House Passes Bill to Decriminalize Marijuana

April 1, 2022 by Reece Nations
House Passes Bill to Decriminalize Marijuana
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., speaks to members of the media during a news conference in Washington, on Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021. A bill decriminalizing marijuana has passed the U.S. House. Democratic lawmakers said the nation's federal prohibition on marijuana has had particularly devastating consequences for minority communities. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, File)

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives voted to pass the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act and send it to the Senate on Friday.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., removes marijuana from the schedules of controlled substances under the Controlled Substances Act and establishes a process to expunge criminal convictions and conduct sentencing review hearings related to federal cannabis offenses. The bill passed by a margin of 220 in favor to 204 opposed.

The MORE Act also imposes an excise tax on marijuana product sales for the purpose of establishing a trust fund for various programs for individuals and businesses in communities impacted by the war on drugs. Further, should the bill be enacted, it would direct the Government Accountability Office to study the societal impact of nationwide cannabis legalization.

“This is an important piece of legislation,” House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said in remarks from the House floor. “How do I know that? Because the people have told us that. Every time they’ve had the opportunity to vote in America, they have voted to do this.”

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, bemoaned the bill’s consideration in the House as an attempt to “kickstart” the marijuana industry and legalize drugs as inflation soars and gas prices rise across the country. Jordan would go on to say in remarks from the House floor that issues like illegal crossings over the southern border and rising crime rates should take precedence over marijuana policy reform.

Advocates, however, praised the Democratic majority in the House for passing the bill and focusing on the social impacts of the federal marijuana prohibition, including its disparities in enforcement among minorities and communities of color.

In a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center last year, 91% of U.S. adult respondents indicated support for ending the prohibition on marijuana compared to 8% who indicated that it should remain illegal.

“Until several years ago, most of the emphasis was on incremental changes or providing simple safe harbor for states to determine their own policies, rather than removing cannabis from the schedule of controlled substances in the [Controlled Substances Act],” Morgan Fox, political director of the nonprofit National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, told The Well News.

“Descheduling is now the focus, as we have seen from the initial passage of the MORE Act in 2020 and the continued introduction of additional legislation in the House that includes descheduling.”

Other provisions of the bill would require the Bureau of Labor Statistics to regularly publish demographic data on cannabis business owners and employees and open Small Business Administration loans and services to entities that are cannabis-related legitimate businesses or service providers, according to the text of the bill.

Further, it prohibits the denial of federal public benefits to a person on the basis of certain cannabis-related conduct or convictions and prohibits the denial of benefits and protections under immigration laws for marijuana convictions.

Republicans had strongly opposed granting protections for immigrants in the bill during its consideration, although three Republicans ultimately joined their Democratic colleagues in voting for the bill’s passage.

“We applaud the MORE Act’s approach to legalization that promises to address many of the harms caused by prohibition through an equity- and justice-centered framework,” Toi Hutchinson, president and CEO of the Marijuana Policy Project and former member of the Illinois state Senate, said in a written statement shared with The Well News.

“Americans have made their support for cannabis legalization abundantly clear, and states across the country have taken the lead on cannabis legalization. Now it is time for Congress to take action and finally put an end to the failed policy of prohibition.”

In addition to the MORE Act, other bills focusing on drug policy reform have already successfully cleared the House and await Senate committee hearings. The SAFE Banking Act would prohibit federal banking regulators from penalizing a depository institution for providing banking services to cannabis-related businesses, while the EQUAL Act would eliminate the federal sentencing disparity between drug offenses involving crack cocaine and powder cocaine.

Bradly Bartos, assistant professor at Arizona University’s School of Government and Public Policy, told The Well News that social initiatives like the war on drugs have been popularized and portrayed as protecting against foreign threats while their enforcement has been directed primarily towards non-white and less-affluent Americans. Bartos said this narrative has long been spun to Americans as a method to view social problems as issues arising from communities of color.

Additionally, Bartos said legalization initiatives like the MORE Act do not necessarily contradict the stated goals of the Nixon-era “war on drugs”, which were to limit the public harm posed by recreational substances. Including a criminal record expungement process in passing cannabis reform policy is “absolutely essential” to reduce the overall harm caused by the war on drugs, he said.

“For 30 years, the trend in public opinion towards marijuana has been a slow and steady increase in acceptance,” Bartos told The Well News. “As this trend continues, the prospect of success becomes greater and greater. However, even if a large majority of Americans support cannabis reforms, the structure of the U.S. senate provides a clear path for conservative obstruction.”

Reece can be reached at [email protected]

A+
a-
  • Congress
  • Jerrold Nadler
  • Marijuana
  • Steny Hoyer
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Cannabis

    Trump Racks Up Endorsements From Republicans in Congress as Resistance Fades

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Long before Donald Trump announced his campaign to retake the White House, he launched a quieter campaign to rack... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Long before Donald Trump announced his campaign to retake the White House, he launched a quieter campaign to rack up Republican endorsements. In early 2021, after Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden and inspired a mob of supporters to attack the Capitol trying to overturn the 2020 election, the... Read More

    Abortion and Cannabis Questions Expected to Drive Ohioans to Polls

    COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Heavier-than-normal turnout is expected Wednesday as early voting begins in Ohio's closely watched off-year election to... Read More

    COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Heavier-than-normal turnout is expected Wednesday as early voting begins in Ohio's closely watched off-year election to decide the future of abortion access and marijuana legalization in the state. Of greatest interest nationally is Issue 1, a proposed constitutional amendment giving every person “the right to make... Read More

    August 30, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    HHS Said to Recommend Easing Federal Restrictions on Cannabis

    WASHINGTON — Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services are reportedly recommending the easing of restrictions on cannabis,... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services are reportedly recommending the easing of restrictions on cannabis, a move, if approved by federal law enforcement, that could usher in a new era for the burgeoning though still semi-illicit industry. The suggestion, initially reported... Read More

    August 2, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    Businessman Strives to Bring Luxury to DC’s Once-Stigmatized Cannabis Sector

    WASHINGTON — To the casual passerby strolling along K Street NW, the neat, glass-dominated storefront of Monko could easily be... Read More

    WASHINGTON — To the casual passerby strolling along K Street NW, the neat, glass-dominated storefront of Monko could easily be mistaken for a spa, high-end hair cuttery or upscale purveyor of lotions and other beauty products. That aura of luxury lingers after one steps inside and... Read More

    April 27, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    Renewed Bipartisan Effort Aims to Open Banking to Cannabis Industry

    WASHINGTON — Just days after an extraordinary cannabis policy summit in the U.S. Capitol, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Just days after an extraordinary cannabis policy summit in the U.S. Capitol, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has reintroduced a bill aimed at ensuring legal cannabis businesses have access to banking and other financial services. The SAFE Banking Act has actually had no problem passing... Read More

    April 21, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    Capitol Cannabis Summit Seen as Positive Step Toward Legalization

    WASHINGTON — Caroline Phillips could not suppress a smile as she walked to the podium. From the moment she reached... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Caroline Phillips could not suppress a smile as she walked to the podium. From the moment she reached the microphone on Thursday morning, she really would be presenting to a congressional forum inside the U.S. Capitol for the National Cannabis Policy Summit. And for... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top