House Begins Final Debate On Federal Marijuana Legalization Bill, With Floor Vote Imminent

This story is developing and will be updated.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday morning opened up debate on a bill to federally legalize marijuana, with a floor vote expected within hours.

The Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act from House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) was first discussed on the floor Thursday, with members approving a final rule to advance it to a full chamber vote.

This is the second time in history that a bill to end federal cannabis prohibition has been considered in a full chamber of Congress. A nearly identical version of the MORE Act passed in 2020, but it stalled in the Senate. It passed through the sponsor’s panel again this session in September.

Nadler opened Friday’s floor debate, calling the MORE Act “long overdue legislation that would reverse decades of failed federal policies based on the criminalization of marijuana.”

“It would also take steps to address the heavy toll these policies have taken across the country, particularly among communities of color,” he said. “For far too long, we have treated marijuana as a criminal justice problem, instead of as a matter of personal choice and public health.”

“Whatever one’s views are on the use of marijuana for recreational or medicinal use, the policy of arrest, prosecution and incarceration at the federal level has proven both unwise and unjust,” the chairman said.

The chairman of the Democratic Caucus, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), spoke in favor of the legislation.

“We have an over-criminalization problem in America. We have a mass incarceration problem in America. We have a prison industrial complex in America,” he said, adding that prohibition “doesn’t advance public safety and it hurts economic development.”

“It has ruined individuals ruin lives, ruined families and ruined communities, particularly in communities of color,” Jeffries said. “It’s time to end the federal cannabis prohibition.”

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) said that “it’s no secret the war on drugs failed,” and cited a 50-year-old report submitted by a commission appointed by President Richard Nixon that concluded that cannabis possession should be decriminalized, only to be ignored by all subsequent administrations.

“Congress has been out of step on this issue,” he said. “We must deschedule marijuana. We must decriminalize it at the federal level. Now it’s time to do some remedies to our federal marijuana laws. This is a historic time.”

Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-OR), who managed floor time in opposition to the reform bill, acknowledged that it has been “obvious for years that at some point marijuana was going to be formerly legalized.”

“What’s deeply and truly disturbing, however, about this bill is its failure to address the clear consequences of legalization,” he said, arguing that the policy change will negatively impact children and lead to increased traffic accidents.

After debate on the MORE Act as drafted, lawmakers will then take up three amendments that were made in order in the House Rules Committee. Here’s a description of what they would accomplish:

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ): Provide $10 million for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to conduct research on “technologies and methods that law enforcement may use to determine whether a driver is impaired by marijuana.”

Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA): Require the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to conduct a study on the “impact of the legalization of recreational cannabis by states on the workplace” and develop “best practices for use by employers that are transitioning their policies related to the use of recreational cannabis, prioritizing the development of best practices for employers engaged in federal infrastructure projects, transportation, public safety and national security.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD): Require federal agencies to review security clearance denials going back to 1971 and retroactively make it so cannabis could not be used “as a reason to deny or rescind a security clearance.”

Ahead of the Thursday’s floor debate on the rule, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) said she is “all for” the legalization bill at a press briefing, stressing that “many states have already” enacted the policy change and so “this is consistent with is happening in many states across the country.”

After House leadership confirmed the chamber would again be voting on the MORE Act, the majority and minority leaders of the Judiciary Committee released a nearly 500-page report on what the legislation would accomplish and outlining arguments for and against the reform.

Also, following the Rules Committee vote on Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report finding that enacting the MORE Act would add billions in revenues and reduce prison costs over the next decade.

The move to hold another vote on the cannabis legalization bill comes weeks after congressional Democrats held a closed-to-press session at a party retreat that included a panel that largely centered on the reform legislation.

Insiders expect the MORE Act to pass, though it will likely clear the chamber in largely partisan fashion.

A pro-legalization GOP congressman who serves as co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, Rep. Dave Joyce (R), authored a Marijuana Moment op-ed explaining why he feels he cannot support the bill. His office had earlier circulated a letter to other Republican offices this week offering resources on navigating cannabis policy issues but expressing opposition to the MORE Act as drafted.

Joyce separately sent a letter to Nadler last month, expressing his willingness to work with the bill sponsor on revisions to build bipartisan support.

Meanwhile, advocates and stakeholders are eagerly awaiting the formal introduction of a separate Senate legalization bill that’s being finalized by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and colleagues. Schumer recently said the plan is to file that bill—the Cannabis Administration & Opportunity Act (CAOA)—in April.

Also in Congress, a separate bill to tax and regulate marijuana is also in play this session. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) is sponsoring that legislation, and she said in a recent interview that she’s received assurances from Democratic leaders that her States Reform Act will receive a hearing following the MORE Act floor vote.

Meanwhile, on the same day that it was announced that the MORE Act would be heading to the floor again, the Senate unanimously approved a bipartisan bill meant to promote research into marijuana, in part by streamlining the application process for researchers who want to study the plant and to encourage the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to develop cannabis-derived medicines.

Congressional researchers separately released a report recently that details the challenges posed by ongoing federal prohibition and the options that lawmakers have available to address them.