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Amazon endorsed legal weed. Will it now fight to make it happen?

The company’s money and power could be a game-changer for federal cannabis policy.

It's not too far fetched to think a rational, intelligent, and successful company  with lots of money and the power money brings with it would be the vehicle to wake up a government that had been lying about cannabis for nearly 100 years. As well as imprisoning good folks for consuming what is known to be a healthful as well as enjoyable experience.

On to the article.

When it announced its support for lawmakers’ efforts to decriminalize weed last month, Amazon didn’t just become the biggest company in America to back marijuana legalization, it captivated the cannabis industry in the process.

Now, as bills pushing legalization remain stuck in Congress, activists fighting for liberalized cannabis laws are hoping the e-commerce giant will take the next step and use its considerable D.C. muscle to help get them passed.

Lobbyists for legalization are pinning their hopes on Amazon using its experienced lobbying team and deep pockets to support their efforts, believing it could help them launch ad campaigns and persuade lawmakers opposed to legalization — especially those who represent states where cannabis is legal — to change their minds. Cannabis lobbyists and advocates who have spoken with Amazon made it clear that the company is already engaging in cannabis discussions in Washington, D.C. Whether Amazon actively lobbies or invests monetarily in legislation is the question on

“I'm quite disappointed that we've really seen no movement whatsoever at the federal level,” said Matthew Schweich, deputy director of the Marijuana Policy Project. “I think that if Amazon were able to lend its political support to federal reform and fund state level efforts, that would be a net positive for the cannabis reform movement in this country.”

One third of Americans currently live in a state where cannabis is or will soon be legally sold for adult use, and 68 percent of voters support federal legalization, according to a Gallup poll conducted last year. But corporate America and Congress have been much slower in coming around to the issue. Many companies and the federal government still drug test employees, even in states where cannabis is legal, and a federal decriminalization bill that passed the House last year stalled in the Senate.

Amazon has one of the more relaxed stances on cannabis among major U.S. employers. It supports legalization and made the decision to stop drug testing employees for cannabis, which will expand the company’s prospective employee pool. Though its online delivery infrastructure is unmatched, advocates say the company has given no indication that it plans to get into the weed business itself if cannabis is legalized nationwide.

“They didn't tell me anything about wanting to get in sales or anything,” said Maritza Perez, director of the office of national affairs at Drug Policy Alliance, who met with Amazon to discuss the bill in June. “I did express the fact that they're a big corporation, and that people may think that they're doing this for other reasons. And they understand that that might be the perception.”

There are some indications, however, that Amazon is interested in trying to convince other companies and Congress to support legalization. A number of advocacy and industry groups, including Drug Policy Alliance, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and Canopy Growth Inc., have reported meeting with Amazon officials in the past month to discuss federal marijuana policy.

Amazon said last month that its “public policy team will be actively supporting The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act,” otherwise known as the MORE Act, which would decriminalize cannabis and provide for expungement of some non-violent cannabis offenses, had been a long time coming. The company had preliminary conversations about whether to get involved in the national conversation on CBD — a substance contained in the cannabis plant that was federally legalized in 2018 — and marijuana last year, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, but there were internal disagreements about whether the company should do so and what the optics would be.

The House passed the bill largely along party lines last December, though it was never taken up by the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer debuted his own, more detailed cannabis bill last week. But Amazon declined to say whether it will back it or not.

More more of  the article dive BELOW the FOLD.