The REAL reason why Federal Legalization of Cannabis in the US is not happening anytime soon.
Funding & Transparency in the Cannabis Industry — and beyond!
Whilst funding of (and by) corporations IS important, funding of politicians is of equal, if not greater importance. And then there’s the question of Transparency.
In a nutshell — it’s less a question of who is funding “Big Cannabis”, it’s more a question of who is funding “Big Tobacco”, “Big Alcohol”, “Big Pharma”, “Big Prisons” etc. — because this is the [collective] single biggest reason why the US Federal Government continues to drag its heels on Normalization, Legalization and Regulation of the Cannabis Industry.
Thankfully, as it relates to the US, transparency is on the horizon — at least from the perspective of Corporate Transparency. As of 1st January 2024, under a new amendment [Final Rule] to the existing Law in the US, termed the “Corporate Transparency Act”, disclosures around funding will have to be provided — and specifically to ensure that full transparency around the “Ultimate Beneficiary Owner” (UBO) and the “Ultimate Beneficiary Information” (UBI) of the funding entity is disclosed. [NOTE — UBO/UBI has been a requirement of Law in the EU for some years now.]
What does this mean?
On a go-forward basis, any business registered in the US prior to 1/1/2024 will have twelve months to provide the UBO information. Any business registered in the US after 1/1/2024 must disclose the relevant UBO information within thirty (30) days. In essence, 2023 is likely to see a whole lot of house cleaning!
Whilst we can pop a cork or two / fire up a joint or two and celebrate the arrival of this ruling in the Corporate Transparency Act (and UBO), let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. After all, in the Cannabis Industry we are all too painfully aware of the small wins and the oftentimes larger setbacks that ride along as a pillion passenger.
Addressing an even bigger Issue.
The REAL reason why Federal Legalization of Cannabis in the US is not happening anytime soon.
What we REALLY need here in the US is an equivalent to CTA / UBO / UBI for Politics and Political Donations. Period.
Imagine if we could truly see where “Big Tobacco”, “Big Alcohol”, “Big Pharma” and in particular, “Big Prisons” were placing their respective and / or collective donations. We would have a clearer picture of WHY Normalization, Legalization and Regulation is NOT happening any time soon. It is no surprise that the BIG 5 States (by Revenue) in both Tobacco and Prisons have neither legalized nor decriminalized Cannabis (Recreational or Medical). It’s all about good ol’ fashioned protectionism — and a Lobby System that enables such insidious nonsense. Many will be aware of the Tobacco Industry’s position to not see legalization of Cannabis. But what about the Prison System here in the US? Correction — the PRIVATE Prison System.
There is ZERO incentive for Private Prison Companies to want to see decriminalization and / or legalization of Cannabis. Period.
These “racketeers” rely on [read NEED] recidivism to perpetuate. The ‘War on Drugs’ is not over — not by a long mile! To understand the genesis of the Private Prison System is to understand the genesis of the War on Drugs (correction, War on People) [most notably, on Black and Brown People] was borne out of the 1860’s; one year after the enactment of the 13th Amendment. Let me cite the words of Damon K Roberts here:
“In 1866, one year after the 13 Amendment was ratified (the amendment that ended slavery), Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina began to lease out convicts for labor (peonage). This made the business of arresting Blacks very lucrative, which is why hundreds of White men were hired by these states as police officers. Their primary responsibility was to search out and arrest Blacks who were in violation of Black Codes. Once arrested, these men, women and children would be leased to plantations where they would harvest cotton, tobacco, sugar cane. Or they would be leased to work at coal mines, or railroad companies. The owners of these businesses would pay the state for every prisoner who worked for them; prison labor.
It is believed that after the passing of the 13th Amendment, more than 800,000 Blacks were part of the system of peonage, or re-enslavement through the prison system. Peonage didn’t end until after World War II began, around 1940.
This is how it happened.
The 13th Amendment declared that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” (Ratified in 1865)
Did you catch that? It says, “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude could occur except as a punishment for a crime.” Lawmakers used this phrase to make petty offenses crimes. When Blacks were found guilty of committing these crimes, they were imprisoned and then leased out to the same businesses that lost slaves after the passing of the 13th Amendment. This system of convict labor is called peonage.
The majority of White Southern farmers and business owners hated the 13th Amendment because it took away slave labor. As a way to appease them, the federal government turned a blind eye when southern states used this clause in the 13th Amendment to establish laws called Black Codes.
Here are some examples of Black Codes:
In Louisiana, it was illegal for a Black man to preach to Black congregations without special permission in writing from the president of the police. If caught, he could be arrested and fined. If he could not pay the fines, which were unbelievably high, he would be forced to work for an individual, or go to jail or prison where he would work until his debt was paid off. If a Black person did not have a job, he or she could be arrested and imprisoned on the charge of vagrancy or loitering.
This next Black Code will make you cringe. In South Carolina, if the parent of a Black child was considered vagrant, the judicial system allowed the police and/or other government agencies to “apprentice” the child to an “employer”. Males could be held until the age of 21, and females could be held until they were 18. Their owner had the legal right to inflict punishment on the child for disobedience, and to recapture them if they ran away.
This (peonage) is an example of systemic racism — Racism established and perpetuated by government systems. Slavery was made legal by the U.S. Government. Segregation, Black Codes, Jim Crow and peonage were all made legal by the government and upheld by the judicial system. These acts of racism were built into the system, which is where the term “Systemic Racism” is derived.
This is the part of “Black History” that most of us were never told about.”
[Thank you, Damon K Roberts for your eloquence]
And so the US continues to be “Segregated”.
“Apartheid” exists in the US, albeit not in the obvious form of “physical segregation” that most persons understand Apartheid to reference. It exists in an even more insidious manner. It existed at least one hundred years before the Federal Housing Act of 1934 (a.k.a. Redlining) and now is thriving because of it. The effects of such racist policies have ensured that apartheid exists in a pervasive manner in Finance, Healthcare, Careers & Jobs in the sense of a lack of “access to” such and in a pervasive manner in the US’ penal, legal, policing and justice systems — in the sense of how each is enacted. Many, rightfully, are vocal about Social Equity Programs in the Cannabis Industry, but let’s pause and ask why we have seen virtually NO Social Equity Programming in ANY Industry or Institution — for over 403 years?
The Answer?
The US is “segregated”. Period.
We need transparency in Politics. Not the opacity many citizens have been slow-boiled into believing is clear; no, we need real transparency. Let citizens know who the Ultimate Beneficiary Owner is of a Political Donation. Then let citizens decide who they really want to see representing them in the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of Government. With such transparency, we would have a clearer understanding of why the Cannabis legalization process is on an equally slow-boil. Let’s turn-up the heat and ensure that legal access to Cannabis for citizens of the US is finally granted. Then let’s set about addressing Social Equity.
Enough already!
[Original Article published 27 December 2022; updated and revised 26 January 2023]
