Who?
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) — Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee
LISTEN: Laslo & Tillis
Ask a Pol asks:
Would you support SAFER Banking Act right now?
“No, because I think if we do that, it puts us further away from a comprehensive framework” Sen. Thom Tillis exclusively told Ask a Pol.
Rescheduling?
What do you think about the DEA — Drug Enforcement Administration — moving to reschedule marijuana?
Key Tillis:
“These are all half measures — you can even argue half-ass measures,” Tillis told us. “We probably need to look at a federal comprehensive framework to deal with the banking issues, scheduling issue, but, I think, in my opinion, we need a federal regimen that's not unlike what we have for tobacco and alcohol, where you authenticate the crops on the front end, you mandate flavorings, delivery methods through the FDA and you allow banking...”
Caught our ear:
“I think we ought to say all that stuff has its place in a framework that also ensures that you don't have the cartels making money by getting pot into the supply chain, and they are,” Tillis told Ask a pol. “And then you got the off-the-books people…”
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), slightly edited for clarity.
TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Thom Tillis
SCENE: Sen. Tillis is entering a Capitol elevator when Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo hops on and the two discuss pot policy.
Matt Laslo: “How you?”
Thom Tillis: “Good.”
ML: “What do you make of the DEA moving to rescheduling marijuana?”
TT: “I think we're reaching a point to where we've got to take a look. These are all half measures — you can even argue half-ass measures. We probably need to look at a federal comprehensive framework to deal with the banking issues, scheduling issue, but, I think, in my opinion, we need a federal regimen that's not unlike what we have for tobacco and alcohol...”
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TT cont’d: “…where you authenticate the crops on the front end, you mandate flavorings, delivery methods through the FDA and you allow banking. Because if not, all these are half measures and we're dancing around the issue. Not necessarily legalizing it federally, but providing one consistent framework that, should states choose to legalize it, they have to operate under, whether it's medical or whether it's recreational. But this is a half measure. I am really worried that if we allow some of these things to go forward, it's going to be at the expense of people truly understanding the dangers out there with some of the CDB (sic) extracts and other things that are illegal being sold in like North Carolina that are more harmful than a marijuana flower.”
ML: “Yeah? Interesting. So would you support SAFER right now? Or do you…?”
TT: “No, because I think if we do that, it puts us further away from a comprehensive framework. I think we ought to say all that stuff has its place in a framework that also ensures that you don't have the cartels making money by getting pot into the supply chain, and they are. And then you got the off-the-books people. The interesting thing, you got the governor of California [Gavin Newsom]. He's kinda silent on this because he happens to have a lot of people that are making a lot of money off the books and getting it into the system. It all needs to be regulated and my focus is on capturing the revenue that we should properly capture through an excise tax and dealing with all the negative consequences that come from something like this.”
ML: “ProPublica just did a big deep dive. Like, the Chinese mafia kinda invested in Oklahoma's cannabis industry.”
TT: “Oh, no doubt. No doubt, they’re everywhere.”
ML: “Yeah, it is bad.”
TT: “That's exactly why you gotta create similar rules to the road, similar taxation frameworks — everything. It’s the right way to do it.”
ML: “Yeah. Preciate ya.”
Andrey Beregovskiy and Walken Whalen contributed to this report.
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