A leading marijuana policy think tank is urging lawmakers to take a thoughtful approach to federal legalization that accounts for the potential unintended consequences that freeing up interstate commerce could have on small cannabis businesses and social equity programs that have emerged in state markets.
In a report released on Wednesday, the Parabola Center for Law and Policy said that an eventual end to federal cannabis prohibition is inevitable. The reform would better align state and federal policies, of course, but the group says it could also threaten to “disrupt and force the transformation of existing intrastate cannabis markets.”
“How the nation will shift from dozens of individual state cannabis markets to one national market, and the implications of that shift, is unknown but likely to be dramatic,” the report says. “It is also safe to assume that many advocates for federal de-scheduling are not aware of the consequences such a policy change portends for existing and entrenched state cannabis policies.”
Parabola is making three key recommendations to mitigate the risks of corporate consolidation, monopolization and undermining state markets—in addition to providing draft text to address the issue.
States with legal marijuana markets operate entirely in-state today, which is
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