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A pair of congresswomen will soon be reintroducing a bill to federally decriminalize all currently illicit drugs and facilitate mass expungements.<\/p>\n
Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) and Cori Bush (D-MO) announced on Saturday\u2014the 52nd anniversary of President Richard Nixon declaring a war on drugs\u2014that they will again be filing the Drug Policy Reform Act.<\/p>\n
The lawmakers first introduced the bill in 2021<\/a>. While it didn\u2019t advance, it marked the first congressional bill designed to comprehensively end drug criminalization and take a public health, rather than criminal justice, approach to substance use.<\/p>\n \u201c52 years ago, President Richard Nixon initiated a violent, racist campaign against Black and brown communities in this country,\u201d the lawmakers said in a joint statement. \u201cFrom the start, the War on Drugs has been about suppressing the voices and lives of the marginalized, not about health or safety.\u201d<\/p>\n #OTD<\/a> 52 y.o. Nixon declared the \u201cwar on drugs.\u201d \u2014 Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (@RepBonnie) June 17, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \n\u201cUnfortunately, our society continues to perpetuate the discredited War on Drugs today,\u201d they said. \u201cOver a million people are arrested annually for drug related offenses. Yet overdose deaths and substance use disorders remain at shockingly high rates.\u201d<\/p>\n As filed last session, the measure proposed to end the threat of incarceration for people caught possessing drugs for personal use. Courts would still have the option of imposing a fine, but that could be waived if a person couldn\u2019t afford it.<\/p>\n The legislation would make it so the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)\u2014rather than the Justice Department\u2014would be responsible for classifying drugs, with the intent being to shift that role to a health-centric model.<\/p>\n Federal district courts would be required to facilitate expungements and record sealing for those with qualifying convictions within one year of the bill\u2019s enactment.<\/p>\n \u201cAdmitting mistakes is never easy, but lives are at stake,\u201d the congresswomen said. \u201cIt\u2019s long past time to recognize the substance use crisis as a public health issue and ensure proper redress and structural solutions rooted in equity and public health. That\u2019s why we are proud to announce that we will soon be re-introducing the Drug Policy Reform Act.\u201d<\/p>\n #OTD<\/a> 52 years ago, President Nixon started a violent campaign against Black and brown communities known as the War on Drugs.@RepBonnie<\/a> & I are proud to soon reintroduce the Drug Policy Reform Act to decriminalize drug possession, expunge records, & finally end the War on Drugs.<\/p>\n \u2014 Congresswoman Cori Bush (@RepCori) June 17, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cWe will continue to advocate for this vital legislation in Congress, and we urge the Biden Administration to take every possible step within its power towards a public health approach to drug policy,\u201d they added<\/a>. \u201cWe must transform federal drug policy in our country, protect Black and brown communities, and save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n About 45 percent of the federal prison population is currently serving time over drug-related offenses\u2014a much smaller percentage of which is for possession alone\u2014and so the direct impact of the legislation\u2019s decriminalization provisions would be somewhat minimal on incarceration rates, especially when factoring in the size of state-level prison populations.<\/p>\n To that end, the bill would further withhold federal funds for law enforcement through the Byrne and COPS grant program for states and cities that continue to enforce criminalization of simple drug possession. The thinking is that the threat of losing that money could be enough to incentivize states and municipalities to stop locking people up for drugs.<\/p>\n \u2014 Given the challenges of enacting even modest cannabis legislation in Congress, it seems unlikely that the broader decriminalization measure will advance under a Republican-controlled House. But the filing is meant to keep focus on the racist origins and long-term consequences of the drug war.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear when the bill will be formally filed or if provisions will be revised from last Congress\u2019s version. Marijuana Moment reached out to the sponsors\u2019 offices for clarification, but representatives were not immediately available.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, more than a dozen congressional Democrats recently filed a resolution to recognize the country\u2019s \u201cmoral obligation to meet its foundational promise of guaranteed justice for all,\u201d in part by legalizing marijuana and overdose prevention sites<\/a> as well as expunging drug-related records.<\/p>\n The House has approved federal marijuana legalization bills on two occasions under Democratic control, but they did not advance in the opposite chamber. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) did say in April that he plans to\u00a0reintroduce a comprehensive measure to end federal prohibition<\/a>, but the general expectation is that only more incremental reform like a bipartisan cannabis banking bill\u2014perhaps with the addition of expungements provisions or other incremental reforms\u2014stands a chance of passage under the divided Congress.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the House\u00a0unanimously approved a separate resolution<\/a> last week that voices support for Americans incarcerated in Russia\u2014including a U.S. citizen who is serving a 14-year sentence over possession of medical marijuana that he obtained legally in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n GOP Senator Backs Marijuana Banking Bill, But Doubts Democratic Leadership Will Advance It<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Congressional Bill To Decriminalize All Drugs Will Be Refiled Soon, Sponsors Announce On Drug War Anniversary<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A pair of congresswomen will soon be reintroducing a bill to federally decriminalize all currently illicit drugs and facilitate mass expungements. Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) and Cori Bush (D-MO) announced on Saturday\u2014the 52nd anniversary of President Richard Nixon declaring a war on drugs\u2014that they will again be filing theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":66134,"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\/66133"}],"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=66133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66135,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66133\/revisions\/66135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\nIt was never about health or safety but about suppressing the voices and lives of the marginalized.@RepCori<\/a> and I will be reintroducing the Drug Policy Reform Act to end the W.O.D. and treat people with a health centered approach https:\/\/t.co\/S31o18P8TV<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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\nRead More: Congressional Bill To Decriminalize All Drugs Will Be Refiled Soon, Sponsors Announce On Drug War Anniversary<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"