Following his announcement in April that he intended to file a marijuana deschedulalization bill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer this week filed the Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act, which would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act \u2014 where it is currently listed as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and LSD.<\/p>\n
Schumer\u2019s bill now competes with the STATES Act put forward by Senators Cory Gardner of Illinois and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, which would allow states to regulate cannabis as they see fit. Schumer\u2019s bill also competes with Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey\u2019s Marijuana Justice Act<\/a>, which not only would deschedule cannabis but also creates funding for communities impacted by the War on Drugs and wipes cannabis crimes from federal records.<\/p>\n Trump specifically backed the Gardner effort<\/a> after the senator lifted his blockade of Department of Justice nominees. Gardner started that blockade early in the year in response to the move by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to rescind the Cole Memo<\/a>, which previously had directed federal prosecutors not to target marijuana producers who were in compliance with state law.<\/p>\n In a statement on his new bill, Schumer noted it would allow states to continue to function as laboratories of democracy and ultimately decide how they will treat marijuana possession. His bill would not change federal authorities\u2019 ability to prevent trafficking from states where marijuana is legal to states where is not. The bill also preserves the federal government\u2019s ability to regulate marijuana advertising and would expunge cannabis records.<\/p>\n \u201cThe time to decriminalize marijuana is now,\u201d said Schumer in a statement.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cThe new Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act is about giving states the freedom to be the laboratories that they should be and giving Americans \u2014 especially women and minority business owners as well as those convicted of simple possession of marijuana intended for personal use \u2014 the opportunity to succeed in today\u2019s economy,\u201d Schumer said.<\/p>\n Schumer\u2019s Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act is cosponsored by Senators Bernie Sanders, Tim Kaine and Tammy Duckworth.<\/p>\n The nation\u2019s oldest marijuana reform organization, NORML, said that they were pleased with what the minority leader came up with in this new attempt to end cannabis prohibition, and welcomed the shift in policy from the Democratic party\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act is comprehensive legislation that would end our nation\u2019s failed 80-year prohibition of marijuana and allow states to implement reforms free from the threat of federal interference,\u201d said NORML Political Director Justin Strekal in a statement. <\/a><\/p>\n Strekal said he was glad Schumer\u2019s plan would go back to back to clean up some of the mess that marijuana prohibition has created.<\/p>\n \u201cThe importance of this bill\u2019s emphasis on facilitating the expungement the criminal records of individuals for marijuana possession cannot be overstated,\u201d said Strekal. \u201cMillions of individuals have suffered from the lifelong collateral consequences of criminal prohibition, making it harder for them to find a job, obtain housing and access higher education.\u201d<\/p>\n On the other side of Capitol Hill, the folks at the Marijuana Policy Project<\/a> were equally pleased with what they were seeing from Schumer.<\/p>\n \u201cThis proposal is yet another sign that Congress is moving toward a major shift in U.S. marijuana policy,\u201d said MPP Executive Director Matt Schweich, following the release of the Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act. \u201cSenate leaders from both parties have now signaled their support for ending prohibition at the federal level and adopting a system that respects state laws regulating marijuana for medical and adult use.\u201d<\/p>\n In Schweich\u2019s perspective, the debate is transitioning from whether marijuana should be legalized to how it should be legalized.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are still hurdles to overcome in Congress, just as there are for any other issue, but things are clearly headed in the right direction,\u201d Schweich said. \u201cA strong and growing majority of Americans think it is time to end marijuana prohibition, and states are moving quickly to develop their own marijuana policies. Members of Congress do not want to find themselves on the wrong side of history \u2014 or their constituents.\u201d<\/p>\n TELL US<\/b>, do you think Congress should legalize cannabis?<\/p>\n The post Schumer Introduces Bill to Deschedule Cannabis to U.S. Senate<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Following his announcement in April that he intended to file a marijuana deschedulalization bill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer this week filed the Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act, which would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act \u2014 where it is currently listed as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroinContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4053,50,4266,83,3257,96,4780,81,748,979],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27372"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27372"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27373,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27372\/revisions\/27373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Schumer Introduces Bill to Deschedule Cannabis to U.S. Senate<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"