As the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to vote on a bill to federally legalize marijuana this week, congressional researchers have released a report detailing the challenges posed by ongoing federal prohibition and the options that lawmakers have available to address them.<\/p>\n
The House is set to take up the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act from Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) for the second time in history this week<\/a>, following a Rules Committee hearing on proposed amendments<\/a> that\u2019s scheduled for Wednesday.<\/p>\n While the bill touches on a wide range of issues\u2014including tax policy and social equity\u2014the new report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) focuses specifically on the impacts of having cannabis listed as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).<\/p>\n \u201cThe Schedule I status of marijuana means that the substance is strictly regulated by federal authorities,\u201d CRS said. \u201cYet, over the last several decades, most states and territories have deviated from across-the-board prohibition of marijuana, and now have laws and policies allowing for some cultivation, sale, distribution, and possession of marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n The report<\/a> goes on to list various challenges presented by the ongoing federal prohibition on marijuana amid the state-level legalization movement:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Because marijuana is federally criminalized, universities are reluctant to allow cannabis research at their facilities, \u201cbecause doing so may put them at risk of losing federal funds,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n While there\u2019s federal guidance in place for financial institutions that choose to work with state-legal cannabis businesses, the report notes that many banks and credit unions \u201cremain reluctant to openly enter into relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n As noted by federal officials, lawmakers and scientists alike, the Schedule I status of cannabis has \u201ccreated difficulty for researchers who seek to study marijuana\u201d by erecting onerous barriers that have inhibited studies into the potential risks and benefits of the plant.<\/p>\n Regardless of state cannabis laws, federal prohibition means people can continue to be federally prosecuted, which gives \u201crise to a range of other issues including eligibility for housing and food assistance, gun ownership, visas, and employment,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n CRS also noted that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has consistently denied petitions to reschedule marijuana<\/a>\u2014decisions that have been routinely challenged in the courts and criticized by activists and legislators.<\/p>\n It also referenced a topic that was at the center of a prior CRS report<\/a>, noting that \u201cCongress and the Administration have the ability to alter marijuana\u2019s status as a Schedule I substance.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Administration could make such changes on its own, though it is bound by the CSA to consider factors including a substance\u2019s medical utility and risk of abuse and dependence prior to altering its scheduling status,\u201d the new report says. \u201cCongress could also alter marijuana\u2019s status by amending the CSA but without such confines.\u201d<\/p>\n While advocates would welcome action by President Joe Biden\u2019s administration to take unilateral steps to reform federal cannabis policy, the focus right now is on the imminent House floor vote on the MORE Act, as well as separate legislation expected to be introduced by Senate leadership next month and another GOP-led legalization bill filed last year.<\/p>\n \u201cCongress could choose to maintain the federal prohibition on marijuana, but if it wanted to address the Schedule I status, it could do a number of things: (1) amend the CSA to move marijuana to a less restrictive schedule; (2) create an entirely new schedule or other category for marijuana; or (3) remove it entirely from the CSA,\u201d CRS said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf marijuana remains a controlled substance under the CSA under any schedule, that would maintain the existing conflict between the federal government and states that have legalized recreational marijuana, though moving marijuana to a less restrictive schedule could help mitigate conflicts between federal law and state medical marijuana laws. The creation of a new schedule solely for marijuana would give Congress an opportunity to modify the criminality of marijuana under the CSA. If Congress chose to remove marijuana from the CSA entirely, it could seek to regulate and tax commercial marijuana activities.\u201d<\/p>\n In February, CRS gave lawmakers an update on how different federal courts across the country have been interpreting a spending bill rider that has generally shielded state medical marijuana programs from interference<\/a> by the Department of Justice (DOJ).<\/p>\n A few months before the MORE Act came up for a floor vote last session in 2020, CRS also released a report that similarly identified multiple problems caused by conflicting federal and state marijuana laws<\/a>.<\/p>\n Top New Jersey Senator Plans Hearings On \u2018Totally Unacceptable\u2019 Marijuana Licensing Delays As Governor Urges Patience<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Congressional Researchers Identify Challenges Caused By Federal Marijuana Prohibition Ahead Of House Legalization Vote<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
As the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to vote on a bill to federally legalize marijuana this week, congressional researchers have released a report detailing the challenges posed by ongoing federal prohibition and the options that lawmakers have available to address them. The House is set to take up theContinue 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\/53920"}],"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=53920"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53921,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53920\/revisions\/53921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Congressional Researchers Identify Challenges Caused By Federal Marijuana Prohibition Ahead Of House Legalization Vote<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"