Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) says that while federally legalizing marijuana represents \u201cjustice,\u201d he\u2019s willing to \u201caccept any progress\u201d on cannabis as President Donald Trump weighs a rescheduling proposal. And the senator said, contrary to the partisan \u201ctribalism\u201d that\u2019s endemic in the country, Americans of all political background generally agree that the issue is an \u201carea where we have a common purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n
At an event in Washington, D.C. that was hosted by IgniteIt on Monday, Booker spoke broadly about the future of cannabis policy, touching on the pending rescheduling issue, full legalization and the bipartisan politics of marijuana reform.<\/p>\n
\u201cJustice is descheduling. We all know that,\u201d Booker said, referring to the idea of removing cannabis completely from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), which would federally legalize it. \u201cThat\u2019s what the right thing to do is: to deschedule. But I will accept any progress over no progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
That line might raise some eyebrows among the senator\u2019s critics in the cannabis space who have strongly protested Booker\u2019s prior stance that he was unwilling to support bipartisan marijuana banking legislation without first seeing to it that communities most impacted under prohibition are no longer subject to criminalization and receive restorative justice.<\/p>\n
Booker has long championed comprehensive marijuana reform in Congress, however, and he said part of what informs his position is the fact that cannabis is currently a Schedule I drug under the CSA alongside substances such as heroin, which \u201cdefies all science and reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have it Schedule I\u2014have it the same schedule as these much more severe substances that we all know the consequences can be for our communities\u2014is absurd,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n