Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer announced plans Thursday to revive legislation to remove marijuana from the federal government’s list of controlled substances.
Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat, said he was reintroducing the Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act in the Senate to accompany a bill being offered in the House by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, New Jersey Democrat.
Previously introduced by Mr. Schumer in 2018 without success, passage of the bill would essentially decriminalize marijuana at the federal level by removing the plant from the U.S. Controlled Substances Act, where it is currently categorized alongside heroin as a highly dangerous Schedule 1 drug.
“What we’re saying is very simple: Let each state do what it wants,” Mr. Schumer said in a video announcement. “There’s not going to be the heavy hand of the federal government telling you you cant.”
In addition to effectively ending federal prohibition, the bill would put in place measures to help marijuana businesses owned by minorities and women get off the ground, incentive states to expunge criminal records for minor marijuana possession and allocate resources toward researching the plant and its potential benefits.
“The Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act is a phenomenal step forward in terms of dealing with social, racial and economic justice in the context of what many people view as the failed war on drugs that has been with us for decades,” said Mr. Jeffries.
“Money was taken out of these communities,” added Mr. Schumer. “Let some of the money come back. Let’s not have some big fancy corporation, some big tobacco company make all the money.”
Thirty-three states have legalized the medicinal use of marijuana, including seven where adults can purchase the plant for non-medical purposes from recreational dispensaries, flying in the face of prohibition by passing pot laws in direct conflict with federal law.
The Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act proposed in 2018 ultimately garnered the support of nine co-sponsors in the Senate prior to dying on Capitol Hill.
Justin Strekal, political director for NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, applauded efforts to revive the proposal in a statement Thursday.
“As states dial back their war on marijuana consumers, it is important that those who were impacted by this oppressive prohibition are able to see previous harms remedied, and be provided the opportunity to participate in the benefits that come along with legalization and regulation,” he said.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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