{"id":7311,"date":"2017-03-23T23:30:47","date_gmt":"2017-03-23T23:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com?p=2588080&amp;preview_id=2588080"},"modified":"2017-03-23T23:30:47","modified_gmt":"2017-03-23T23:30:47","slug":"powerhouse-cannabis-firms-form-lobby-group-to-protect-state-based-weed-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/powerhouse-cannabis-firms-form-lobby-group-to-protect-state-based-weed-laws\/","title":{"rendered":"Powerhouse cannabis firms form lobby group to protect state-based weed laws"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/powerhouse-cannabis-firms-form-lobby-group-to-protect-state-based-weed-laws\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"row\" id=\"sticky-outer\">\n<div class=\"large-11 small-12 columns\">\n<div class=\"entry-meta-date\">Published: Mar 23, 2017, 12:50 pm \u2022 Updated: Mar 23, 2017, 6:25 pm<span class=\"single-comments-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/03\/23\/new-federalism-fund-marijuana-lobbying-congress\/75988\/#disqus_thread\" class=\"commentsNameLink\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"byline\">By <span class=\"author\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/awallace\/\" rel=\"author\">Alicia Wallace<\/a><\/span><em>, The Cannabist Staff<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Some big-name firms in cannabis have formed a national advocacy and lobbying organization with an aim of turning big bucks into big changes for marijuana on Capitol Hill. <\/p>\n<p>Denver-based <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2016\/05\/08\/john-lord-livwell-enlightened-health-colorado-marijuana-inside-story\/53822\/\">dispensary powerhouse LivWell Enlightened Health<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2016\/09\/22\/scotts-miracle-gro-cannabis-hawthorne-gardening-co-hydroponics\/61763\/\">lawn-and-garden giant Scotts Miracle-Gro<\/a> are among the founding board members of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newfederalismfund.org\/\">New Federalism Fund<\/a>, a non-partisan 501(c)4 organization backing state-based regulatory systems for marijuana and policies to change federal tax and banking laws to better those systems. <\/p>\n<p>Other founding board members include <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/tag\/dixie-elixirs\/\">Dixie Elixirs, a Denver-based<\/a> cannabis products company; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2015\/01\/08\/investor-peter-thiel-founders-fund-marijuana-privateer-holdings\/26897\/\">Privateer Holdings, a Seattle-based<\/a> marijuana private equity firm; <a href=\"https:\/\/thenevadaindependent.com\/article\/indy-explains-one-las-vegas-dispensary-produces-marijuana\">Tryke Companies, a Tempe, Ariz.-based<\/a> medical cannabis business; and Denver dispensary operators <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2016\/05\/08\/native-roots-rhett-jordan-josh-ginsberg\/53813\/\">Native Roots<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2016\/05\/12\/tour-colorado-pot-shop-jake-browne\/50835\/\">Medicine Man<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>The launch of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newfederalismfund.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">New Federalism Fund<\/a>, or NFF, comes in the wake of White House spokesman Sean Spicer and Attorney General Jeff Sessions making unfavorable remarks toward the flurry of state-regulated legal marijuana programs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really vitally important that we try to engage in a productive way and tell our story and try to educate the government,\u201d Neal Levine, LivWell\u2019s senior vice president of government affairs and spokesman for the NFF, told The Cannabist. <\/p>\n<p>NFF\u2019s priorities include protecting the state-based legal marijuana programs, limiting the use of enforcement resources on those systems, changing federal tax law to ensure that cannabis businesses are not penalized by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/tag\/irs-code-280e\/\">IRS Code 280E<\/a>, and promoting federal-level actions that would allow for cannabis businesses to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/tag\/banking\/\">openly bank<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A key component of NFF\u2019s efforts will be conveying how the industry operates, contributes revenue to state and local coffers, serves as a source of employment, and offers a regulated means to pull the drug from the black market, Levine said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s all agree, if we can, that marijuana is not going to be eradicated off the face of the Earth \u2026 we\u2019re the solution to your drug cartel problem when it comes to marijuana,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>The Internal Revenue Service classifies 501(c)4 groups as \u201csocial welfare organizations.\u201d They can advocate for social causes and also engage in some political activity \u2014 so long as it is not the primary source for its funds, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/charities-non-profits\/other-non-profits\/social-welfare-organizations\" target=\"_blank\">according to the IRS<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Washington Post breaks that down in simpler terms in its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/the-fix\/wp\/2013\/05\/13\/what-is-a-501c4-anyway\/?utm_term=.67cc10bcedca\" target=\"_blank\">Q&amp;A-style explainer of the classification<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>What that means in practice is that they must spend less than 50 percent of their money on politics. So long as they don\u2019t run afoul of that threshold, the groups can influence elections, which they typically do through advertising. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>There are no limits on the size of the contributions that can be made to 501(c)4s, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/outsidespending\/rules.php\" target=\"_blank\">according to the Center for Responsive Politics\u2019 OpenSecrets.org<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s undetermined how much NFF intends to or could raise, Levine said, adding that the organization expects to wield a \u201csignificant amount\u201d of money \u2014 into the seven figures \u201cat least.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As a 501(c)4, NFF can supplement the work of other organizations such as trade group the National Cannabis Industry Association, of which Levine is a board member, he said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not getting involved in a federal legalization debate,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are focusing on the federalism aspect of an unfair tax policy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>IRS Code 280E disallows credits and business deductions for income generated from the sale of controlled substances, which is how the federal government classifies cannabis.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-meta-author\">\n<div class=\"authorimage\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/awallace\/\" rel=\"author\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/powerhouse-cannabis-firms-form-lobby-group-to-protect-state-based-weed-laws.jpg\" class=\"authormug\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p class=\"author-desc\">Alicia Wallace joined The Cannabist in July 2016, covering national marijuana policy and business. She contributes to the Denver Post&#8217;s beer industry coverage. In her 13 years as a business news reporter, her coverage has spanned the economy, Sports&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .row --> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some big-name firms in cannabis have formed a national advocacy and marijuana lobbying organization, New Federalism Fund, to spur change on Capitol Hill. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6811,6813,77,5667,9,7036,5019,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[6816,6818,2655,5673,7037,5022],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7311\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}