Tag: US House

  • U.S. House Committee Advances Legal Marijuana Bill

    U.S. House Committee Advances Legal Marijuana Bill

    The U.S. House Judiciary Committee approved a bill Thursday that would decriminalize and deschedule marijuana by a vote of 26-15. The move ended a two-day markup period in which the panel also approved a series of bipartisan measures designed to lower drug prices.

    Credit: EKKAPON

    The measure, sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, passed the chamber last year but stalled in the GOP-controlled Senate, according to rollcall.com. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer proposed a similar measure in July, sparking hopes among advocates that the legislation would finally make it into law.

    The bill would decriminalize and deschedule cannabis, and implement a federal tax on marijuana products to fund grants for communities hardest hit by the nation’s war on drugs. The bill would also allow most individuals convicted of nonviolent cannabis offenses to expunge their records, with the exception of those considered to be “kingpins,” or those who helped oversee a criminal drug ring.

    The outlook for final passage is still uncertain. Schumer and co-sponsors, including Sen. Cory Booker, have not yet formally introduced their draft bill, and Congress is currently consumed by a debate to pass trillions of dollars in spending on infrastructure and social programs, including a first-ever e-cigarette tax.

  • U.S. House to Vote on Legal Marijuana Bill Today

    U.S. House to Vote on Legal Marijuana Bill Today

    The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on marijuana legalization at the federal level today, the first time either chamber of Congress has voted on the matter.

    The bill is likely to pass the chamber, but the U.S. Senate is unlikely to take up the legislation in the last two weeks Congress is in session this year, according to an article in USA Today.

    marijuana farm
    Credit: Richard T. Yovh

    The measure, sponsored by Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., would remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances and expunge some marijuana-related criminal records. It would still be up to states to pass their own regulations on the sale of marijuana.

    Nadler told USA TODAY in September the vote on the bill would be a “historic vote” as the federal government put an end to its “40-year, very misguided crusade” against marijuana.

    He highlighted provisions in the MORE Act that fund community programs to benefit people previously convicted of marijuana-related offenses. He said the provisions were about “making people whole from harms suffered directly as a result of the marijuana ban,” which he said disproportionately affected racial minorities.

    Advocates see the vote as a part of a move toward “justice.”

    “With this vote, Congress is recognizing the disproportionate impact enforcement has had on our communities and calling for the unjust status quo to be disrupted,” said Maritza Perez, director of the office of national affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance, a group advocating for the decriminalization of drugs.

  • U.S. House Votes to Protect States With Legal Marijuana

    U.S. House Votes to Protect States With Legal Marijuana

    Credit: Louis Velazquez

    An amendment to protect all U.S. state-run marijuana programs from federal interference passed the U.S. he House of Representatives on Thursday. The bill passed in a 254-163 vote on the floor. Earlier in the day, it had been approved in an initial voice vote.

    If enacted, the measure would prevent the Department of Justice (DOJ) from using its funds to impede states from implementing cannabis legalization laws. The bipartisan effort was led by Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Tom McClintock, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Barbara Lee.

    The amendment builds on an existing provision that only protects state medical cannabis laws from DOJ intervention that has been enacted through appropriations legislation each year since 2014.

    As a growing number of states have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational purposes, “we’ve watched across the country shifting attitudes,” Blumenauer said in the floor debate prior to the vote, according to marijuanamoment.net, a cannabis advocacy group. “The federal government, sadly, is still trapped by the dead hand of Richard Nixon’s war on drugs, declaring cannabis a schedule I controlled substance.”

    The congressman also talked about separate House-passed legislation to protect banks that service the marijuana industry and another standalone bill to federally deschedule cannabis.