The marijuana industry is blazing up, Timothy J. Burger writes in DuJour. The National Cannabis Industry Association has signed on both Heather Podesta + Partners and Republican law firm Jochum Shore & Trossevin to boost its presence on the Hill. The five-year-old association also has an in-house lobbyist, former Director of Federal Affairs at the American Legislative Exchange Council Michael Correia. Together, Podesta, Correia and others working for NCIA held about 50 meetings on Capitol Hill in the second half of 2015. Though groups like the George Soros-backed Drug Policy Alliance, the Marijuana Policy Project, Americans for Safe Access and even the ACLU and NORML have been advocating for legalization and medical marijuana access for years, NCIA is all business: The group is working on issues like tax deductions and allowing marijuana companies to use banks.

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