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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and two other top Democratic senators plan on Wednesday to roll out a “discussion draft” for a bill that would deliver federal decriminalization for cannabis, according to published reports citing unnamed sources.
“Don’t expect details. The idea is to lay out broadly what they want the bill to accomplish,” said Cowen Washington Research Group analyst Jaret Seiberg in a note.
Schumer, a New York Democrat, along with Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Ron Wyden of Oregon, called in February for “ending the federal marijuana prohibition” and promised “comprehensive cannabis reform legislation.”
The trio now are slated to unveil a preliminary outline for such legislation on Wednesday, according to reports from Marijuana Moment and Politico. Seiberg warned that it’s still a long road to potentially getting to decriminalization.
“We continue to be surprised it took until mid-July for Schumer to put anything on paper. The delay reinforces for us that the majority leader plans to drag out this process,” the Cowen analyst wrote on Tuesday.
“Cannabis hearings are not scheduled for July and it would seem difficult at this point to get them on the docket before September,” he added.
Cannabis stocks, as tracked by the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF
MJ,
were trading 1.3% higher on Tuesday, while the broad S&P 500 index
SPX,
was up just 0.1%. The weed fund has gained 37% so far this year, topping the S&P’s advance of 17%.
From the archives (January 2021): Cannabis-industry investors ‘are likely overestimating the odds for federal decriminalization,’ analyst says
And read: There’s no ‘immediate path forward’ in Senate for cannabis banking bill, analyst says
Also: U.S. pot stocks are ‘generational wealth builder,’ analyst says
