(The Center Square) — A bipartisan group of state lawmakers who pushed to legalize recreational cannabis in Delaware are calling on members of the state’s congressional delegation to back efforts to change federal pot laws.
In a letter to members of the delegation, the 16 state senators urged Democratic U.S. Sens. Tom Carver and Chris Coons and Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester to support a proposal in Congress to reclassify cannabis under federal law.
The lawmakers argue that the federal controlled substances act Class 1 level designation is intended for heroin and other “exceptionally dangerous substances with high potential for abuse and no medical use.”
“Marijuana has many currently accepted medical uses in the United States, having been recommended by thousands of licensed physicians to at least 350,000 patients in states with medical marijuana laws,” they wrote.
To date, at least 22 states, including Delaware, have legalized recreational marijuana, to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Thirty-seven states have medical marijuana programs.
Recent polls have shown an ever-increasing majority of the nation’s voters support legalizing recreational cannabis.
But the drug remains illegal under federal law, and the nation’s credit card companies and banking system have been reluctant to authorize transactions involving cannabis sales, which could be considered “aiding and abetting a federal crime and money laundering.”
“Most financial institutions are unwilling to accept this risk, meaning medical marijuana distributors have limited access to traditional banking and financial services, and are forced to operate in cash,” they wrote. “Operating a business with large amounts of cash on hand is a public safety threat, as these establishments become targets for crime, putting the safety of staff and patients at risk.”
There are about 5.4 million state-legal patients in the U.S who can’t get medical insurance health coverage for medical marijuana, primarily due to the drug’s federal designation, the lawmakers noted.
Cannabis is also not eligible for purchase using health savings accounts because of the legal designation, even if it’s being used for medicinal purposes, they said.
Delaware legalized pot last week after Gov. John Carney declined to veto a pair of bills legalizing the drug and authorizing retail sales. Lawmakers who backed the move pointed to neighboring states like New Jersey that have legalized the drug, and argued that Delaware was missing out on tax revenue and jobs from the regulated cannabis market.
In October, President Joe Biden announced that he is ordering an administrative review of federal marijuana scheduling, and granted mass pardons for people who have been convicted of federal cannabis possession offenses.
“Sending people to prison for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit,” Biden said at the time.
Last week, a bipartisan group of House lawmakers filed a bill that would, if approved, establish a “Commission on the Federal Regulation of Cannabis” to study federal and state regulatory models and make recommendations on regulating cannabis on a federal level.
“With nearly every state adopting its own set of cannabis reforms, an end to federal cannabis prohibition is inevitable,” Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, one of the bill’s primary sponsors, said in a statement. “Now is the time for the federal government to respect the will of our constituents and begin the conversation on fair and effective cannabis regulation.”
