Dope decriminalisation bill passes

The Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives has approved a bill to decriminalise and tax cannabis at the federal level, reversing what supporters call a failed policy of criminalising marijuana use, and taking steps to address racial disparities in enforcement of federal drug laws.

Opponents, mostly Republicans, called the bill a hollow political gesture, and mocked Democrats for bringing it up at a time when thousands of Americans are dying from the coronavirus pandemic. Democrats noted that the House passed a major pandemic relief bill in May that has languished in the Senate.

Supporters say the bill will help to end America’s decadeslong ‘‘war on drugs’’ by removing cannabis from the list of federally controlled substances, while allowing states to set their own rules.

The bill also would use money from a new tax on cannabis to address the needs of groups and communities harmed by the drug war, and to provide for the expungement of federal marijuana convictions and arrests.

‘‘For far too long, we have treated marijuana as a criminal justice problem instead of as a matter of personal choice and public health,’’ said New York Democrat Congressman Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a key sponsor of the bill. ‘‘Whatever one’s views are on the use of marijuana for recreational or medicinal use, the policy of arrests, prosecution and incarceration at the federal level has proven unwise and unjust.’’ It is the first time that comprehensive legislation to decriminalise cannabis has passed the full House or Senate.

The vote comes at a time when most Americans live in states where cannabis is legal in some form, and national policy has lagged woefully behind changes at the state level. Loans and other banking services, for example, are hard to get for many cannabis companies because the drug remains illegal at the federal level.

The bill, which passed 228-164, now goes to the Republicancontrolled Senate, where it is unlikely to advance. A related bill that would give cannabis businesses access to traditional banking services has languished in the Senate after being approved by the House last year.