Democrats in the U.S. House on Friday reintroduced a longstanding attempt to legalize marijuana at the federal level.
The policy is in stark contrast to how President Donald Trump said earlier this month he’s considering a simpler reclassification of the plant that would keep it still strictly controlled by federal drug agencies.
U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, who has championed the bill in the past — dubbed the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, or MORE Act — is again spearheading the legislation, according to a press release from his office. The bill is also cosponsored by Cannabis Caucus Co-chair U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-NV, and another of Nadler’s colleagues from New York, U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez, and 36 other House Democrats.
“As more states continue to legalize marijuana and public support increases, federal laws must catch up and reverse failed policies criminalizing marijuana,” Nadler said in a statement. “It is long past time to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, expunge marijuana convictions, and facilitate resentencing, while reinvesting in the communities most adversely impacted by the War on Drugs.”
To date, 24 states, along with Washington, D.C. and the territories of Puerto Rico and Guam have legalized adult-use marijuana — including Michigan. Another 14 states have fully legalized medical marijuana.
Most of the rest of the states in the nation also have legalized some limited form of medical cannabis, or they have functional hemp markets, following federal legalization of hemp in 2018 by Congress through the Farm Bill.
The most recent version of the MORE Act — which Nadler has introduced during each Congressional session since 2019 — would remove marijuana from the list of federally controlled narcotics altogether, a procedure known in industry circles as “de-scheduling.” The last time the measure passed the House was in 2022, but each time it passed the lower chamber, the bill has died without a hearing in the Senate.
“De-scheduling” marijuana would essentially eliminate all federal criminal penalties surrounding the possession or production of marijuana goods, and create a national marijuana marketplace by allowing companies to ship and sell goods across state lines.
That’s in contrast to a previous proposal from former President Joe Biden to move cannabis from its current status as a Schedule I narcotic — the most restrictive — to Schedule III, a more permissive medical classification. Other Schedule III narcotics include ketamine and anabolic steroids, and are only available to consumers with a doctor’s prescription.
Although the rescheduling process was started in 2022 under Biden, it was never completed prior to Trump taking office in January. Trump recently said he’s still weighing whether to finish off the rescheduling move or not. It’s still unclear what the Trump administration will do on federal cannabis reform.
The bill’s odds are long, however, given the Republican control of both the House and Senate, and the heightened partisan tension in Washington, D.C.
Read more at Crain’s Detroit Business
