U.S. Reps. Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) filed a bill on Wednesday to help small-scale cannabis cultivators compete with larger industry players by shipping and selling products directly to consumers across state lines, Marijuana Moment reports.
The Small and Homestead Independent Producers (SHIP) Act seeks to address concerns that when the federal prohibition of cannabis finally comes to an end, the industry could easily — and to the detriment of small business owners — be consolidated under the multi-state operators which already dominate many of the state markets. But giving small-scale operators the ability to operate on a direct-to-consumer model could help small growers save money on distribution costs or working directly with retailers.
The bill would take effect following the plant’s eventual federal legalization.
“It is a daunting business environment that they’re facing. Markets are consolidating. The huge multinational corporations are certainly going to do very well, but we want to make sure that the smaller operations have a chance to compete and succeed.” — Huffman, via Marijuana Moment
The bill states that a “small cultivator of marijuana and a small manufacturer of a marijuana product may ship and sell marijuana or a marijuana product to an individual located in that State or another State in which possession of marijuana or the marijuana product is lawful by that individual, using the Postal Service or any private or commercial interstate carrier.”
According to the report, small cultivators are considered in the bill to be operators with up to one acre of outdoor cannabis canopy, up to 22,000 square feet of greenhouse cannabis canopy, or up to 5,000 square feet for indoor cannabis canopy. Small-scale manufacturers, meanwhile, are defined as those producing manufactured cannabis products such as salves, tinctures, edibles, or concentrates but which have gross annual revenue of less than $5,000,000.
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