Welcome to my latest Weekly Weed Report. Below is a condensed transcript; the video contains additional details and charts.

What’s the most urgent service needed by pot companies these days? Financing. Although the dilemma has eased somewhat, the marijuana industry still suffers from a chronic cash crunch. The federal ban on pot is impeding the ability of many pot companies to raise capital, exactly at a time when many of them want to expand.

Traditional sources of capital are elusive, as bankers play it cautiously. That makes it difficult for pot companies to consummate expansion or merger plans.This stark reality underscores the industry’s need for legislation to bring marijuana into the financial mainstream. Some lawmakers are heeding the call.

Pending in the House of Representatives is a bill that would protect banks that service the cannabis industry from being penalized by federal regulators. Called the Secure And Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, the legislation seeks to expedite the provision of financial services to cannabis companies by removing the fear of potential federal action against lenders.

The stand-alone SAFE Banking Act, which initially passed by a roughly three-to-one margin, has passed the House four times since 2019. The roadblock is the Senate, which has been obstructionist, to say the least.

Countercultural baggage…

As of this writing, the SAFE bill continues to languish in the Senate, where the odds of passage are unsure, due to the conservative nature of most Republican senators.

The approaching midterm elections in November form another headwind to passage of the SAFE bill, because Republicans are keen to wage culture war this election cycle, and few issues trigger sharper emotions than marijuana. Pot is increasingly legal on the state level, but nonetheless carries considerable countercultural baggage, especially with the religious right and among “red state” leaders.

Read This Story: Coping With The Cannabis Cash Crunch

But this month, advancement of the SAFE bill received major impetus in the Senate. President Biden is likely to sign the bill if it passes the full Congress. The bill just might make it into law this year, albeit in a different incarnation.

Last week, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) announced that he and other senators are working on what’s likely to be called “SAFE Banking Plus,” which combines protections for banks that provide services to state-legal marijuana companies with other reforms such as expungements of criminal records for people with past cannabis convictions and access to the services of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

Booker had initially insisted that marijuana become legal on the federal level before he pushed for the SAFE bill, but he has since been willing to compromise, as long as SAFE contains provisions from marijuana legalization legislation that’s also stymied in the Senate,

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in recent days has been holding bipartisan and bicameral negotiations over what a marijuana omnibus bill might eventually include. GOP senators initially opposed to SAFE are starting to make conciliatory noises about SAFE that bode well for the bill’s passage.

Repairing the drug war’s damage…

Sen. Booker told the press last week: “I know there’s a lot of small businesses that are really suffering right now. They can’t access the financial industry to get loans for it. They can’t find a way to get out of using enormous sums of cash, which end up making them targets for criminal activity.”

Booker went on to explain why expungements should be a part of an omnibus SAFE Banking Plus bill: “I know the urgency for SAFE Banking for the little woman or little guy in terms of getting this done. But I also know that if we get that done—which is being pushed by large corporations and other large financial interests—we will leave behind the millions of Americans who had themselves or their families been affected by these low-level drug charges.”

SAFE would help solve the marijuana industry’s cash woes, by allowing canna-businesses freer access to financial services. It’s not just loans. Without access to banking, marijuana businesses lack the ability to process credit card payments, deposit cash, write checks to suppliers, and other functions they need to perform to remain viable businesses.

If the Senate does advance the SAFE Banking Act this year and it’s enacted into law, you can expect a surge in bank lending to marijuana companies, which in turn will ignite a rally in pot stocks.

The time to buy quality marijuana stocks is ahead of SAFE’s passage, before this legal catalyst occurs and share prices zoom higher.

As I’ve just explained, new money-making opportunities are increasingly emerging in the realm of marijuana. But how can you separate the solid bets from the crap shoots? You need guidance.

That’s why I urge you to read my new book: The Wide World of Weed and Psychedelics. My book is your definitive guide for making money in the thriving cannabis and psychedelics industries. Get your free copy of my book.

John Persinos is the editorial director of Investing Daily.

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