Booker, Schumer, Wyden Reintroduce Legislation to End Federal Ban on Marijuana [FEATURE]

Democratic Sens. Cory Booker (NJ), Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY), Ron Wyden (OR), and more than a dozen Democratic cosponsors have reintroduced legislation to end federal marijuana prohibition. The senators filed the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA), which would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, on Thursday.

Under the legislation, while federal pot prohibition would end, states could still continue to ban marijuana. So far, only 24 states and the District of Columbia have legalized it. 

While the bill is unlikely to be passed this year in the GOP-dominated Congress, its reintroduction provides an important opportunity to urge and build support for federal legalization in the Senate. And if the Democrats succeed in regaining control of the Senate in November, it is likely to be the primary Senate vehicle for legalization in the next Congress.

"For decades, generations have suffered unjustly under the failed war on drugs and broken cannabis laws—hurting primarily people of color. It is long overdue that we stand up for them," said Sen. Booker. "I am proud to reintroduce this commonsense legislation, which will dismantle the unjust and outdated federal marijuana prohibition, establish a federal regulatory framework to protect public health and safety, expunge past convictions for low-level cannabis offenses, and deliver restorative justice to the communities most harmed by decades of failed drug policy."

The bill would not only legalize marijuana; it would create a number of measures to offer redress to people and communities most impacted by drug prohibition. Those include creating an Opportunity Trust Fund to reinvest in those neighborhoods, creating a grant program to help people negatively affected by the drug war obtain licenses and jobs in the industry, and establishing a Cannabis Justice Office at the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs. 

It also includes automatic expungement of federal marijuana convictions and the freeing of any remaining federal pot prisoners, and a grant program at the Department of Housing and Urban Development to address the housing, economic, and community development needs of people and communities affected by the drug war. 

"The over-criminalization of cannabis has destroyed far too many lives, disproportionately harming communities of color," said Majority Leader Schumer. "Our Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act is necessary and would correct historical wrongs while investing in safety, research, workers’ rights, and banking accessibility for industry. The movement is budding, and I won’t stop until restorative justice is achieved. The American people overwhelmingly support the federal legalization of cannabis—it’s long past time the government caught up"

The bill would also address public health and public safety concerns by establishing a Center for Cannabis Products to regulate production, labeling, distribution, sales, and other manufacturing and retail elements of the cannabis industry. And it would instruct the FDA to establish labeling standards for cannabis products, including potency, doses, servings, place of manufacture, and directions for use.

It would also create programs and funding mechanisms for preventing youth use and increase funding for comprehensive opioid, stimulant, and substance use disorder treatment.

But it would keep federal prohibitions on trafficking marijuana in violation of state law by establishing a grant program to help departments combat black market cannabis. It would also require the Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish standards for marijuana-impaired driving and direct the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to collect data on cannabis-impaired driving, develop educational materials on best practices, and conduct media campaigns.

When it comes to taxation and regulation, the bill would transfer federal jurisdiction over marijuana to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), eliminate the tax code’s restriction on cannabis businesses claiming deductions for business expenses, and impose an excise tax on marijuana products.

It also aims to protect the rights of workers by removing unnecessary federal employee pre-employment and random drug testing for marijuana, ensuring worker protections for those employed in the cannabis industry, and establishing grants for community-based education, outreach, and enforcement of workers’ rights in the cannabis industry.

"The only reefer madness I’m seeing is the continued federal prohibition of cannabis," said Senator Wyden. "Our legislation is the most comprehensive proposal on the books to end federal cannabis prohibition while keeping public health and safety front and center. The federal government needs to get with the times, and our bill is the way to do it."