Can the legal cannabis industry send one of its own to Congress?

Wanda James is singing a well-recognized tune, one followers of reggae famous person Peter Tosh know effectively: “Legalize it.”

But will that be sufficient for the $32 billion U.S. cannabis industry to be like different enterprise sectors and send one of its own to Washington?

James, a cannabis industry entrepreneur and CEO of Simply Pure, a Denver-based licensed retailer who additionally sits on the University of Colorado’s Board of Regents, is working for Congress in Colorado’s First District on a transparent platform: to carry federal cannabis legalization to the forefront and guarantee the industry is handled with the equity and respect it deserves.

She’s one of seven challengers thus far to enter the race to unseat longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, who has represented the Denver space in Washington since 1997, forward of a June 30 major.

For James, “legalize it” isn’t only a marketing campaign slogan – it’s a private {and professional} calling. The govt order President Donald Trump signed Dec. 18 to reschedule marijuana is a optimistic step, nevertheless it doesn’t go far sufficient.

“Full-on legalization is the solely actual reply,” she mentioned. “It’s the one factor that fixes all the issues – 280E, SAFE banking, landlord gouging and entry to capital.”

A loud voice for the cannabis industry in Congress

With over a decade and a half of expertise working dispensaries, develop services and an edibles firm, James is aware of the ins and outs of the enterprise higher than most – and what cannabis operators want from lawmakers.

“When closed-door periods occur, even well-meaning politicians who help us usually don’t know the way to pivot round the nuances of cannabis coverage,” she mentioned. “I do. I’ve lived it.”

Cannabis companies ought to be handled like every other legal industry, she mentioned.

“The common client thinks we’re already legal, however they don’t know the actuality,” she mentioned. “Dispensaries in Denver can’t entry banking. Business homeowners are taxed like Pablo Escobar, with earnings stripped away by unfair insurance policies.

“We deserve the proper to be handled like each different accountable enterprise that has put their coronary heart, soul – and houses – on the line.”

Cannabis industry is backing Wanda James

While Colorado’s representatives in Congress don’t block progress for the cannabis industry, they don’t do a lot to market it both, mentioned Joe Hodas, an industry veteran who was president of Boulder-based Wana Brands till April.

That creates a pure constituency for James’ marketing campaign, he mentioned: the $32 billion U.S. cannabis industry.

“They don’t perceive the industry – they’re not proactive,” mentioned Hodas, one of the many cannabis industry figures who’ve contributed some of the roughly $100,000 Wanda’s marketing campaign has available, in accordance to federal elections filings.

“Wanda doesn’t step away from a battle – that’s what we want,” he added. “We don’t want complacency.”

“We need somebody who says it’s the proper factor for us to do as a rustic, the proper factor to do for brown and black folks, the proper factor to do for the legal justice system and the proper factor to do for individuals who need entry and wish entry.”

Jamie Pearson, president of Montana-based international cannabis consulting agency New Holland Group, mentioned James understands the challenges of working a compliant enterprise underneath federal prohibition and navigating contradictory legal guidelines.

“Having Wanda in Congress would imply having somebody who deeply understands our realities, who has served her nation honorably in the army and who’s presently serving in an elected workplace representing her constituents,” mentioned Pearson, who additionally contributed to James’ marketing campaign.

“That mixture of service, management and sensible expertise is uncommon, and it’s precisely what we want in the cannabis coverage discussions in Washington.”

Washington, D.C.-based international dispensary National Holistic Healing Center CEO Chanda Macias mentioned James may ignite change past rescheduling, which she referred to as a “nothing burger.”

“If the cannabis industry had a voice in Congress, we may even have correct training and introduction of respectable laws in addition to having a finger on the pulse of what is going on in that legislative department,” Macias mentioned.

“We want the cannabis industry to stand behind her so we do have entry to Congress, so we do have entry to wise laws and so we have now entry to somebody who can truly make a distinction.” 

No political newcomer, however a tricky battle forward

James isn’t a newcomer to politics. She managed Gov. Jared Polis’ first congressional marketing campaign and was later appointed to the National Finance Committees by former President Barack Obama.

And she’s lately weathered a cannabis-related political pickle. Earlier this 12 months, the CU Board of Regents censored her – a outcome of her talking out in opposition to a state-funded public-service marketing campaign that used photographs of Black folks to warn about the dangers of high-potency cannabis that she condemned as racist.

The photographs have been pulled after James instructed CU President Todd Saliman that they have been racially insensitive.

Even although James is skilled and has some cash behind her, Colorado political analyst Mike Dino, a Democrat, mentioned she has little likelihood of beating DeGette.

“Wanda is formidable, however voters are supporting incumbent Democrats like Congresswoman DeGette as a result of they’ve pushed again in opposition to Trump,” Dino mentioned.

While cannabis legalization is a cornerstone of her marketing campaign, James’ platform goes past the industry.

Political weblog Colorado Pols estimates James has a 20% likelihood of profitable the normal election, providing the evaluation that James “could also be one of the higher DeGette Primary challengers in recent times, nevertheless it’s not a very excessive bar.”

James views her candidacy as a step towards normalizing cannabis entrepreneurship and breaking the stigma surrounding the industry not simply in her dwelling state of Colorado, but in addition in states the place it’s not presently legal.

“I don’t assume there’s anybody who lives in Congressional District 1 who seems like dispensaries, gummies and pre-rolls usually are not normalized,” she mentioned. “I look ahead to seeing that occur throughout the United States.”

Margaret Jackson may be reached at margaret.jackson@mjbizdaily.com.