Longtime marijuana advocate Steve Fox has left the National Cannabis Industry Association, which he co-founded, to join the upstart Cannabis Trade Federation to promote federal MJ reform.
“It is a larger lobbying team at CTF with a lot of reach into a lot of different offices,” Fox told Marijuana Business Daily.
“And, from the perspective of someone who’s been trying to change federal laws actively since 2002, the opportunity to work with so many people to try to end this battle was too good … to turn down.”
CTF recently announced it was hiring 15 Washington DC-based lobbyists to work on passing the STATES (Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States) Act, which would exempt cannabis businesses operating in accordance with state law from the federal Controlled Substances Act.
“We’re putting a full-court press on to try to get that passed during this session,” Fox said.
CTF was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the New Federalism Fund and the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp.
Fox co-founded NCIA in 2010 and worked with the group for eight years. He took an expanded role eight months ago as a strategic adviser to NCIA’s DC efforts.
“This is isn’t any reflection of my feelings about NCIA as an organization or anything like that,” Fox said of his move to CTF. “I completely value my time that I spent with the organization.”
