Maine’s junior member of Congress, 2nd District Democrat Jared Golden, is pushing a measure that would force the federal Small Business Administration to stop saying no to cannabis-related businesses.

Golden’s bill would prohibit a number of SBA programs, from the Veterans Business Outreach Centers to the Small Business Development Centers, from declining to help otherwise eligible small businesses solely because they deal in cannabis-related products.

In Maine and a growing number of other states, marijuana is either a legal product or on the path to becoming one, but federal law still categorizes it as a dangerous, illegal drug.

As a result, many sources of advice about starting a business are closed off to people eyeing the creation of a cannabis-related enterprise because federal funds are involved in some way.

Amy Landry, executive director of the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, said Monday her economic development officials have had to turn away prospective clients who want to get into the field.

“We can’t help them,” she said, because federal law bars them from offering advice about setting up a marijuana-related business or providing financing tips.

Landry said she doesn’t have any information about the  scope of the problem, but is sure that if the restrictions were lifted, “it would help to get some of them established.”

On the other hand, she said, many of them “are making it work without our programs” to lend a hand since they’re popping up in a number of communities.

Business News Daily reported that consumer spending on cannabis products passed $10 billion in 2018 and is expected to more than double by 2022. Investments in related businesses more than tripled from 2017 to 2018, it found.

Testifying before a U.S. Senate panel in May, Major Clark, the acting chief counsel of the SBA’s office of advocacy, said the agency gets lots of inquiries about what it can do for cannabis-related businesses. He said the SBA could help them, but instead turns them away because the federal government hasn’t legalized the drug.

Clark said the SBA hasn’t studied the issue because marijuana is illegal.

“I’m sure that as soon as the federal government decides to legalize this substance, we will begin to study its impact and the ability to use it in a more economical context,” Clark said.

Golden’s bill, the Ensuring Access to Counseling and Training Programs for All Small Business Act of 2019, would open the doors to more SBA help for Maine’s cannabis businesses.

“Starting a small business is never easy, so we need to ensure entrepreneurs have access to the resources necessary to succeed, no matter the industry,” Golden said in a press release.

“Continuing to turn some Maine small business owners away from crucial SBA programs and resources holds our economy back and keeps those businesses from creating jobs,” he said. “My bill would address this problem by helping small business owners directly or indirectly associated with the cannabis industry get their small businesses off the ground and grow.”

Golden, who is seeking reelection next year, doesn’t have a declared opponent yet. But one Republican who is seriously considering, former state Sen. Eric Brakey of Auburn, said recently that cannabis is an issue where he and Golden generally agree.

Maine voters legalized marijuana in a statewide referendum.

Golden’s bill is one of a group of measures the House Small Business Committee is looking into.

Its chair, U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez, a New York Democrat, has a bill that would make businesses with direct and indirect cannabis ties eligible for SBA-backed loans.

The panel’s vice chair, U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Pennsylvania, has a proposal that would establish an SBA grant program to provide state and local governments with funding to help small businesses navigate cannabis licensing and employment, also focused on places that have struggled with drugs over the years.

“My bill would act as a poverty-buster and help homegrown small businesses, which are the backbone of our economy,” Evans said in a press release.

 

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