U.S. House of Representatives Aims To Pass Bill Legalizing Cannabis This Week

WASHINGTON, D.C.–The House is expected to pass legislation legalizing cannabis this week, marking the latest example of rapidly shifting attitudes about drug prohibitions, which marks a near reversal from Presidents Nixon and Reagan’s failed ”war on drugs,” which destroyed countless lives and devastated minority communities unnecessarily.

The bill, authored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) is called The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (the MORE Act), which would repeal cannabis-related criminal penalties. 

By also imposing a federal tax on cannabis sales, it would also establish a procedure to erase the convictions of nonviolent cannabis offenders and support programs to assist people negatively affected by the war on drugs.

The idea to legalize cannabis has a prominent advocate in Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has been advocating for cannabis since Democrats were returned to power in 2020.

“This Congress represents a sea change,” said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus.

“What we have seen is that the majority of people now realize that the war on drugs failed,” Blumenauer told the publication, The Hill. “Drugs are more accessible and cheaper and more potent and dangerous. Nobody won this war, except people who were involved with the drug dealers themselves.”

And it’s just one of several pieces of legislation that demonstrate Congress’s shift in attitude — a movement that has occurred in part as a result of the disproportionate impact of previous drug restrictions on minority populations.

The Senate passed a bill on Thursday that will enable scientific and medical study on cannabis and its components, including cannabidiol.

The fact that there is widespread support in Congress for revising anti-drug policies reflects public sentiment.

According to polls, the American population is overwhelmingly in favor of legalizing cannabis. According to a Pew Research Center poll conducted last year, 91 percent of adults in the United States believe that cannabis should be legal to some extent, with the majority believing it should be lawful for both medical and recreational use.

Unfortunately, the MORE Act will meet Republican opposition in the Senate if it passes the House.

Even if all Senate Democrats voted in support of the bill, it still requires ten Republican votes to pass and become law. Republicans have bucked the popular will of the people before and are unlikely to pass this bill. But even if the MORE Act fails, it will pave the way for a more open government approach to cannabis.

Another cannabis-related bill, the SAFE Banking Act, would allow cannabis-related businesses to open bank accounts, which is now prohibited by federal law. Cannabis companies are all-cash businesses (technically) as a result of the ban. A very dangerous position which exposes cannabis businesses to violent robbery.

The SAFE bill has been passed six times in the House but has met obstinate resistance from conservative Republicans in the U.S. Senate.