The National Cannabis Roundtable and the U.S. Cannabis Council – two large lobbying groups that advocate on behalf of the state-regulated marijuana industry in Washington, D.C. – are merging to form the US Cannabis Roundtable.
The unified group represents marijuana multistate operators such as Cresco Labs, Curaleaf Holdings, Green Thumb Industries, Trulieve Cannabis Corp. and Verano Holdings as well as single-state operators, according to a Thursday news release.
Cresco CEO Charlie Bachtell, who served as chair of both the National Cannabis Roundtable and the U.S. Cannabis Council, said in a statement that the talent behind both organizations will combine to create “the unified authority advocating on behalf of the legal cannabis industry.”
The merger comes less than a week before President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated for a second, nonconsecutive term.
In the late summer, a then-campaigning Trump endorsed an adult-use marijuana legalization measure, Florida’s Amendment 3, which failed to reach the 60% voter approval threshold needed to pass.
Bachtell said 2025 “is a pivotal time for the regulated cannabis industry with a newly elected Congress and an incoming President who has publicly supported and pledged to advance commonsense cannabis reform.”
Trump also said he would not disrupt the federal marijuana rescheduling process – currently on hold – that would move the plant from Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act to Schedule 3.
In addition to rescheduling, the newly formed US Cannabis Roundtable will lobby on behalf of the SAFER Banking Act and encourage reforms that would enable domestic marijuana companies to trade on major U.S. stock exchanges.
