Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will introduce legislation with other top Democrats to lift the federal prohibition of marijuana while giving states the leeway to devise stricter regulations.
The proposal, known as the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, would “repair damage done by the War on Drugs—especially in communities of color,” Schumer said Wednesday.
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To date, 37 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical use, while 18 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized it for recreational use as well. However, marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug at the federal level, the same categorization as LSD, heroin, and other narcotics.
The New York Democrat composed the legislation with New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden of Oregon. Under the proposal, state and local governments would still have the authority to enforce regulations more stringent than those of the FDA, which would gain jurisdiction over cannabis regulation.
“It’s past time to bring our nation’s outdated, racist cannabis laws into the 21st century and ensure equal justice for Americans hurt by the failed war on drugs. Our legislation will do just that,” Ron Wyden said.
Legalization advocacy groups have lobbied for marijuana policy reforms for years, citing evidence that drug enforcement measures have disproportionately harmed minorities. The American Civil Liberties Union reported last year that black people were 3.6 times more likely to be arrested on marijuana charges than white people. Opponents of prohibition have argued that the outstanding federal ban is a relic of the race-inflected War on Drugs launched under the Nixon administration in 1971.
The Schumer-Wyden-Booker bill would also establish 21 as the minimum legal age to buy marijuana at retail stores, fund research initiatives to investigate the drug’s effects on completing daily tasks such as driving as well as long-term effects on the brain, provide funding for loans at the state level for small cannabis businesses, and expunge nonviolent federal marijuana arrests and conviction.
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The bill will struggle to get support from Republican lawmakers, some of whom represent states that have legalized recreational marijuana use but strongly oppose federal legalization, such as Sen. Steve Daines of Montana.
Meanwhile, marijuana policy reform groups have applauded the initiative, calling it an important step toward repairing damage to communities of color wrought by the war on drugs. For instance, the Global Alliance for Cannabis Commerce said it “looks forward to working with the bill sponsors to move this bill forward through the legislative process.”
