Cannabis: votes in the United States House of Representatives …

The United States House of Representatives voted for the first time this Friday in favor of the decriminalization of cannabis, in what is a big step in bringing federal laws into line with those of several states and countries that have already rejected the use of this substance. The Democrat-controlled lower house easily passed this bill by 228 to 164 votes. However, its odds are much weaker in the Republican-dominated Senate.

The new standard intends to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substance List, which included it with heroin or cocaine as a dangerous narcotic and provided for severe penalties.

The inclusion of cannabis on this list has left the US federal government offline adopted by various states who have already legalized marijuana for medical purposes and some, like Colorado, who have chosen to free it completely and regulate its recreational use.

This federal bill is the culmination of five decades of argumentation by its supporters to convince the federal government to recognize the relatively small damage that cannabis use does compared to other drugs, as well as not cracking down on its commercialization when hundreds of thousands have been jailed for petty offenses .

If the law is finally enforced, the criminal records of many people arrested for marijuana use would be erased and the sentences of those currently serving sentences for federal cannabis offenses could be reviewed. It would also allow states to make their own laws and initiate federal regulation and taxation of the sector, as is already the case with alcohol. “It’s a historic moment”, appreciated the Democratic representative Tulsi Gabbard, who promoted legalization.

Democrats have used arguments such as African Americans have suffered legally far more than the targets of arrest and conviction, that federal decriminalization will allow war-wounded veterans better access to medical marijuana, or that the new rule would mean the end of long-term federal lockdowns on marijuana research.

Each time more, US federal position disintegrates from international trends. Its northern neighbor, Canada, fully legalized marijuana in 2018, and several companies are growing it commercially there.

In the south, Mexico also took an important step towards legalizing medicinal and recreational use last month, when the Senate passed a bill to reduce violence linked to drug trafficking.