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| Cannabis activists have been lobbying Congress for decades. Will the Biden administration finally legalize marijuana? (PHOTO BY CAROLINE BREHMAN/CQ-ROLL CALL, INC VIA GETTY IMAGES) |
Bills that would allow legal cannabis businesses to access banks or claim normal business deductions have passed the House of Representatives. In a joint statement, new Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sens. Corey Booker and Ron Wyden said they would pursue and prioritize «comprehensive cannabis reform legislation» in the current session. In addition to legalizing cannabis on the federal level, the senators pledged to also pursue measures that would enrich and empower people of color, who continue to be arrested and incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses at disproportionate rates.
«The Senate will make consideration of these reforms a priority». In the coming weeks, Senate Democrats will publish a legalization proposal that would include «restorative justice» and measures to «protect public health» as well as «responsible taxes and regulations,» they said Monday. In addition to the federal Controlled Substances Act, which declares cannabis a dangerous and highly addictive drug with no medical value, all 50 states have laws on the books outlawing cannabis to some degree. Even states that have legalized cannabis for adults 21 and over still impose penalties for youth or teen possession.
Earl Blumenauer , who chairs the House’s cannabis caucus, in a separate statement issued Monday. «Now, new Senate leadership is prepared to pick up the mantle». «The missing ingredient in cannabis reform has been Senate action,» he added. «To finally have the active leadership of the new Senate majority leader, rather than being stuck in McConnell’s legislative graveyard, makes all the difference in the world».
Though President Joe Biden has historically been opposed or at least lukewarm on cannabis legalization, Vice President Kamala Harris, when she was a California senator, sponsored the Senate version of a comprehensive legalization bill. Many legalization advocates believe Harris will use her position to push Biden and whip votes in the Senate for a legalization push. «After years of marijuana policy reform being neglected and mocked by Mitch McConnell, it is heartening to see these Senate leaders working together to repeal the senseless and cruel policy of marijuana prohibition,» Justin Strekal, the political director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said in a statement. «We look forward to constructively engaging with Congressional leaders, other organizations, and those communities that have historically been most impacted by criminalization in order to ensure that we craft the strongest and most comprehensive bill possible to right the wrongs of the nearly a century of federal cannabis prohibition».
Source: Chris Roberts | Forbes
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