9.10.25 - The Real Power Move Happening in Washington - Part 1

By Alan Gaul, VP., Marketing & Brand, TASI Bank

Part 1: The Quiet Congressional Cannabis Directive

Most of the industry chatter is still stuck on one word: rescheduling. Yes, DEA action matters — research, enforcement risk, and maybe even banking access hinge on it. But if you’re only watching DEA, you’re missing the real shift that just happened in Washington.

Here’s what went down: tucked inside Congress’s Financial Services & General Government Appropriations Bill is a directive to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) — with help from other agencies — to study how states regulate cannabis and come back with recommendations within a year.

On the surface, this looks like more stall tactics. Congress is still blocking D.C. from legalizing sales. They’re still putting restrictions around rescheduling language. But this study? This is the federal government quietly opening the notebook to sketch what nationwide oversight might actually look like.

And the fact that TTB is in the driver’s seat? That’s huge. This is the same bureau that oversees alcohol — labeling, advertising, interstate commerce. If cannabis goes national, the odds are high that TTB is the referee.

Translation: This isn’t just paperwork. It’s the first draft of what federal rules could mean for your labeling, testing, packaging, workplace safety, and eventually, interstate commerce.

For the past decade, states have been left to cobble together their own systems — some smart, some clunky, some downright contradictory. Now the feds are gearing up to sift through the patchwork and decide what carries forward.

🪝 Stay tuned. In Part 2, I’ll break down why this could matter more than rescheduling itself — and what your business should be doing now to prepare.