If you would have told me on January 1, 2010, that – by the end of the decade – Oklahoma City would have legal medical weed and a liberal Democratic woman representing us in Congress, I probably would have asked you to share some of the mind-altering sativa you're smoking.
But, bizarrely enough, both of those things are now realities, and to make them even cooler, that liberal woman in Congress is now working on federal legislation that will help the marijuana industry grow and expand like it's under wide-band LED lamps.
Here are the details via The McCarville Report:
Congresswoman Kendra Horn is putting her support behind the SAFE Banking Act. H.R. 1595 clears a path for banks to work with cannabis related businesses in states which have legalized marijuana in some form. It is currently going through the committee process and was marked-up by the House Financial Services Committee. The legislation is awaiting a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee.
Horn added her name to the growing list of Democrat and Republican House members co-sponsoring the SAFE Banking Act.
“Most states have legalized medical marijuana, yet federal law prevents banks from working with cannabis-related businesses. Keeping our banks out of this industry endangers public safety and stifles local business. I am a co-sponsor of the bipartisan SAFE Banking Act because it respects states’ rights and provides clarity for the banking industry,” Horn tells The McCarville Report.
That's pretty cool. Usually when a member of the Oklahoma congressional delegation talks about marijuana it's in an attempt to demonize the herb, strengthen prohibition or put minorities in jail. For example, who could forget this great video of James Lankford using the marijuana safety boogie man in his opposition to SQ 788:
Sadly, James Lankford and his holier-than-thou theocratic buddies in the Senate will probably prevent Kendra's bill from even receiving a Senate vote, much less becoming law. Well, that is unless Kendra, her House colleagues and banking lobbyists can convince the Senate the legislation will not only help increase banking revenues, but also make dispensaries and grow operations debt-dependant. Then they'll be all for it.
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