heels of a recent House floor vote that would have allowed doctors with the Department of Veterans Affairs to discuss the potential benefits of medical marijuana with their veteran patients. The amendment failed, but only by 27 votes in the Republican-majority House, indicating the increasing possibilities for successful marijuana reform measures.
The Marijuana Policy Project, our close allies in the reform movement, have set up a page where you can find out how your member of Congress voted on the recent Veterans Affairs amendment. Based on how your legislator voted, they’ve also prepared links to pre-written letters allowing you to either thank him or her for supporting the amendment, or encourage those who voted against it to reconsider his or her stance ahead of the vote on Department of Justice funding.
Members-Only Features Arrive at the NCIA Website!
We are excited to announce that the Member features of the NCIA website are now live!
In the first week of May, an email was sent to the primary contact email address that we have on file for your NCIA member business. That email – with the subject line “[National Cannabis Industry Association] Please activate your NCIA member account” – included instructions and a link to set up the user name and password for your member business. If you have not yet done so, please do. You will need your member account to access the Board of Directors voting form as well as the full stories included in this newsletter. If you did not get that email or are having trouble activating your account, please email communications@thecannabisindustry.org.
Your NCIA member account will also allow you to access more exclusive content, including the Members-Only Blog, where you can share and discuss industry issues with other NCIA members. By logging in to your member account, you will also be able to review and update your member information and add additional users from your member business.
(Please note that additional company users will have access to member content but will not be able to access the Board of Directors ballot or change information in the member account. Only the primary member account-holder has those capabilities.)
In order to make the Members-Only Blog a true forum for ideas and discussion, we are now accepting submissions for educational guest posts written by NCIA members or allied nonprofit organizations. Please review the guidelines below before submitting your post to communications@thecannabisindustry.org.
- Guest posts are educational in nature and directed toward an audience of cannabis business professionals.
- Guest posts are 200-800 words and may contain external links, images, video, and other forms of content.
- While it is assumed that members writing guest posts will reference their member company and provide resources created by the company, the NCIA blog is not a forum for company advertisements. Pitches and advertisement-heavy posts will not be accepted for publication.
- All posts are subject to editing by NCIA staff and become the property of NCIA upon publication.
- Posts may be shared more widely by the author or NCIA through social media, email, or external media.
Step Right Up for the Cannabis Carnival!
NCIA and O.penVAPE are very proud to present Cannabis Carnival, an exciting fundraising event open to the public, taking place in conjunction with our Cannabis Business Summit. The Cannabis Carnival is sure to stimulate the senses with live entertainment and MANY special performances! We hope you’ll come celebrate with us and help raise money for your national industry trade association.
The Cannabis Carnival is taking place at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom in Denver on June 24th, following the first day of the Cannabis Business Summit. The bill features an incredible line-up of national and local musical acts – The Nadis Warriors, SunSquabi, Itchy-O, Erothyme, and Bear Antler. Covering the spectrum from electronica to funk to brass band to rock & roll, there’s something for everyone at the Cannabis Carnival!
General admission tickets are available to the public. NCIA is also offering special VIP passes, featuring an exclusive balcony, bar, and dance area, along with drink tickets, heavy hors d’oeuvres, and other special gifts. All proceeds from the Cannabis Carnival will support NCIA’s critical missions of advocacy and education on behalf of the responsible cannabis industry.
Get your tickets here or bundle them with your registration for the Cannabis Business Summit and we’ll see you under the big tent!
Cannabis Carnival, a fundraising spectacle for the National Cannabis Industry Association
Presented by NCIA and O.penVAPE
Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom – June 24
2637 Welton Street Denver, CO
Doors: 8PM
Show: 8:30PM – 2AM
Ages 18+
Huge thanks to our generous sponsors for making this all possible!
O.penVAPE
The Farm
Good Chemistry
Bridgewest CPA’s and Consultants LLC
The Clinic
Surna
Cannabis Trainers
Sponsorships for this lively fundraiser are still available for member-businesses looking to build brand awareness among industry professionals and cannabis consumers alike! Contact Brooke@thecannabisindustry.org for more information.
The 2014 Cannabis Business Summit Is Coming
On June 24 and 25 in Denver, NCIA will host its first-ever national conference – the 2014 Cannabis Business Summit. This must-attend event features the biggest names in the industry, a jam-packed agenda of informational sessions, and unmatched opportunities to meet and network with the country’s top cannabis professionals.
Even better, NCIA members receive a $345 discount on the two-day conference pass!
Detailed information about the conference schedule, speakers, and registration can all be found at http://cannabisbusinesssummit.com.
For a chance to showcase your company to more than 800 cannabis industry leaders, as well as countless members of the media, please review our Cannabis Business Summit Sponsorship Opportunities. A limited number of sponsorship opportunities are being offered, so don’t miss your chance to take advantage before they’re all sold out. Contact Ryan Fleischhauer at ryan@gsmiweb.com for more information on sponsorship opportunities.
This will be the biggest and best event NCIA has ever hosted, and we’re excited to see all of you in Denver in June!
NCIA Board Election Ends Friday, May 16
The 2014 NCIA Board of Directors election opened on April 30. Voting will continue until midnight Eastern Time on Friday, May 16. The online voting form is only accessible by securely logging into the NCIA website via a member-business account.
Following a change to NCIA bylaws earlier this year, all NCIA member businesses, regardless of membership level, are eligible to vote in the board election. Votes will be weighted accorded to membership level. The votes of Basic Members will be weighted at face value; Sponsoring Members’ votes will carry twice the weight of Basic Member votes; and Sustaining Members’ votes will carry five times the weight of Basic Member votes.
There are currently 20 elected board members seated on NCIA’s board, in addition to the executive director. Of the 20 elected positions, eleven seats are up for election in 2014, and there are 24 nominated candidates.
For the list of candidates, their bios, and their candidate statements, please visit the 2014 Board Election Voter Guide.
Don’t miss your chance to weigh in on the future leadership of your industry’s trade association!
