Can Cannabis Reform Deliver Social Justice? ‘We’re Built On The Backs of Activists’ Says Expert
Luna Stower, head of Impact at Ispire, passionately discussed the future of cannabis reform and the need for a comprehensive approach that prioritizes social equity and industry growth at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference last week.
In her interview, Stower emphasized the importance of moving beyond rescheduling cannabis, calling for full descheduling to prevent the industry from being dominated by pharmaceutical companies and large corporations.
Descheduling Over Rescheduling
“We believe in descheduling completely. We want to deschedule, deschedule, deschedule,” Stower stated, underscoring her concern that rescheduling cannabis may disproportionately benefit larger companies with pharmaceutical backgrounds.
While rescheduling could offer incremental progress, particularly by allowing banking access and tax write-offs under 280E, she argued that descheduling would truly level the playing field for smaller, craft businesses.
“A reschedule is a nice idea for the next step. But, in reality, it’s just going to allow only …