Did Biden Just Legalize Cannabis? – Hemp | weed | marijuana

Has US President Joe Biden Legalized Cannabis?

No, but his government pardoned Americans from federal charges of small amounts of cannabis.

This move will help over 6,000 people, but “it’s important to note that most petty cannabis crimes are actually state-level,” says Nawan Butt, portfolio manager at Purpose Investments

Biden is asking state governors to pardon those with simple possession convictions.

Biden is finally taking a step toward cannabis reform

“This is totally unexpected,” Nawan tells CLN. “It looks very much like political posturing in the midterms. Nonetheless, it is of great importance to the cannabis industry.”

ETF Managers Group Cannabis Research and banking expert Jason Wilson is less surprised.

“The general feeling in the industry is that with some criminal justice reform, we’re going to get safe banking,” he says, “this announcement and action by President Biden really supports that.”

The exchange certainly liked the announcement.

“This has really kickstarted and reinvigorated the cannabis industry in terms of stocks and valuations,” says Nawan.

“In the last hour of trading yesterday when the news came out there was a huge surge in volume,” says Jasons, “it’s definitely going to ease off. My guess is that you will start to see positioning for what we can expect from Congress after the interim periods.”

Nawan and Jason hope Congress can pass banking legislation for the cannabis industry.

But can Congress pass a Safe Banking Act within the next two years? “It’s something that can be done in the next two months,” says Nawan.

What did Biden do?

When will Biden legalize cannabis? Probably never. “Congress needs to take real action to move forward more efficiently,” says Jason.

So what did Biden do on Thursday? He did three things.

1. He pardoned federal cannabis convictions for simple possession.
2. He urged state governors to do the same.
3. He asked the Department of Health and the Attorney General to review cannabis and see if they could reschedule or reschedule the appointment.

It’s this third option that has the cannabis industry most optimistic.

Is Biden Rescheduling Cannabis?

Cannabis is currently classified as a Schedule 1 drug, which puts it in the same category as heroin. Planning out or rescheduling cannabis would be a significant step towards decriminalization.

How long is it going to take?

“We think a sub-two-year period is a pretty aggressive time frame,” Nawan says. “A more conservative timeline would be around five years, but we think that’s far too long for something like this to happen.”

Could Biden Reschedule Cannabis Faster?

In 2013, the DEA reviewed hydrocodone (a type of opioid) and rescheduled it within a year. “However, this review may not be a good benchmark,” says Nawan, “at the time there was a national overdose emergency.”

But there is priority.

“At the private level at universities, there is a lot more science being done to determine the health and potency of cannabis, particularly THC,” says Nawan.

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