Will US House-approved Bill to Decriminalize Cannabis, Now Facing Republican Senate, Go Up in Smoke?
A sweeping bill to decriminalize marijuana was passed on December 4 as the Democrat-led US House of Representatives voted 228-164 to approve the ‘Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act’ (MORE Act). The new law would reschedule cannabis and remove it from the long list of federally controlled substances while also expunging most federal offenses. The MORE Act also calls for business incentives for minority-owned American businesses.
In particular, the MORE Act recognizes the inequality of legalized cannabis production and plans to refresh the laws with minorities in mind. The act states, “Fewer than one-fifth of cannabis business owners identify as minorities and only approximately 4 percent are black.”
Business owners looking to open their own cannabis businesses face excessive costs that can top $700,000, including what the MORE Act notes as, “exorbitant permit 3 applications, licensing fees, and costs.”
“The communities that have been most harmed by cannabis prohibition are benefiting the least from the legal marijuana marketplace,” adds the MORE Act. “A legacy of racial and ethnic injustices, compounded by the disproportionate collateral consequences of 80 years of cannabis prohibition enforcement, now limits participation in the industry.”
Five Republicans from states including California, Virginia, Florida and Alaska broke rank with their party to favor the MORE Act. At the same time, six Democrats opposed the bill, breaking their own party lines.
In total, 47 states plus Washington D.C, Guam and Puerto Rico have already reformed cannabis laws, either for medicinal or adult recreational use, despite the federal criminalization considering it a Schedule I drug, which is a classification including hard drugs such as Heroin, Ecstasy, LSD, and Mescaline.
Federal decriminalization laws have been discussed for years, but they have not yet passed in the US. The MORE Act was supported and lobbied by numerous groups including the ACLU, The National Cannabis Industry Association and the Marijuana Policy Project.
As of this article’s publication date, the MORE Act is not expected to win passage in the current Republican-held Senate, unless the two Senate seats being voted on now in Georgia are taken by Democrats.
