a new report warned that cannabis growers have no access to federal bankruptcy protection thue undermining the industry’s potential this is because marijuana is still classified by federal law as an illicit substance according to the cannabis law journal the fact that cannabis remains a schedule 1 drug allows the controlled substance act csa to block bankruptcy relief to businesses that sell the product acting as “the boogeyman of bankruptcy jurisprudence” stated the report written by travis stewart a law student at the university of nevada las vegas as long as the plant remains illegal at the federal level cannabisrelated debtors cdrs cannot receive bankruptcy relief resulting in totally disparate treatment of them however the incipient legal weed industry has become a powerful economic driver in many states since august 2022 almost 20 states and dc have passed legislation allowing personal possession and consumption of marijuana cannabisrelated debtors should be protected by law like others creditors and debtors have far different terms of their agreements because the creditors’ ability to bargain is constrained by federal ban noted the crime report which argues this violates constitutional protections enshrined in article i section 8 clause 4 of the constitution which grants congress the power “to establish … uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the united states” additionally the report stated that the csas ban on debtors seeking bankruptcy relief changes the relationship between them and their creditors “cannabis debtors and their creditors would be better served if both the us trustee and bankruptcy courts treated them like any other business that files for bankruptcy” the easiest solution but unlikely given the political hurdles is to remove cannabis as a schedule 1 substance nevertheless the author said it should be regarded as an economic priority  “as of 2022 approximately 428000 jobs are supported by the cannabis industry in the united states if congress legalizes cannabis federally this jobs figure could be as high as 175 million” reads stewarts report “even without federal legalization the number of americans relying on the cannabis industry for economic wellbeing is too large to continue crd’s pariahlike treatment within bankruptcy” finally stewart recommended in the report that marijuana debtors should establish more than one income stream “a diversified income stream may be crds best path to successfully achieve plan confirmation until cannabis is federally decriminalized