While everyone is excited for the potential of the MORE act in the House, there are some clear areas of concern when it comes to everyone getting a fair share of the lucrative money pie.
Lots of marijuana advocates are concerned about a big business takeover, following in the footsteps of the tobacco and alcohol industries.
Parabola Center, an organization that advocates for federal legalization, has laid out a couple options to curtail any such takeover.
The first would limit licenses for corporations, allowing no more than 5 per corporation. Also, this option would withhold federal funds that do not meet “racial justice benchmarks,” which are not entirely defined.
The second option would keep the legality of the plant separate between states. This would allow states to create their own business models and reduce large scale, national weed corporations. From Parabola Center, this would “allow state governments to continue their experimentation while giving the federal government time to understand those models and develop its own evidence-based cannabis policies.”
“The key is that both approaches eliminate federal penalties for consumers and patients using cannabis, but they don’t open the doors to corporate consolidation we wouldn’t be able to take back,” says Shaleen Title, an employee of Parabola Center. “It’s important not to conflate consumer/patient rights with corporate profits. One is an immediate need and one isn’t.”
These are clearly some out of the box ideas, but in order to prevent a takeover by the big sharks who smell blood, out of the box is exactly the area best suited.
Read more at Marijuana Moment.
