U.S. Cannabis Council is accepting donations for marijuana-legalization lobbying at Curaleaf stores

By Steve Gelsi

Curaleaf kicks off donation campaign to support U.S. Cannabis Council's activities to sway election results.

Advocacy group U.S. Cannabis Council will now accept donations for its marijuana-legalization efforts in nearly 140 Curaleaf Holdings Inc. dispensaries. The group, which is accepting small donations made from rounding up sales to the nearest dollar, plans to grow the donation effort nationally with MariMed Inc. and Standard Wellness dispensaries in the coming months.

The campaign is raising money to promote cannabis reform in Congress and make it a major election issue. Customers at retail locations can round up their purchases to the nearest dollar in support of legalization.

"Customers at regulated stores feel strongly that cannabis should be federally legal," said David Culver, senior vice president of the U.S. Cannabis Council. "Now they have the opportunity to directly support legalization at the checkout counter."

Curaleaf Holdings (CURLF) stores that will see the promotion include 62 in Florida, 18 in Pennsylvania, and eight each in Illinois, Maryland and Arizona.

MariMed (MRMD) and Standard Wellness will join the effort this spring, according to a statement from the U.S. Cannabis Council. Other major cannabis retailers are expected to join the effort in the coming months in states where cannabis is legal and regulated.

The campaign with Curaleaf ends at the end of February, but the company plans to run additional legalization efforts this year.

Proceeds of the effort are going directly to the U.S. Cannabis Council, a 501(c)4 organization that's authorized to spend up to 50% of its budget on supporting or opposing candidates for public office.

The U.S. Cannabis Council beta-tested the idea at three Curaleaf locations in New Jersey in September and October, and is now deploying it nationwide.

The option of adding donations at the point of sale has already been offered at some cannabis dispensaries to fund other causes, such as the Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit devoted to cannabis-related criminal-justice reform.

The national campaign comes after the U.S. Cannabis Council last year launched a super PAC called Legalize America. A similar round-up campaign to raise money was being studied at the time of the launch.

Also read: Roanoke College adds its name to schools offering cannabis degrees as jobs beckon

Legalize America defines itself as a bipartisan group using traditional tools of super PACs, including scorecards of how elected officials vote, endorsements and targeted independent expenditure campaigns to support cannabis reform.

A PAC is a political action committee that raises money to support causes. Super PACs (independent expenditure-only political committees) are committees that may receive unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor unions and other PACs for the purpose of financing independent expenditures and other independent political activity, according to the Federal Election Committee.

Also read: New York cannabis farmers may have to throw away 250,000 pounds of product due to retail-store bottleneck

-Steve Gelsi

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02-26-24 0827ET

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