Cannabis Companies Prepare for Potential Marijuana Banking Reform

The legal marijuana movement saw a glimmer of hope for a more scaled and structured industry in September; the U.S. House of Representatives approved an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would protect banks against federal retribution if they service state-legal marijuana businesses.

This amounts to the fifth time in recent memory that the House has approved marijuana banking reform, so whether this gets passed as law is still up in the air, as the amendment still need to pass through the Senate and President Biden’s desk. Regardless, it continues to signal changing tides in the battle for bipartisan marijuana legalization and regulatory support.

One of the immediate impacts of enacting such reform would be transforming the day to day of cannabis dispensaries, as well as strategies for bringing cannabis products into retail’s brick & mortar footprint. With this as context, we wanted to hear from the industry’s retail entrepreneurs and product developers on what this reform could mean for their business models, investments, and product strategies.

Including for discussion on whether this reform improves the stability of running and getting investments for a cannabinoid business, whether THC-based or CBD-based, we sourced perspectives from…

1. Jim Higdon, Co-Founder of Cornbread Hemp, a USDA certified organic hemp CBD products company, on how CBD companies benefit from this banking reform as well.
2. Geoff Trotter, Co-Founder of Regennabis, an ESG and sustainable development consultation company for the cannabis and hemp industries, on how financial validation gives cannabis companies new and increasingly important metrics to meet.

3. Matt Melander, President & CFO of LEVIA, a cannabis-infused beverages company, on how cannabis banking reform opens new doors for success for infused products in brick & mortar retail environment.