Khadijah Tribble, CEO of the U.S. Cannabis Council, joins Cheddar News. 

Biden to Pardon Marijuana Offenses, Urges Governors to Do Same

joining us now to discuss is tribal ceo of the U. S. Cannabis council could welcome, you know, morning, good morning. So for now these pardons are only retroactive and don't apply to future convictions. But experts say this could still be a significant step towards decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level. Do you agree? What can you tell us about that? Sure. I think any step in any signaling from the president is good for us. Now, obviously there's a lot of work we have yet to do, but this bodes well for us because we have been waiting for this administration to keep some form of his campaign promises and to that end that bolsters I think those of us who have been on the ground fighting for quite some time for even a smidgen of progress and that's where we are, but we're gonna take it, we're gonna pick it up, pick up the ball and move it forward. Now, experts say this applies to roughly 6500 individuals, but many more, some estimate individuals numbering in the millions are facing state marijuana charges that are not eligible. So what would have to happen to secure those pardons? And how likely is it? Well, we have to look at leaders across the country like the mayor out of Birmingham who decided that he was going to take the step in power and authority within his own elected body. And I would say that we should ask governors across the country to take a look at what they can do at the state levels to match the energy of the president and I would also say to our congressional leaders there's work for you to do too. Even as we are moving forward with these pardons and a nuanced conversation about them. We have to be able to make sure that individuals who have been disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs who want to actually be in this industry benefit from this industry will have the ability to do that. And the way forward is to look at safe banking. Now beyond these pardons, biden has also called for a review of federal policy. What are the next steps the administration could possibly take and what is the anticipated timeline? Well, I don't know about the timeline. I am looking forward to. Hopefully the administration will reach out to other organizations like the U. S. Cannabis council to be a participant in the next steps. I know the U. S. Council is cannabis council. We are gathering our members, we are pulling together our policy experts and we're ready to be thought leaders with the administration. I already have heard some movements from the H. H. S. Secretary conversations are being had and so I think over the next 30 60 90 days it is all hands on deck asking the question, what does this mean for us in various parts of the ecosystem And more importantly, how do we Galvani in this moment? How do we convene our best and brightest minds to help this administration move this work forward in a meaningful way. And I will not stop talking about the need for us all to pick up uh use our authority to move this work forward. Whether we're congressional leaders activists, business owners, there's a role for all of us to play now. Some are viewing this move as a political one, as the democrats had into a tough election season. What kind of impact if any could this have on the midterms? Well, we know that cannabis brings people out to the polls and so what I hope this does is allow for not only democrats but Republican leaders to have an honest conversation around how we move cannabis forward from a criminal justice standpoint, also from an industry standpoint. Um and I think there's a lot of room for us. We have many states that have already have some form form of marijuana legalization. How do we ensure that those states can keep their state programs and at the same time push the federal partners to look at the wholesale way they can help the industry move forward. Yes, this will absolutely be a complex process. And we will be looking ahead to check back in with you and see how the U. S. Is doing on this ceo of us cannabis council. Thanks so much