Opposing the SAFE Act: Are Republicans Immoral?

“I can be on guard against my enemies, but God deliver me from my friends!” Charlotte Bronte

This article will test the reading comprehension and balance of some people.

Consider a recent Tweet by a cannabis entrepreneur:

“The fact that republicans and weedstockbros say expungements and social justice being included in SAFE banking bill makes it a non-starter says more about their morals than the dems willingness to compromise” 

Many in our industry would probably agree with this sentiment, but is it true and helpful? 

Cannabis morality is not cut & dry. To wit,

> Balancing everyone’s needs

Of course, those in jail for cannabis offenses (and nothing else) deserve to be released.  The victims of the ‘War on Drugs’ should participate in our industry.  There are, however, other cannabis stakeholders with strong moral claims that justify expeditiously passing SAFE etc without expungements and social equity provisions (hopefully these come later).  

Consider the needs of millions of unwell people (many of whom are poor) who can’t access medical cannabis or pay far higher prices than they should due to illegality and the patchwork of dysfunctional regulations.   Are their health and financial needs less worthy? 

Cannabis investors get their share of scorn, often justifiably.  However, they too are stakeholders whose needs must be considered, if for no other reason than the Golden Rule of capitalism and the reality that much of the industry will collapse without available capital. Passing SAFE can forestall business failure, which puts thousands of jobs at risk.

We rail against the bad ethics and cost of a Big Pharma-driven system. Surely one of the best ways to save billions in healthcare spend and get better patient outcomes is through fast legislative reform.

> STFU

Toning down the hysterics, ending the name-calling (“weedstockbros”) and putting forth better arguments through more representative advocacy groups is the only route to credibility and changing minds. Politics is the art of compromise and the insulted rarely listen to the insulters.

> Opacity everywhere

Sensible people know that intellectual honesty is often the first casualty of social-media powered moral outrage and virtue signalling.  Let’s skip the ‘holier than thou’ hypocrisy and acknowledge that self-interest or ideology underpins every pov in this debate.

> Multiple villains

The hard reality is that Senator Schumer+Dems are equally to blame with the GOP (if not more), for their inability to compromise, hypocrisy and poor expectations management with the cannabis community.

All of this is not to say social justice is not important, it is.  However, it is not the only issue that matters to everyone, including moral people.

#Republicans #GOP #SAFE #reform #ethics #morals