Future Timeline

A new bill that aims to give the marijuana industry access to banking services is expected to move forward in the Senate on Wednesday. The Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation Banking Act was introduced by a bipartisan group of senators last week. The bill would provide legal protection to banks or other financial institutions that offer services to state-legal marijuana businesses.

The Senate Banking Committee will mark up the bill Wednesday, and the panel is expected to vote to advance it to the full chamber’s floor. The bill is being led by Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; Steve Daines, R-Mont.; Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz.; and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., as well as Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

“This legislation will help make our communities and small businesses safer by giving legal cannabis businesses access to traditional financial institutions, including bank accounts and small business loans,” the senators said in a joint statement. “It also prevents federal bank regulators from ordering a bank or credit union to close an account based on reputational risk,” they added.

Even as 39 states have legalized marijuana for recreational or medical use, the sector has struggled to scale. Marijuana’s classification as a Schedule I substance, or one with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse, along with federal prohibition, pose a risk to banking institutions. This, in turn, has limited access to financing and a broader market.

Washington — Law enforcement agencies have so far seized over 55 million pills of fentanyl this year and more than 9,000 pounds of powder containing the deadly drug, Attorney General Merrick Garland told dozens of families whose loved ones died after ingesting fentanyl. And the Drug Enforcement Administration is on pace to seize more fentanyl in 2023 than in any previous year, a yield that continues to grow annually, according to DEA Administrator Ann Milgram.

"Violent drug cartels are manufacturing and moving fake pills designed to look exactly like brand name drugs and instead, they contain deadly fentanyl," Garland said, highlighting what he said are the dangers posed by the work of the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels in Mexico. "They are fueling this epidemic," the attorney general alleged, "The Justice Department is attacking every aspect of the cartels' operations."

Fentanyl, a strong opioid about 50 times more powerful than heroin, has become increasingly present in the U.S. drug supply and has caused a wave of overdose deaths among people who consume it or use drugs they didn't realize were tainted with the substance. Garland, Milgram and approximately 150 individuals affected by the growing proliferation of fentanyl on America's streets gathered at DEA headquarters outside of Washington, D.C., Tuesday for the second annual Family Summit on Fentanyl.

The event coincided with recent attempts by law enforcement and Justice Department officials to tackle the opioid and fentanyl problem facing the U.S. and pressure transnational organizations that fund and traffic deadly drugs. Earlier this month, the U.S. secured the extradition of Ovidio Guzmán López, son of notorious drug trafficker and former Sinaloa cartel leader, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán.