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BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE…

An opinion piece in The Hill last week (admittedly written by the political director of NORML, who certainly has no particular point of view) argued that because marijuana is popular, but Congress is not, the Senate should quickly take up and pass the Marijuana, Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act, H.R. 3617, which would repeal marijuana prohibition by removing cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, ending the existing state/federal conflict in cannabis policies.

The bill passed the full House in the last Congress with a bipartisan vote of 228-164, but died at the end of December when the two-year Congress ended without a Senate vote on the measure.

The Hill piece argued, “Given that Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) along with Sens Cory Booker and Ron Wyden (D-Ore) have released their own draft proposal to repeal prohibition, which largely includes the MORE Act, it would be prudent for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) along with Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) to again pass the act and demonstrate to the American public that congressional leadership can be responsive to the public’s overwhelming desire to see cannabis legalized.”

That may be overly rosy. Morgan Fox of the National Cannabis Industry Assn, said last week that while the House will probably pass MORE this year, “it doesn’t look like any sort of comprehensive de-scheduling and regulation bill is going to be able to get through the Senate this year, just because of the politics at play. Democrats want something that’s very robust and contains a very strong social and restorative justice provisions. Republicans are not on board with that, even the ones that are pretty staunch supporters of ending federal prohibition.”

He said that watering down the bill would be required to get the 10 Republican votes needed to pass a filibuster in the Senate. “So I think that at this point, we’re really just trying to feel out where lawmakers are and see where we can compromise in terms of bigger legislation,” he said.

The Hill, Reforming marijuana laws before the holidays: A three-pronged approach (October 27, 2021)

Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (July 2021)

Insurance Journal, Takeaways from Our Conversation on Federal Legalization (October 26, 2021)

– Thomas L. Root