Amidst all the ongoing chaos on Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is working to deliver a boon to the cannabis industry with the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFER) Banking Act. Predictably, some Republicans have joined him under the guise of bipartisanship, which, in this case, just means pushing the left’s agenda.
Dr. Kevin Sabet, the president and CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) is hopeful that the SAFER Banking Act will stall out, but he’s working overtime to build opposition to the bill.
“Given what we’re now dealing with — with a House without a leader, with a war in the Middle East, with a war in Russia — the idea that the Senate would be spending an iota of time trying to make marijuana vendors richer is really crazy to me,” Sabet, a former drug policy advisor for the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations, told The American Spectator.
The SAFER Banking Act would offer safe harbor to financial institutions that want to do business with the cannabis industry, which remains federally illegal. America’s marijuana laws are totally incoherent, and the SAFER Banking Act would only confuse matters further. Though various states have passed laws green-lighting medical and recreational cannabis use, these state-level regulations are ineffective in the face of federal law.
Paul Larkin, a senior legal research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, explains the contradictions thus:
The oddity is that, because states cannot exempt their residents from the reach of federal law, the states that have legalized cannabis use are effectively — and openly — encouraging them to commit federal crimes, which leaves residents in the lurch if they follow through.
But despite the widespread violation of federal law, the government has little interest in enforcing the cannabis laws on the books, passively permitting the production, sale, and use of cannabis.
Though individual involvement with marijuana remains generally free from scrutiny so long as distributors and users abide by state-level regulations, corporations still have to toe the federal line: credit card companies cannot process cannabis purchases, and banks cannot offer services to dispensaries.
The SAFER Banking Act would create loopholes, giving marijuana dispensaries the go-ahead to conduct credit card transactions and open bank accounts. Marijuana laws are such a mess that banks would still be liable for processing federally illegal funds under the Controlled Substances Act, and Sabet sees the SAFER Banking Act as a way to add pressure for full legalization.
The SAFER Banking Act — which Sabet calls the “Addiction Banking Act” — would open the door to massive investment in the cannabis industry, which means more cannabis in more neighborhoods across America. The same companies that profit off of tobacco and alcohol are eager to add another social vice to their portfolio. Tobacco conglomerate Altria, owner of Phillip Morris, has invested billions into the Canadian legal marijuana industry. Oxycontin manufacturer Purdue Pharma has done the same.
Though proponents of the SAFER Banking Act present the bill as a protection for consumers, “This is obviously something that would make it easier for the industry,” Sabet told TAS. By opening the door to investment in Big Weed, the bill would bail out the state-sanctioned cannabis industry while leaving the massive black market untouched. Licensed dispensaries haven’t been able to compete with the cannabis black market, which dwarfs the state-sanctioned market.
Despite promises by marijuana advocates that legalization would eliminate the black market for the drug, illicit business has boomed as demand increases: three-quarters of the $100 billion industry is currently illegal. But the SAFER Banking Act doesn’t provide incentives for black market dealers to start following the law, and Sabet predicts that the bill would fail to address the supply and demand dynamics of the illegal market.
Though Schumer has made marijuana policy reform one of his political priorities, other Democrats aren’t necessarily eager to join him.
“I’ve talked to Democratic senators in closed-door sessions, and most of them don’t care about this issue. It’s not something that they would ever want to prioritize, but they’re being strong-armed into it,” Sabet said.
The SAFER Banking Act was introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkeley and cosponsored by 30 senators, including two independents and four Republicans – Sens. Steve Daines, Cynthia Lummis, Kevin Cramer, and Dan Sullivan. Parallel legislation has been introduced in the House with 82 cosponsors, 21 of whom are Republican. The SAFER Banking Act passed the Senate Banking Committee on September 27. Schumer, who is a lead sponsor on the bill, can now schedule the vote as he sees fit.
But Sabet isn’t so sure the Senate Majority Leader will move forward. “If Schumer had the votes — which he claims he does — it would have already passed, so clearly this is not something that has the votes yet,” he told TAS.
Schumer hasn’t always prioritized the marijuana policy. “I talked to him personally a few years ago at a meeting, and he insisted ‘No, I just favor decriminalization, not legalization,’” Sabet said. “But I think over time he was convinced by young staffers that legalization would be a great way to get votes … Unfortunately, he drank the Kool-Aid.”
The SAFER Banking Act is simply the latest step in the decades-long, Soros-funded crusade for full weed legalization. The cannabis lobby continues to plow ahead, seeking their own financial gain even as they ignore mounting evidence that marijuana isn’t quite the harmless drug they’ve presented it to be. Democrats are willing to play along and appease Schumer and Big Weed donors. Sadly, but all too predictably, so are some Republicans.
Mary Frances Myler is a writer from Northern Michigan in exile in Washington, D.C. You can follow her on X/Twitter @mfmyler.
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