As advocates push for congressional action on Democratic-led marijuana legalization bills in the House and Senate, a Republican congresswoman who\u2019s championing an alternative reform measure says she has received assurances that there will be a hearing on her proposal even as a minority member of the chamber.<\/p>\n
And she also said that recently internal polling she\u2019s done for her reelection campaign shows voters in her district are on her side when it comes to cannabis even as her primary election challenger and her own state party attack her reform efforts.<\/p>\n
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) spoke about the path forward for her States Reform Act (SRA)<\/a> during an interview published on Thursday with the Psychoactive podcast hosted by longtime legalization advocate and Drug Policy Alliance founder Ethan Nadelmann.<\/p>\n There was earlier reporting<\/a> about Mace receiving assurances that Democratic leaders would hold a hearing on her bill. But when asked whether that was contingent on a \u201cyes\u201d vote for a separate legalization bill\u2014House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler\u2019s (D-NY) Marijuana Opportunity, Expungement and Reinvestment (MORE) Act\u2014the congresswoman said there was \u201cno quid pro quo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPersonally, I want to respect the process and MORE is going to come up again and let Democrats do MORE Act. It\u2019ll die in the Senate,\u201d\u00a0she said. \u201cAnd so when that\u2019s done, we will do our hearing, and there was nothing done in exchange for it. I just made the ask and we\u2019re making it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n The congresswoman didn\u2019t say when exactly she expects the hearing on her proposal, but it appears she expects it to happen sometime after a possible House floor vote on the MORE Act. Drug policy and civil rights groups sent a letter<\/a> this week urging House leaders to schedule that vote to happen sometime this month.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Mace also said<\/a> she\u2019s been talking to senators about \u201chaving a companion bill\u201d to her legislation filed in the other chamber.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re talking to a couple of different offices about that,\u201d she said. \u201cI tend to lean in on issues. And again, for some reason, I think there\u2019s a reluctance even in my party, in my state, of folks to lean in on these kinds of things.\u201d<\/p>\n Mace declined to say specifically which senators might be willing to sponsor a companion version, of her legislation except to say in response to a question from Nadelmann that Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who represents a state that was an early adopter of legalization, is \u201cnot on our radar for that\u2014we\u2019re looking at other offices.\u201d<\/p>\n She also waded into the controversy of both her state Republican party opposing her congressional reform bill, as well as her primary challenger, former South Carolina Rep. Katie Arrington (R), attacking Mace over her marijuana advocacy, accusing her of being \u201chigh\u201d in a campaign ad.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s quite bizarre, quite frankly,\u201d Mace said. \u201cOur voters are uniquely astute on policy and on the issues, and we do march to the beat of our own drum. They don\u2019t want someone who\u2019s going to toe the party line. They want someone who\u2019s fiscally conservative, socially moderate on these issues.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s interesting to see the kind of campaign that\u2019s coming after and the attacks and I\u2019m like, \u2018Okay, if that\u2019s what you really think, please talk more. Please tell everybody that\u2019s what that\u2019s where you stand.’\u201d<\/p>\n Mace has data to back up support for cannabis reform in the district she represents in Congress, she said. A recent internal poll focusing on issues related to her reelection campaign asked voters about whether states should be given the autonomy to enact legalization and the congresswoman said the issue proved to be \u201cextremely popular, and more wildly popular than I thought.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s surprising that there\u2019s so much pushback. And, you know, the ten percent of people that are strongly opposed to it, well, they don\u2019t vote on the issue,\u201d she said. \u201cI just don\u2019t understand because some people think I\u2019m controversial or take risks. I don\u2019t need to, but I just\u2014you know, we need normal humans that are fiscally conservative, like don\u2019t waste my money, and are socially modern.\u201d<\/p>\n With respect to the South Carolina Republican Party coming out against<\/a> Mace\u2019s SRA, she said the head of the organization clearly \u201cdidn\u2019t read the bill.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf that\u2019s your position, you clearly didn\u2019t read the bill and don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about,\u201d she said. \u201cIn the state of South Carolina\u2014bright red South Carolina\u2014it is Republicans who are leading cannabis reforms in our state. They did CBD and hemp [reform]. And hopefully, cross my fingers, they\u2019re going to get medical cannabis move through.\u201d<\/p>\n The South Carolina Senate cleared a medical marijuana legalization bill<\/a> last month, and it now heads to the House for consideration. Mace joined state legislators in Columbia to advocate for the policy change in January.<\/p>\n Back in Congress, Mace\u2019s bill is not just competing with Nadler\u2019s MORE Act, which cleared the House in a historic first in 2020<\/a> and has again cleared his panel this session<\/a>, but also with forthcoming legalization legislation from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and colleagues that he says he expects to formally unveil in April<\/a>.<\/p>\n Outside of marijuana, Nadelmann also asked the congresswoman about another drug policy issue that\u2019s emerging in localities, states and even Congress: psychedelics.<\/p>\n She said that while she hasn\u2019t \u201cdelved deeply into the issue,\u201d she does have a friend who\u2019s a military veteran who participated in a study into the therapeutic potential of MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder.<\/p>\n \u201cI am still learning about the issue and some of the opportunities out there,\u201d she said. \u201cBut again, these things need to be studied. We need to be able to do this kind of research and understand the benefits\u2014the positives and the negatives, what the outcomes could be\u2014because some of the pharmaceuticals that are out there, some of the drugs you can get prescribed have such high addiction rates, and it sometimes can exacerbate PTSD and can exacerbate suicide rates. And so I think everything should be on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf it can make you feel better and reduce the rate of suicide when you come home from war, from combat, then everything should be on the table,\u201d the congresswoman said. \u201cWe should do right by our veterans and find ways for them to have a higher quality of life. They willing to take a bullet for our country, the least we can do is help them they come home.\u201d<\/p>\n Missouri And Oklahoma GOP Lawmakers Say States Must Legalize Marijuana The Right Way (Op-Ed)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post GOP Congresswoman Says Her Marijuana Legalization Bill Will Get A Hearing In Democratic-Controlled Congress<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
As advocates push for congressional action on Democratic-led marijuana legalization bills in the House and Senate, a Republican congresswoman who\u2019s championing an alternative reform measure says she has received assurances that there will be a hearing on her proposal even as a minority member of the chamber. And she alsoContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53311"}],"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=53311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53312,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53311\/revisions\/53312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: GOP Congresswoman Says Her Marijuana Legalization Bill Will Get A Hearing In Democratic-Controlled Congress<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"