Schumer set to move on pot’s legalization
Yet president wants more study of the issue
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a strong advocate of marijuana legalization, is ready to move ahead with major changes to federal laws prohibiting the use, sale and production of cannabis products – with or without the support of President Joe Biden.
During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden – a leading Democratic proponent of tough drug laws during his long Senate career – was the only leading Democratic primary candidate to oppose federal legalization of the plant, saying more study is needed. While the president supports legalizing the drug for medical use and the decriminalization of possession, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters last week, Biden’s “position has not changed” on full legalization since the campaign.
Schumer told Politico he respects Biden’s desire for more study on the subject, but he said “we will move forward” even if the president’s view stays the same.
“He said he’s studying the issue,” the New York Democrat said when asked if he would introduce a legalization bill even if Biden opposes it. He added he wants to give the president “a little time” to research the question.
“I want to make my arguments to him, as many other advocates will,” Schumer told Politico. “But at some point we’re going to move forward, period.”
Schumer introduced a legalization bill in 2018 and is working on legislation to change federal marijuana laws with Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Schumer has not yet revealed the contents of the new bill, and it is unclear whether the legislation would include full federal legalization or a more modest move toward decriminalization that Biden might be more likely to support.
“I support decriminalization at the federal level, and we’ll be introducing legislation with a few of my colleagues shortly,” Schumer said. “At the federal level, you call it decriminalization because it lets the states legalize.”
But when asked by Politico about whether the new legislation calls for legalization or decriminalization, Schumer said: “I am personally for legalization. And the bill that we’ll be introducing is headed in that direction.
“I don’t want to get into the details of our bill. You’ll have to wait and see,” Schumer said, though he indicated it would include a provision to expunge federal marijuana convictions from people’s criminal records. Schumer also said he would support pushing states to similarly expunge criminal records through federal “incentives and disincentives.”
Schumer, whose home state of New York legalized marijuana last week, told Politico his position on the matter “evolved” after seeing the success of the states that approved recreational use of the drug.
“When a few of the early states – Oregon and Colorado – wanted to legalize, all the opponents talked about the parade of horribles: Crime would go up. Drug use would go up. Everything bad would happen,” Schumer said. “The parade of horribles never came about, and people got more freedom. ”