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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Thursday discussed his strategy for getting enough votes to pass his federal marijuana legalization bill, describing the process of soliciting feedback on the legislation<\/a> from colleagues and working to incorporate any requested \u201cmodifications\u201d in order to get the measure across the finish line.<\/p>\n It was just last week that Schumer unveiled a 163-page draft version of the reform legislation alongside Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ). While they made clear that public input is valued\u2014and they\u2019ve created an email account where people can submit comments until September 30 on the proposal\u2014the new comments provide a fresh insight into the legislative process to build support for the measure within the Senate.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re now going around to our colleagues saying, \u2018Would you sign onto the bill? And if you don\u2019t like what\u2019s in the bill and want some modifications, tell us,’\u201d he told ABC\u2019s The View. \u201cI want to get this done. And I think we will get it done because it\u2019s so, so overwhelmingly supported by the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n Americans want an end to marijuana prohibition.<\/p>\n And with the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act that @SenBooker<\/a>, @RonWyden<\/a>, and I released:<\/p>\n We are working to end the federal prohibition and repair the harms done by the War on Drugs.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what I said on @TheView<\/a>: pic.twitter.com\/aD9BYO08f7<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) July 22, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n There have been some serious questions about whether the three senators will be able to muster the 60 votes needed to pass the legislation in their chamber. Even with a slim Democratic majority in the Senate, there are some members of Schumer\u2019s own party who\u2019ve expressed concerns about the comprehensive reform.<\/p>\n In the days following the introduction of the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA), Booker had repeatedly stressed that he wants to see this legislation pass before allowing incremental reform to advance<\/a> such as a bipartisan bill to protect banks that service state-legal marijuana businesses from being penalized by federal regulators.<\/p>\n Last week, the senator vowed to \u201clay myself down\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to block any other senators who seek to pass marijuana banking legislation before the body approves comprehensive cannabis reform, igniting the controversy.<\/p>\n He\u2019s taken some criticism from stakeholders on that position\u2014though he clarified on Wednesday<\/a> he simply feels that holding off on voting on the banking reform as a \u201csweetener\u201d could encourage his colleagues to support more comprehensive legislation.<\/p>\n \u2014 In any case, Schumer argued on Thursday that marijuana legalization overall is an overdue policy change.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been so over-criminalized at the federal level\u2014it\u2019s treated like heroin or cocaine, very much more serious drugs,\u201d he said. \u201cEven worse, we have a person who has a small amount of marijuana\u2014a young person\u2014in their pocket [they] can get arrested, have a such a serious criminal record as if they were selling a whole lot of heroin [and] they can almost never recover.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFirst we want to legalize it to make sure that the people who want to use it can use it without this over-criminalization,\u201d Schumer said. \u201cSecondly, we want to expunge records of people who had a small amount of marijuana in their pockets and are then hurt the rest of their lives. We\u2019d love them to be productive citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n The majority leader said voter initiatives on reform in traditionally conservative states like South Dakota clearly demonstrate that \u201cAmericans are for legalization.\u201d<\/p>\n The View host Whoopi Goldberg, an advocate and marijuana business owner, could be heard giving an enthusiastic off-screen \u201cyeah\u201d at the senator\u2019s closing remarks.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was a Whoopi \u2018yeah,’\u201d Schumer guessed.<\/p>\n \u201cAs expected, that was Whoopi,\u201d a co-host confirmed.<\/p>\n In the run-up to the introduction of the CAOA, Schumer made the case for reform everywhere from the Senate floor on 4\/20<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0a cannabis rally in New York City<\/a>.<\/p>\n All three senators formally started their efforts on the legalization bill by holding a meeting earlier this year with representatives from a variety of advocacy groups to gain feedback on the best approach to the reform<\/a>.<\/p>\n Schumer made a point in March to say that it will specifically seek to restrict the ability of large alcohol and tobacco companies to overtake the industry. Instead,\u00a0it will prioritize small businesses<\/a>, particularly those owned by people from communities most impacted by prohibition, and focus on \u201cjustice, justice, justice\u2014as well as freedom,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He also urged voters to reach out to their congressional representatives and tell them that \u201cthis is long overdue.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile,\u00a0a separate House bill to federally legalize marijuana<\/a>\u00a0and promote social equity in the industry was reintroduced in May.<\/p>\n The legislation, sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), was filed with a number of changes compared to the version that was\u00a0approved by the chamber last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n AOC Promotes Research On Benefits Of Psychedelics Like Psilocybin And MDMA With New Amendment<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Chuck Schumer Discusses Strategy For Getting Enough Votes To Pass Marijuana Legalization Bill<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Thursday discussed his strategy for getting enough votes to pass his federal marijuana legalization bill, describing the process of soliciting feedback on the legislation from colleagues and working to incorporate any requested \u201cmodifications\u201d in order to get the measure across the finish line.Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":49011,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49010"}],"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\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49010"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49012,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49010\/revisions\/49012"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Chuck Schumer Discusses Strategy For Getting Enough Votes To Pass Marijuana Legalization Bill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"