Federal marijuana legalization and social equity within the broader conversation of cannabis infrastructure have seen a renewed push in Congress. The MORE Act, short for Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement Act, is perhaps the most comprehensive approach to cannabis and righting the wrongs of the past to have emerged in Congress. The legislation is sponsored and was filed by Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and goes further to illustrate the need for cannabis reform than an earlier iteration of legislation approved by the chamber in 2020.
Among the more egalitarian components of the Act is the removal of marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), providing for the expungement of cannabis convictions, and supporting community reinvestment through federal marijuana taxation.
The Act has already passed the House but failed to progress through a Republican-controlled Senate. That said, proponents of the bill are optimistic that this second iteration will prove more palatable to both parties, as well as the current administration, in the face of more and more states favoring legalization.
“Since I introduced the MORE Act last Congress, numerous states across the nation, including my home state of New York, have moved to legalize marijuana. Our federal laws must keep up with this pace,” Nadler said. “I’m proud to reintroduce the MORE Act to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, remove the needless burden of marijuana convictions on so many Americans, and invest in communities that have been disproportionately harmed by the War on Drugs.”
The previous iteration of the bill contained a contentious clause that prevented those with former marijuana convictions from participating in a federally legalized cannabis market. The clause was added as the House vote approached and earned the ire of advocates.
Another amendment to the previous bill that has found its way into the MORE Act is the inclusion of SBA access to funding, financial advocacy, and vocational training. These benefits are earmarked for those who have been disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs so that they may participate in a legalized industry better prepared and with diminished anxiety. Protections for immigrants and the ability to have courts reevaluate sentencing cast on cannabis convictions remain as they were outlined in the 2020 legislation, too.
Queen Adesuyi, policy manager for the Drug Policy Alliance’s Office of National Affairs, an NPO that seeks to advance policies that, “reduce the harms of both drug use and drug prohibition, and to promote the sovereignty of individuals over their minds and bodies,” said in a statement “With the majority of Americans in favor of marijuana legalization for adult use, and how communities of color have been devastated by prohibition finally being widely acknowledged, prioritizing marijuana reform that begins to undo this harm and give back to those communities should be a no-brainer.” Adesuyi and her organization prioritize reducing the role of criminalization in drug policy, advocating for the legal regulation of marijuana, and promoting health-centered drug policies. Oin response to the proposed legislation, she would go on to add, “We are grateful that not only was this bill reintroduced so early in the session, but that the exclusionary language that ended up getting added in through the political process last year was removed. This bill is meant to comprehensively address the widespread harms of prohibition, and it is impossible to do that if we are still leaving those that have already paid the steepest price out. We urge House Leadership to bring this bill to the floor without delay.”
Another bill is scheduled to be brought forth by Senate leaders ship and will also include provisions for social equity in the shadow of cannabis legalization. Among those penning the bill include Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ). According to the group, the reworked legislation will be ready for presentation “very soon.”
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) Political Director Justin Strekal chimed in at the announcement, stating, “When the MORE Act was approved by the House of Representatives in the previous session, Congress demonstrated in no uncertain terms that the days of federal marijuana prohibition are numbered. While Senate Majority Leader Schumer and Senators Booker and Wyden continue to solicit feedback for their forthcoming legislation in the upper chamber, the House is preparing to once again advance criminal justice-focused legislation that will bring our failed prohibitionist policies to an end while also ensuring that those Americans who are saddled with the consequences of a marijuana conviction can have their records cleared.”
While federal conversations around cannabis legalization have been slow to gain momentum, state-level legalization is off to the races, with dozens of states affording citizens the right to consume cannabis at the recreational and medical levels.
Marijuana deschedulization has made an appearance sans social equity efforts at the behest of a duo of House republican congressmen. Additionally, a banking bill affording financial institutions protections when handling funds from cannabis businesses also passed in the last congressional session several times, only to die on the Senate floor. With the conversation around cannabis only building greater fervor, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) offered his voice to the choir, contributing, “Last year, we saw more progress toward cannabis legalization than ever before. This has been driven by unprecedented reforms at the state level. Now, Congress must deal with the problems created by the failed federal policy of prohibition. With a strong base of support in the House and in the Senate, the table is set. It’s past time that we stop federal interference with cannabis banking and research, as well as the terrible pattern of selective enforcement that has devastated communities of color. The MORE Act will help address all of these problems and more.”
