Hopes for finally removing the federal pressure on cannabis \u2014 nearly 80 years after Congress first prohibited the plant \u2014 just received a big boost from a recent legislative announcement. Sen. Chuck Schumer, the chamber\u2019s Minority Leader, told constituents last week that he will re-introduce the Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act in Congress.<\/p>\n
The New York senator\u2019s declaration came at a May 9 press conference at the Brooklyn Information & Culture (BRIC<\/a>) arts and performance space.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s time to decriminalize marijuana, and this bill is a critical first step,\u201d said Schumer, according to an account on Brooklyn-based\u00a0Kings County Politics<\/a>. \u201cThe Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act would give states the right to make their own choices when it comes to regulation; better equip all Americans, particularly communities disproportionately impacted by marijuana\u2019s criminalization, to participate in the growing marijuana economy; and, by incentivizing sealing and expungement programs, provide Americans with low-level marijuana convictions the opportunity to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Schumer shared the press conference with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, also a New York Democrat, who pledged to introduce a version of the bill in the House.<\/p>\n \u201cFor far too long, the impact of America\u2019s repressive, archaic marijuana laws has been felt most heavily by people of color,\u201d said Jeffries. \u201cThis critical effort works to correct that injustice by providing $100 million toward expungement programs and creating an investment fund for people of color and female entrepreneurs who wish to enter the lucrative legal cannabis industry. Senator Schumer should be commended for his stalwart leadership in this regard.\u201d<\/p>\n In a joint statement from the press conference\u00a0released on Twitter<\/a>, Jeffries called the bill \u201ca phenomenal step forward in terms of dealing with social, racial and economic justice in the context of what many people view as a the failed war on drugs that has been with us for decades.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Added Schumer: \u201cIt\u2019s about time we decriminalize marijuana. We\u2019ve seen with medical use, the states are working. Some of the states have already legalized, and it\u2019s working well there. So, what we\u2019re saying is very simple \u2014 let each state do what it wants. There\u2019s not going to be the heavy hand of the federal government telling you, you can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Schumer uses the perhaps cautious term \u201cdecriminalize\u201d despite the fact that his bill, officially slugged S. 3174<\/a>, would remove cannabis from the list of scheduled substances under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act \u2014 which would effectively legalize at the federal level.\u00a0<\/p>\n There is a catch, however. Under language about \u201crespecting states\u2019 rights,\u201d the bill would maintain federal authority to prevent \u201ctrafficking\u201d from states that have legalized to those that have not, which means the law would not completely remove pressure on cannabis from the DEA and other arms of federal law enforcement.<\/p>\n The bill includes an equity measure, calling for establishment of dedicated funding streams to be administered by the\u00a0Small Business Administration<\/a>\u00a0for women and minority-owned cannabis businesses.<\/p>\n It also contains provisions to address concerns about\u00a0highway safety<\/a>. It would authorize $250 million over five years for research into the impacts of driving under the influence of THC, and to develop methods to reliably measure impairment.<\/p>\n A further $500 million would be earmarked for the\u00a0Secretary of Health & Human Services<\/a>\u00a0to direct research into the health impacts of cannabis. This work would be undertaken in coordination with the\u00a0National Institutes of Health<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Food & Drug Administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Department of the Treasury<\/a>\u00a0would have authority to regulate cannabis advertising, in the same way it does tobacco advertising, to ensure that children are not targeted. The bill allows the Treasury Department to impose penalties for violations.<\/p>\n Finally, the bill would incentivize the\u00a0sealing or expungement<\/a>\u00a0of past cannabis convictions. It would provide $100 million to the Justice Department to be dispersed in grants to encourage state and local governments to undertake sealing ort expungement programs.<\/p>\n Schumer made his announcement little more than a year after he\u00a0first introduced<\/a>\u00a0the bill, but it failed to pass under the last Congress. An essentially similar bill, the wryly dubbed\u00a0HR 420<\/a>, or\u00a0the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act, was introduced to the new Congress in January.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Marijuana Justice Act<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>has also been introduced in the new Congress. These multiple efforts make the odds for effective legalization at the federal level better than ever before \u2014 although override of a potential Trump veto promises to be a formidable challenge.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>, do you think federal cannabis legalization is possible right now?<\/p>\n The post Sen. Schumer Reintroduces Marijuana Freedom & Opportunity Act in Congress<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Hopes for finally removing the federal pressure on cannabis \u2014 nearly 80 years after Congress first prohibited the plant \u2014 just received a big boost from a recent legislative announcement. Sen. Chuck Schumer, the chamber\u2019s Minority Leader, told constituents last week that he will re-introduce the Marijuana Freedom and OpportunityContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,3792,83,94,4062,1534,7157,3092,208,81,9988,9989,978,9990],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35367"}],"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\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35368,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35367\/revisions\/35368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What the Law Would Do<\/h4>\n
\n
\nRead More: Sen. Schumer Reintroduces Marijuana Freedom & Opportunity Act in Congress<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"