Pot companies left out of latest coronavirus stimulus bill, but lobbyists are still hopeful

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Pot companies have been left out of coronavirus stimulus bills, but that isn't stopping lobbyists from trying. “Big and small cannabis companies are going to be in trouble if they don’t get access to federal relief.'

Cannabis businesses were not included in the latest stimulus bill stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic despite concerted efforts by lobbyists that will continue, industry groups said Tuesday.

NCIA spokesman Morgan Fox told MarketWatch in a phone interview that its lobbying effort is now focused on the fourth stimulus package, which the organization expects sometime in May. There is support for the issue among lawmakers on both sides of aisle in congress. Last week, a bipartisan group of 34 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, asking that cannabis companies be included in the next COVID-19 relief bill.

National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws political director Justin Strekal says that the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded many of the issues arising from prohibiting cannabis in the first place and that his organization is largely making the same arguments on the need for reform.Unlike the companies themselves, workers across the marijuana industry’s supply chain have and may continue to be eligible to access state unemployment benefits, according to Strekal.

“Yes, [our portfolio companies] want help, for sure,” Jon Trauben, a partner at Altitude Investment Management, said in a phone interview. “The industry employs hundreds of thousands of people, generates billion of dollars in taxes, excluding them from [the stimulus] is heresy, in my view.”Altitude is a venture-capital firm that focuses on the cannabis sector and has backed the likes of Privateer Holdings — which spawned Tilray Inc. TLRY, +0.59% — and the Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd.

 

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Schedule 1 Narcotic for racists reasons .....

PNvigyi you’ve always thought you were a great lobbyist. First explain to the Ugandan government that some niggas don’t need posho but they need to restock their stash💀

They are the ones doing the best

Your company literally sells marijuana and you can’t get by without a bailout?

Ridiculous. Never closed and record sales.

Kind of the risk they run for something that’s federally illegal still right?

They are “Essential business”

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Interim coronavirus stimulus gives more funds to healthcare industry - Business InsiderHospitals and medical practices are getting more money in the latest round of stimulus funding. The bill also sets widespread testing in motion. Why is there a picture of health professionals shown under this headline? 100 billion is for healthcare and 322 billion is for the Paycheck Protection Program. How much of that will go to employees? People have been getting laid off en masse.
Source: BusinessInsider - 🏆 729. / 51 Read more »