The House of Representatives will soon vote to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substance Act and erase some cannabis criminal records. States would still have to vote to legalize marijuana but 11 states have already done so.
Rep. Jerry Nadler introduced the MORE Act (H.R. 3884) last fall, which passed the House Judiciary Committee by a vote of 24-10 in November. Reps Matt Gaetz (Fla.) and Tom McClintock (Calif.) were the only Republicans on the committee to vote for the bill. Now the bill will move forward for a full House vote sometime in September.
Currently, “cannabis is a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, which was signed into law in 1970. Drugs that are classified as Schedule I are defined as having a high potential for abuse and no medical benefit. Removing marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act would mean it is no longer illegal at the federal level, but it would not immediately legalize its sale in every state. State and federal agencies would still need to create rules and regulations for the production, marketing and sale of cannabis products, and some states may not allow sales even if the federal ban was removed.”
While the bill will most likely die in the Senate, if passed and signed into law, it would also erase some cannabis criminal records and “create funding for grants to benefit people who have been negatively impacted by criminal enforcement.”
The bill’s lead sponsor in the Senate is VP candidate, Senator Kamala Harris.
