On June 1, Amazon became the largest and most mainstream company in the world to support the end of federal cannabis prohibition in the United States.
The company announced that it would stop drug testing its employees for cannabis use, unless they hold positions under the purview of the Department of Transportation, and that its “public policy team will be actively supporting The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 (MORE Act)—federal legislation that would legalize marijuana at the federal level, expunge criminal records, and invest in impacted communities.”
As of Wednesday, Cannabis Wire has found, the company has officially put its lobbying muscle behind these statements. Early Wednesday morning, Amazon.com Services LLC registered to lobby, among other topics, on: “Issues related to the Equality Act (H.R. 5 / S. 393), the Justice in Policing Act (H.R. 1280), and marijuana reform, including the MORE Act of 2021 (H.R. 3617).”
The MORE Act was reintroduced in Congress in May, as Cannabis Wire recently reported. The House passed the previous version of the Act in late 2020, as Cannabis Wire reported at the time.
Cannabis reform advocates have largely shifted their energy toward the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA), announced this month by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sens. Cory Booker and Ron Wyden. While both MORE and CAOA would end the federal criminalization of cannabis by removing it from the federal Controlled Substances Act, MORE offers little else in the way of regulation. Conversely, as Cannabis Wire recently reported, CAOA is the most comprehensive cannabis reform proposal to-date in Congress. The Senators have also taken the unprecedented approach of releasing a discussion draft of their bill, which provides specific regulatory details, ahead of drafting the final legislation.
Cannabis Wire has reached out to Amazon to learn more about its lobbying priorities related to cannabis, and will update the story accordingly.
