Lobbying for changes in the legal framework, carried out in the interests of individual cannabis companies

After spending $ 1.8 billion to buy a stake in a multinational therapeutic cannabis company in 2018, Altria is pressured by local and federal legislatures to push through regulations. protecting exclusively her interests.

Over the past few weeks, several bills have been submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for consideration, predetermining the introduction of fundamental changes in a number of legislative acts of our country regulating work in the field of modern cannabis growing. Without setting ourselves the task of analyzing in this material the essence of the proposed changes, which several lobbying groups have incorporated into the above bills at once, we will describe the mechanism of how similar changes are made to the current legislation in the United States, and who is the driver of such processes.

Rumors of the takeover of the hemp industry by the global tobacco lobby (Big Tobacco) have been circulating for years in cannabis circles. It seems that this particular scenario is developing at the moment in the United States. Despite the fact that the processes are proceeding rather slowly and for the most part are covered by various kinds of information or PR-actions, the events themselves are in essence and in form similar to similar methods of large business for takeover - acquisition, seizure of intellectual property rights, lobbying for friendly regulation ...

Lobbying Groups Involved in 2020 to Change the US Regulatory Framework for Modern Cannabis Growing

Altria, one of the largest tobacco companies in the world, is on track to become one of the largest and most influential multinational cannabis companies. After spending $ 1.8 billion to buy a stake in a multinational therapeutic cannabis company in 2018, Altria is pressuring local and federal legislatures to push through regulations. protecting exclusively her interests. 

It should be emphasized that in December 2018, Altria spent $ 1.8 billion to acquire a 45 percent stake in the Cronos Group, one of the first large multinational Canadian medical cannabis firms. Since then, Altria has discreetly added hemp technology to its portfolio, such as acquiring proprietary marijuana vaporizers and applying for patents for proprietary devices (the software is hidden and controlled by the company selling the equipment.).

Since then, the company's specialists have gone in several directions in order to protect their investments. As a sign of the maturation of an industry using the therapeutic properties of hemp as a serious business - and in a clear indication that the hemp industry is using the same tactics that Silicon Valley leaders, the alcohol community and other big business sectors are using to ensure favorable regulation, Altria focused on regulatory support of their investments both at the state level, where the headquarters of this structure is located, and at the federal level. 

To gain the attention of members of Congress, Altria hired Denver-based Brownstein Hyatt Farber Shreck, one of the leading US marijuana and cannabis law firms, in 2020 to lobby for legal cannabidiol ( CBD) and “non-tobacco excise taxes”. According to published materials, in the fourth quarter of 2020, Altria paid three lobbyists from the aforementioned firm a total of $ 30,000 for work aimed at “promoting” tax issues of interest to the company in the House of Representatives. 

To serve in the Senate, Altria has donated $ 50,000 to two companies that specialize in lobbying for changes to the federal regulatory framework related to issues related to modern cannabis growing (Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and Akin Gump). The main goal of the activities of the above two lobbying companies was aimed at putting pressure on lawmakers on “issues related to cannabidiol made from hemp”, as well as a proposal to raise the legal age for tobacco use to 21 years. Among other things, Altria also promotes the legalization of marijuana at the state level, in particular in the media, the company officially supports the legalization of the recreational use of the plant at the federal level. Altria spokesman George Parman says Altria supports the federal legalization of recreational cannabis in accordance with the current regulatory framework. As a stakeholder in this industry, we intend to work with policymakers and regulators to maintain a transparent, accountable and fair operating environment to create the conditions for the legal sale of psychoactive cannabis. ”

Altria signed up last month to lobby for a Fair Regulation of Cannabis Sales in Virginia. In early February, both houses of the Virginia General Assembly passed bills that would legalize the recreational use and sale of psychoactive cannabis in the state. If the bills are approved by the governor, sales in Virginia, where Altria is headquartered in the state capital, Richmond, will begin sales in 2023.

By that time, it is quite possible that the federal law will change in favor of "Altria". In particular, the leadership of the US Democratic Party has already stated that legalization will be a priority for the country's legislators. Most likely "Altria" is directly related to the processes taking place both in the Senate and in the US Congress aimed at lobbying for changes in the legislative framework on issues related to the possibilities of using cannabis in various areas of modern cannabis farming. 

Commentary of experts of the Association "Ukrainian technical hemp"

Several bills have been submitted to the US Congress that seek to legalize the sale of psychoactive cannabis with the aim of providing a regulatory framework for recreational use of the plant at the federal level. So far, only in the House of Representatives has the hemp reform been voted on - and passed. Efforts to “push” relevant bills in the Senate have been blocked by Republicans, but it is likely that during the term of the elected Democratic president, the Senate will eventually vote in favor of federal cannabis reform, providing it with an appropriate regulatory framework.

Our dear readers and listeners need to clearly understand that if the Supreme Council of Ukraine is lobbying for amendments to the current legislation starting in 2019, then this is necessary for representatives of financial and industrial groups that stand behind the lobbying structures that initiated such changes. Those who are trying to understand more deeply these issues need to understand whose interests are behind each of the proposed bills and to find out exactly how the proposed change to the legislation of Ukraine can affect national cannabis growers and, accordingly, each individual consumer. These issues, among other things, will be considered during the mini-round table "Associated businesses that ensure the development of modern cannabis growing", held as part of the training of the next course for students of the " Hemp University ".