House Agriculture Chairman David Scott on Thursday said the 2023 farm bill should address the barriers small businesses and Black entrepreneurs face when trying to start legal cannabis companies under state law.
Those barriers include high startup costs, underfunded state social equity programs and the lack of access to banking, Amber Littlejohn, executive director of the Minority Cannabis Business Association, told Scott and other members of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Consumer Protections and Financial Institutions.
“Here we are, the fastest growing agricultural product, between hemp and cannabis,” said Scott, D-Ga. “We’re also going into our farm bill. We’ve got to address this issue. We can no longer hide it.”
