Amazon has taken its first steps into the cannabis industry

The e-commerce giant Amazon is officially lobbying for cannabis. The company officially registered this week to support the MORE Act, a bill to end federal criminalization of cannabis. This is important news as it could help make legislation a reality. "I'm pretty disappointed that we really haven't seen any movement at the federal level," said Matthew Schweich to Politico. Schweich is the deputy director of the Marijuana Policy Project. "I think if Amazon were able to politically support reform at the federal level and fund state-level efforts, it would be a positive outcome for the cannabis reform movement in this country." "They didn't tell me about going into sales or anything," said Maritza Perez, director of the national affairs bureau at the Drug Policy Alliance, who met with Amazon last month to discuss the law. "I expressed the fact that they are a big company and that people may think they are doing this for other reasons. And they understand that that might be the perception." Several advocacy and industry groups, including the Drug Policy Alliance, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and Canopy Growth Inc., have reported meeting with Amazon officials last month to discuss federal marijuana policies to discuss. Amazon said in June that its "Public Policy Team will actively support the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act," also known as the MORE Act, which would decriminalize cannabis and provide for the erasure of some non-violent cannabis offenses, has long been under discussion . Having Amazon involved could mean that the company is looking to get into what is not doing so well for small businesses. "There has been a lot of concern that they may be trying to displace the ability of small businesses to thrive in this area, so that's definitely something we're looking for," said Morgan Fox of the National Cannabis Industry Association.