Weed legalization

The MORE ACT said legalizing cannabis is an issue of economic growth, social equity, racial justice, and states' rights. Sponsored by House Judiciary Chairman ...

"Ending the war on drugs also means adopting progressive and noncriminal regulatory strategies rather than relying on law enforcement." The bill sets a new path forward and would begin to correct some of the injustices of the last 50 years." Meanwhile, fewer than one-fifth of cannabis business owners identify as minorities and only 4 percent are black. The costs of enforcing cannabis-prohibition laws costs taxpayers approximately $3.6 billion a year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and results in more than 600,000 arrests annually. In 2020, legal cannabis sales totaled $20 billion, and are projected to double by 2025. The House passed a similar bill in 2020, but did not garner support in a Republican controlled Senate.

Democrats, with some Republican support, voted 220-204 to remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances, moving to catch up to the states.

It would also make Small Business Administration loans and services available to cannabis businesses while setting standards for them. The Republicans voting for the measure were Representatives Matt Gaetz and Brian Mast of Florida and Tom McClintock of California. But other Republicans have signed on to a similar bill by Representative Nancy Mace, Republican of South Carolina. (Two Democrats, Representatives Henry Cuellar of Texas and Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, voted against the legislation on Friday.) The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, which passed 220-204, is unlikely to secure 60 votes to pass the Senate, despite the backing of the majority leader, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. But supporters of marijuana decriminalization — even some Republicans who voted against the Democratic legislation — said on Friday that the vote was a necessary step toward building consensus on something that can become law.

36 states and D.C. have legalized medical cannabis and 19 states and D.C. have legalized cannabis for adult recreational use. If states are the laboratories of ...

Congress just passed the #MOREAct to decriminalize and automatically clear convictions for cannabis at the federal level. Today, I voted to decriminalize marijuana and invest the resulting tax revenue in disproportionately impacted communities. California decriminalized in marijuana in 2016 to begin repairing the harm of discriminatory drug policy through resentencing & reinvesting in our communities. Today, I voted to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. It’s time to remove marijuana from the list of federally controlled substances & expunge nonviolent drug offenses. The #MOREAct doesn’t just end the federal criminalization of cannabis – it also invests ~$3 billion over the next decade to provide job training, reentry services, and legal aid to people harmed by failed drug policies. Throwback to my visit to LivWell—the largest marijuana cultivation facility in my district. The MORE Act is a crucial step toward remedying the racist legacy of marijuana criminalization in this country. I joined the House in passing the MORE Act to remove cannabis from the federal list of controlled substances & expunge convictions. We need to repair the harm done to communities of color. This bill reverses decades of failed federal policies based on the criminalization of marijuana by legalizing marijuana, retroactively expunging previous convictions and more. Criminal penalties for marijuana offenses, and the resulting collateral consequences, are unjust and harmful to our society.

Weed vote exposes political rift on criminal justice reform. A marijuana activist holds a flag during a march on Independence Day.

But Joyce’s office said the bill, as it stands, is “too impractical and too flawed” to even start a conversation with GOP members who are interested in changing America’s drug laws. Despite declining GOP support for the MORE Act, Democrats’ nerves on cannabis legislation have calmed. Today’s vote highlighted the growing rift between the parties — and even among Democrats — on how to address cannabis policy. In fact, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday went so far as to frame the MORE Act as a criminal justice reform bill. This time around, Lamb voted in favor of the bill. Joyce’s office said he reached out to Democrats to try and forge consensus on the best approach to overhauling federal cannabis laws. “You’re not going to be able to get Republicans on board… When a vote on the bill was scheduled in September 2020, moderate Democrats balked, worried that voting to legalize weed could hurt their reelection chances. “This bill is a matter of justice and equal opportunity… “I was a supporter of the War on Drugs — I’ve been here a long time,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on the House floor on Friday, pointing out that Black Americans are four times more likely than white people to be arrested for low level cannabis crimes. “We need those social equity programs,” one moderate Democrat lawmaker said, granted anonymity to speak candidly about his leadership’s strategy. Nadler’s office declined an interview request for this story.