HOUSE PASSES MEASURE TO DECRIMINALIZE MARIJUANA

Bill would authorize tax to fund grant programs; Senate passage unlikely

The House on Friday passed sweeping leg islation that would decriminalize marijuana and expunge nonviolent marijuana-related convictions, as Democrats sought to roll back drug policies that have dispropor tionately affected low-income communities of color.

The 228-164 vote to approve the measure was bipartisan, and it was the f irst time either chamber of Congress had ever endorsed the legalization of cannabis. The bill would remove the drug from the Controlled Substances Act and authorize a 5 per

cent tax on marijuana that would fund community and small-business grant programs to help those most affected by the criminalization of marijuana.

The leg islation is, for now, almost certainly doomed in the Republican-led Senate, where that party’s leaders have derided it as a superficial distraction from the work of passing coronavirus relief, as lawmakers inched toward after bipar months tisan of impasse. compromise

But the bill’s passage in the

House amounted to a watershed moment decades in the making for advocates of marijuana leg islation, and it laid out an expansive federal framework for redressing the racial disparities in the criminal justice system exacerbated by the war on drugs.

“The effects of marijuana prohibition have been par ticularly

felt by communities of color because it has meant that people from the communities couldn’t get jobs,” Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y. and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said in an interview.

Nadler, who spearheaded the leg islation with California Sen. Kamala Harris, the vice presidentelect, described the collateral consequences of a conviction for marijuana possession as creating “an often-permanent secondclass status for millions of Americans.”

The idea behind the legislation is “you want to make whole these communities, and you want to compensate,” he said. “You want to shed light on what was done.”

The leg islation is aimed at incentivizing and empowering states to enact their own reforms, and its passage came as states around the country, including some conser vativeleaning ones, have become increasingly open to decriminalizing marijuana. Fifteen states have l egalized recreational cannabis, and voters in five states last month voted on legalization issues, bringing the number of states where medical marijuana is legal to 35.

The law would require federal cour ts to release those ser ving sentences for nonviolent, marijuana-related offenses, and set up grant programs focused on providing job training, legal aid and substance use treatment, as well as grants for small businesses in the marijuana industry led by low-income and minority business owners. Physicians with the Depar tment of Veterans Affairs would also be allowed for the f irst time to recommend medical marijuana to their patients.

It is the f irst major piece of leg islation aimed at addressing racial disparities in the criminal justice system that Congress has taken up since June, when the House, responding to a national outcry for racial justice, passed a behemoth policing overhaul bill, which ultimately was stalled by par tisan disagreement. To date, Congress has not sent any leg islation to the president’s desk addressing the issue since nationwide protests in the summer.

“This is part of the same effort to make it possible for minority communities to live on an equal basis in this country,” Nadler said.

Republicans denounced the bill and criticized Democrats for bringing it to the f loor before lawmakers had struck a compromise on coronavirus relief. Democrats had postponed a vote on the l eg islation scheduled earlier in the fall after some moderate lawmakers facing diff icult reelection races expressed concern about fending off those attacks, during a campaign in which Republicans accused them of backing a radical liberal agenda.

“With mere days left in the year to get something done for the American people who are suffering, Speaker Pelosi has brought up a drug legalization bill,” said Rep. Pete Stauber, RMinn. “As children struggle to receive their education and child care facilities close; as seniors remain isolated from their families, this is their solution.”

Five Republicans broke from their par ty to suppor t the bill, as did Rep. Justin Amash, Liber tarian of Michigan. But some who ultimately voted for the bill were vocal in airing their complaints.

“If Pelosi was serious about marijuana reform we would take a vote on the STATES Act, which would pass the Senate and be signed into law,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said, referencing a bipar tisan bill introduced in the Senate that would l egalize marijuana. “But she isn’t. So we’ll do this instead.”

Gaetz added: “I prefer my marijuana reform not dipped in reparations policy, frankly.”

For Democrats, that was exactly the point.

Forty percent of drug arrests made in 2018 were for marijuana offenses — and just over 90 percent of those arrests were for possessing the drug, according to a repor t from the nonpar tisan Pew Research Center. A separate report released by the American Civil Liberties Union showed that Black people are more than three times as likely as White people to be arrested for marijuana possession despite comparable usage rates.