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It was 4/20 – the unofficial marijuana holiday – in 2018 when the Senate’s most powerful Democrat, Chuck Schumer of New York, became the highest ranking federal lawmaker to call for changing federal laws on cannabis.
And on that same date last year, Schumer, now Senate majority leader, delivered a floor speech where he called for ending the federal cannabis ban.
This 4/20, he, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, and Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., either will release their proposed cannabis legislation or be very close to doing so. The three senators are drafting legislation to both end the federal weed ban and help communities and individuals hardest hit by the War on Drugs.
After announcing their plan in February to introduce legislation in the current Congress, they outlined their Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act in July, proposing to decriminalize marijuana and allow states to decide whether to make it legal, expunge nonviolent cannabis crimes would be expunged, and tax weed to help communities hardest hit by the war on drugs.
Now their bill is almost written, with an eye toward introducing sometime toward the end of the month.
“I don’t mean this to be fully in jest but there’s been a lot of conversation about doing it on 4/20,” Booker told NJ Cannabis Insider and other news outlets at the U.S. Capitol.
Other matters, such as confirming Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, take priority over cannabis legislation, Booker said.
“Aspirationally, I would love to see it done on 4/20 but I can’t speak to that, given all the things that are sort of backing up in the Senate, Booker said.
The House on Friday passed its own comprehensive cannabis bill, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, or MORE Act, but that attracted only three Republican voted and Booker needs the support of at least 10 GOP senators if the Senate is to pass legislation.
The Republican co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, Rep. David Joyce of Ohio, opposed the House bill and said it had no chance of passing in the Senate. He said Booker and the other senators drafting their version plan to include federal regulations such as preventing people under 18 from being able to buy and use cannabis without a prescription.
“No serious legislator, cannabis advocate, or industry stakeholder believes the MORE Act has any prospect of becoming law this Congress,” Joyce said. “How do I know this? They told me. I only wish they told the millions who are depending on them as well.”
“That’s why, rather than advancing a bill that further polarizes lawmakers whose consensus remains vital to progress, they have gone through exhaustive lengths to hone in on federal regulations to include in their legislation and build the bipartisan foundation necessary to pass impactful reform,” he said.
House Judiciary Chair Jerrold Nadler, the MORE Act’s chief sponsor, rejected Joyce’s characterization of the legislation as “a messaging bill” and said proponents of the bill would be trying to convince senators to support it.
“Hard work is how you get the Senate,” Nadler, D-N.Y., said on a Zoom conference call after the vote.
In outlining their bill, the senators set a deadline of Sept. 1, 2021, for suggestions on what to include, and exclude, from the final measure.
What the months of listening have shown, Booker said, was there was strong support to go beyond just allowing states to legalize weed and to include help for those hurt by the war on drugs, mostly minority residents and their communities.
“This cannot just be about simple legalization,” he said. “It has to be about restorative justice. We had a really awful run of prohibition. This war on drugs has been not a war on marijuana. It’s been a war on people.”
“This idea that you can just suddenly legalize or decriminalize and have so many Americans still suffering the consequences for having a criminal conviction where they can’t get a job, a loan from a bank, that’s just patently unfair. So this is a bill built around those ideas of restorative justice.”
This story first appeared in NJ Cannabis Insider.
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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @JDSalant.
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