Sister Sophia Maya Costaras said they aren't stoner nuns. We try to tell people that. We are not dumb. We're studying. Intellectuals. We're not ordinary. We walk with everyone and it's very fluid with cannabis.

Their cannabis story has appeared in a number of publications. Sister Sophia grew up in a small village in South Africa. When she was a child, she moved to Michigan with her parents. She always wanted to live on a farm, even after earning her master's degree from the University of Michigan. She arrived at the cannabis farm in the state of California in the last year. She now has a full-time job and is in charge of the farm and wholesale departments.

Sister Kass is a nun who says she is the first of the young people to join the mission. She graduated from Phoenix college with a degree in medical insurance billing. She is in charge of all the nuns' customer service.
Sister Luna has a bachelor's in biology and a master's in biomedicine. She has developed impact studies for the private sector and her research focuses on cancer. Cannabis treatments are the focus of her research currently.

Keywords: Yosemite National Park, Sister Sophia Maya, Calif, cannabis

Source: www.ktvu.com

Cannabis Banking Bill Sponsor Makes Final Symbolic Push In Last Committee Hearing Before Retiring

The lead sponsor of cannabis banking legislation made one final symbolic push for his bill on Friday in his last committee meeting as a member of Congress.

The Senate has consistently failed to take up the bill even after it has passed the House several times.

The congressman called the exclusion of his cannabis provisions one of a handful of "glaring omissions" from the bill, but he did not force a vote on the issue, saying that "there is not a lot of latitudes to be making big amendments and sending things back to the Senate"

The congressman told his fellow members of the Rules Committee that Democrats and Republicans were to blame for the failure of the bill.

The omnibus bill didn't include the SAFE Plus package, which advocates had hoped would include banking, expungements, and other cannabis provisions Republican leaders refused to allow the framework of the marijuana reform deal to be attached to the cannabis legislation even though key legislators agreed on it.

The year-end government cannabis funding bill was a result of senators playing the access game, according to Perlmutter.

He said that he felt like they had played the game by delaying up to a Christmas holiday. It gives us a lot of power in the Senate.

Perlmutter, who is retiring at the end of this Congress, was applauded by other members of the Rules panel, who began considering the omnibus on Thursday evening before finishing up on Friday.

The SAFE Banking Act is imprinted in our brains and we will continue to offer amendments even if you don't show up.

He said that he has had people come up to him who said that people can't use credit cards because they can't use checks. There is a public safety issue here. Why is it taking the federal government so long to make the necessary adjustments so that these businesses can operate like any other business? I hope we get there soon.

McGovern said that the panel should adopt a bipartisan resolution naming the SAFE Banking cannabis chair so that whoever sits there can know that their job is to push cannabis reform in the future.

Tom Cole, the GOP ranking member of the Rules Committee, said that Perlmutter "even finally beat him into submission on SAFE banking."

I talk to many law enforcement professionals and people in the financial services industry and they tell me about the hardship that legalization creates and the opportunities for criminals because they know these are cash-heavy enterprises. If you passed your cannabis legislation, those things would be improved a lot.

The SAFE Plus compromise was opposed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans.

Cannabis reform was not included in the NDAA because of McConnell's opposition.

A Senate source said last week that Schumer was making a last-ditch effort to get the cannabis banking language in the spending bill. The next Congress will see Republicans take control of the House, so the issue needs to be put off.

Drug policy reform suffered as a final deal was forged due to the sensitive nature of the negotiations. The legislation did not include SAFE Banking or SAFE Plus language, as well as several other reform proposals attached to spending measures approved in the House and Senate. There is a rider in the final bill that prevents Washington, D.C. from implementing a system of regulated cannabis commerce.

There is a chance that the reform could be advanced in a divided congress.

A staffer for the Senate Banking Committee said last week that they were still open to passing cannabis banking through the spending package if it included broader provisions.

The issue will need to be decided after the Congress adjourns, according to Rep. Patrick McHenry, who will be the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. The congressman left the door open to advance SAFE Banking if his Republican colleagues agree.

Having an open process is what I promised. He said that he told his members his opinion. The members are able to make their own conclusions. It's so variable.

According to Booker, McConnell's opposition to cannabis reform has had a chilling effect on GOP members who might otherwise be willing to pass SAFE Banking legislation.

He referred to Republican leadership as being set on anything in marijuana. That's the problem for me.

He said that the people in power in the caucus are against doing anything on marijuana. There is a new bill in Washington that would allow interstate marijuana commerce.

Keywords: SAFE Banking, Senate Banking Committee, SAFE, Senate

Source: www.marijuanamoment.net