House votes on marijuana bill, tax
Legislation likely to fail in Senate
WASHINGTON — The House voted Friday for the first time to federally decriminalize and levy a tax on marijuana sales, following through on pledges by Democratic lawmakers to find new approaches to regulating drugs and rectify a policy that has disproportionately harmed communities of color.
The 228-164 vote follows a trend sweeping the nation as 15 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational use and sales of marijuana since 2012, with many more legalizing it for medicinal purposes. Though the measure is not expected to pass the Senate, marijuana advocates and the bill’s supporters said passing the MORE (Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement)Act was a significant step in aligning U.S. drug laws with states and public opinion strongly supportingsuch measures.
“We had no hopes of or plan to pass this in the Senate; nonetheless, it’s really important to recognize that this is a huge historic move,” said Maritza Perez, national affairs director at the Drug Policy Alliance, an advocacygroup that has been pushing for passage of the bill. “Never before has Congress voted to deschedule marijuana, so that within itself is huge ... and could really move the needle and help us reintroduce the MORE Act in the next Congress, and help us get more allies and more lawmakerson board.”
Descheduling marijuana would remove it from the list of drugs regulated under the federal Controlled Substances Act. It wouldn’t legalize cannabis at the state level, but the bill could serve as a model for states that choose to pursue legalization, as increasingnumbers are doing.
It would also eliminate federal criminal penalties for individuals who manufacture, distribute or possess marijuana, and impose a tax on cannabis products — revenue that would help fund loans to small businesses in the marijuana industry owned by “socially and economically disadvantaged individuals,” as well as a program to minimize barriers to entering the industry for individuals with criminal records.
Such reform efforts overlap with the Black Lives Matter movement, which has highlighted sharp racial disparities in policing, housing and employment. Progressive prosecutors, civil rights groups and community activists say that legalizing marijuana is a key element in rectifying those disparities. The nation’s draconian drug laws, they say, have wreaked havoc in poor communities and those of color for too many years. Some states have made it hard for those who have criminal records related to tough drug enforcement laws from getting into the cannabis industry, which advocates say is unfair.
The proposed legislation would prohibit the denial of federalbenefits and immigration protections for cannabisrelatedreasons, and establish a process for expunging prior federal marijuana convictions.
“This bill recognizes the racial injustices and tries to provide for equity and repair much of the damage of the Waron Drugs,” said Congressional Cannabis Caucus coChair Rep. Barbara Lee, DCalif. “When you look at the sentencing, Black men ... their sentences are 19% longer than sentences imposed for white men. And Latinos are nearly 6.5 times more likely to receive a federal sentencefor cannabis possession thannon-Hispanic whites.”
The MORE Act was first introduced to the House in July 2019, but a vote set for this September got pushed back as Congress focused on coronavirus relief and moderateDemocrats worried that the topic might hurt them at the polls. In a statement that month, Ms. Lee and Cannabis Caucus co-chair Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., noted that House leadership gave them an “ironclad commitment” that the legislation would be considered in the fall.
Last month — a week after the election signaled strong support for drug reform around the country, with five new states legalizing marijuana — Ms. Lee and Mr. Blumenauer reaffirmed in a letterto their colleagues that the MOREAct would see a House vote before the end of the year. It is unclear how such a vote might affect two critical runoff races in Georgia next month that could decide control of the Senate. Democrats need to defeat two Republicans in the Jan. 5 matchups totake over the chamber.
Republicans have criticized the bill as a distraction from the more pressing matter of coronavirus relief. In a Thursday discussion of the legislation, Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., expressed frustration that the House was “not concentrating on a bipartisanCOVID relief stimulus package right now that will actually be signed into law,” but instead “focusing onlegalizing marijuana.”
But Democrats have been quick to point out that the House has already put forward COVID-19 relief legislation. “We can walk and chew gum at the same time,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, DMass.
Only one Republican, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., co-sponsored the House bill. He criticized the legislation Friday for creating new taxes and redistributive programs but reaffirmed his support for it. “My Republican colleagues today will make a number of arguments against this bill,” he said, “but those arguments are overwhelmingly losing with the American people.”