Congress should begin to legalize marijuana

Will 2021 be the year federal marijuana prohibition finally comes to an end?

We hope so.

Congress can get the ball rolling this week, when the House will take up the MORE Act.

We support its passage. States, often through the will of voters by initiative, have led the way in decriminalizing and legalizing marijuana.

To date, three dozen states plus the District of Columbia have allowed marijuana for at least medicinal use, with over a dozen now with outright legalization.

While this trend could continue, given the general disinterest on the part of the federal government in cracking down on states that have decided to legalize, the reality is that federal marijuana laws are still on the books.

Over the years, this discrepancy has contributed to general uncertainty and reluctance on the part of states to legalize marijuana and localities to permit them.

Federal prohibition has also made banking and access to capital difficult.

The practical answer is simple: the federal government should repeal federal marijuana prohibition and allow the states to make their own choices. The easiest way is to remove marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.

Though President Donald Trump has long supported federal legislation to leave the matter to the states and there have been several bills floated in Congress to do just that, no such legislation was taken up over the years.

For his part, Joe Biden has at least indicated support of the idea. His campaign website has indicated he’ll support efforts to “decriminalize the use of cannabis and automatically expunge all prior cannabis use convictions.”

Biden has been a relative newcomer this position, having long been a proponent of prohibition.

Following through on decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level will certainly be popular, with Gallup reporting this month that 68 percent of Americans support legalization.

But most importantly, finally ending federal marijuana prohibition is simply the more reasonable policy choice than leaving it in place.

Just as ending alcohol prohibition made sense, it makes sense to end marijuana prohibition. Prohibition has been a long, destructive failure that has done substantially more harm than good.

Just as ending alcohol prohibition made sense, it makes sense to end marijuana prohibition. Prohibition has been a long, destructive failure that has done substantially more harm than good.