It’s the new kind of drug money — and according to a new report, it’s being lobbed in President Donald Trump’s direction.
Four large cannabis companies have donated a total sum of $10 million to a Trump-aligned super PAC this year, Salon reported Saturday.
Cannabis companies Verano, Curaleaf, Trulieve and Vision Management Services each gave $2.5 million to America First Agriculture Action Inc., according to Salon’s analysis of Federal Election Commission filings.
“This is how Trump operates,” Ryan Hunter, the chief revenue officer at Spherex, a company that sells cannabis infused vape cartridges, told Salon. “You’ve got to grease the palms.”
The donations stood out to reporter Russell Payne, he wrote, because “support for legalizing marijuana is sharply declining among Republican voters.”
The Trump administration has moved to ban marijuana by classifying it as a Schedule III drug, and the psychoactive hemp market faces “an existential threat” in the bill to reopen the government following last year’s shutdown, Salon reported.
It included a new provision to close a loophole in November that allowed for psychoactive hemp products to sold — if hemp lobbyists can’t get another law in to keep hemp legal.
Joe Gerrity, the CEO hemp-infused seltzer retailer Crescent Canna, told Salon he was surprised Democrats weren’t stepping in to help considering the appetite for an expanded cannabis market.
“There’s no doubt it’s politically popular to embrace the cannabis industry from a party perspective,” he said. “Frankly, it shocks me that we still haven’t seen a Democrat come out of the fold in a leadership position wholly embracing marijuana and pro-cannabis legalization.”
Josh Kesselman, Founder of RAW Rolling Papers, warned the increase in cannabis cash could foretell hard times for stoners — should Washington respond to lobbyists’ pleas with the wrong kind of reform.
“If Washington gets this wrong, reform could end up favoring the players who spend the most on lobbying while leaving small farmers, independent operators and the people who built this movement behind,” Kesselman said.
“This plant should not be handed over to cannabis oligarchs who profit at the expense of everyone beneath them.”
But Hunter, the cannabis vape cartridge seller, argued big bucks have already made their mark.
“It’s not surprising to see these large amounts of money flowing into PACs that he’s in favor of,” said Hunter. “It’s just, unfortunately, how the game is played.”
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