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As the cannabis industry continues to take root state by state, Congress will consider whether to remove marijuana from the federal controlled substances law once and for all.
The House will vote on the Marijuana Reinvestment and De-listing Act, or the MORE Act, on Friday, which would decriminalize cannabis and pave the way for the erasure of non-violent federal marijuana convictions.
The MORE Act would also create pathways to homeownership in the emerging industry, allow veterans to obtain medical cannabis referrals from veteran doctors, and establish funding sources to reinvest in affected communities of disproportionately by the war on drugs.
Friday’s vote would mark the first time that a plenary chamber of Congress has addressed the issue of decriminalizing cannabis at the federal level.
“It’s the right thing to do,” said a co-sponsor of the MORE Act, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., Co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus. “For too long, the war on drugs has targeted young people, especially blacks, and rejected expert advice.”
Blumenauer, whose congressional district includes parts of Portland, has been working to end the cannabis ban since the 1970s, when he was in the state legislature. He said the War on Drugs “never made sense” to him and rather grew out of President Richard Nixon’s “cynical” view of cannabis and other controlled substances.
Nixon declared a “war on drugs” in the early 1970s, calling drug addiction “public enemy number one” after the rise of recreational drugs in the 1960s. He aimed to reduce the use, distribution and consumption of drugs. trade with severe penalties and prison terms.
Blumenaer said that unlike heroin and cocaine, both of which are also Schedule 1 drugs, cannabis is not addictive and has been shown to have therapeutic properties for managing pain. (Research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other organizations indicates that marijuana can, indeed, be addictive.)
“Public acceptance is at an all time high,” he said. “This is an idea whose time has come.”
Cannabis won big on election day last month. Voters in five states – Arizona, New Jersey, South Dakota, Montana, and Mississippi – have approved measures to legalize some form of marijuana use. Today, 15 states, two territories and Washington, DC, have legalized recreational cannabis, while 34 states and two territories allow marijuana for medical purposes.
“For decades, discriminatory cannabis policies have perpetuated another form of systemic racism in America, and this legislation will begin the process of restorative justice for those most affected,” said Representative Barbara Lee, D-California. , who co-sponsored the bill with Blumenauer.
In a joint letter to Congress, Lee and Blumenauer said their reform efforts underscore “the critical issue of racial justice and the failure of the war on drugs that has devastated communities of color, especially black communities. and brunettes “.
“We can no longer ignore our duty to repair the damage caused by this nefarious form of systemic racism,” the letter read.
The trend towards standardization of cannabis is not unique to the United States; he is part of a worldwide movement to end prohibition. The UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs voted this week to remove marijuana and marijuana resin from the category of the most dangerous drugs in the world, paving the way for new research opportunities.
Despite the recent success of reform efforts, many lawmakers remain opposed to the federal decriminalization of cannabis. Among them is Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., Who intends to vote against the MORE law.
In an emailed statement, Lesko said Democrats had “chosen to waste House time” with a bill that “will never be enacted.”
“Not only is it a dereliction of duty, but the bill is simply bad policy,” she said. “It does nothing to deter the use of marijuana by children, does not require a warning label about the health risks posed by marijuana, and does not take into account the science which shows that marijuana affects directly the parts of the brain responsible for memory and learning.
Supporters of the bill retort that the MORE law would reconcile legal tensions between states and the federal government. Since California legalized medical marijuana in 1996, dozens of states have launched recreational and medicinal cannabis programs in open disregard of federal law, creating confusion when it comes to taxing, transporting and even traveling with marijuana.
The unspoken truce between the states and the federal government was codified in 2013 when Deputy Attorney General James Cole issued a memo updating guidelines for federal prosecutors on the application of marijuana in under the Controlled Substances Act.
The so-called Cole Memo was released after voters in Colorado and Washington state legalized cannabis for adult use, even though marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug. State laws conflicting With federal laws, prosecutors have been tasked with focusing only on the highest level of cannabis-related offenses, including distribution to minors, conspiracy with drug cartels, and violence.
If cannabis is canceled through the MORE Act, large banks and institutions would be more likely to enter the marijuana industry once a legal framework is established, said Justin Strekal, political director of the ‘National Organization for Marijuana Law Reform, or NORML.
“It is bad to govern when states completely challenge the federal government,” he said. “It breeds lawlessness.”
While supporters expect the MORE law to pass in the Democratic-controlled House, the Senate presents another hurdle. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Criticized Democratic efforts to include diversity studies as part of cannabis reform, saying this year lawmakers should instead focus on relieving the coronavirus pandemic.
Still, McConnell, who backs the hemp industry, met with cannabis industry insiders last year in California, signaling some experts that cannabis reform may be much closer to becoming a reality.
“More and more, this is becoming a bipartisan issue,” said J. “Smoke” Wallin, CEO of Vertical Wellness, a California-based hemp and CBD company. “When you look at the states that have just passed cannabis laws, you have the blue, the red and the purple. It’s more about when and how.”
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