A cannabis legalization bill just got farther in the legislation process than any other such bill since prohibition. The Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement Act a.k.a. the MORE Act has passed the House judiciary committee by a vote of 24 to 10. If it is not claimed by another committee for review, HR 3884 will go onto to a floor vote in the House of Representatives.
“Thousands of individuals — overwhelmingly people of color — have been subjected, by the federal government, to unjust prison sentences for cannabis offenses,” said House Judiciary Committee chair Jerry Nadler, who has been one of the bill’s primary architects. “This needs to stop.”
“For the first time, a Congressional committee has approved far-reaching legislation to not just put an end to federal cannabis prohibition, but to address the countless harms our prohibitionist policies have wrought, notable on communities of color and other marginalized groups,” said NORML executive director Erik Altieri in a press release.
The MORE Act has the potential to dramatically alter this state of affairs. By removing cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, it would allow states to craft their own ways of regulating cannabis. Federal courts would be required to expunge past cannabis-related convictions and to hold re-sentencing hearings for people currently incarcerated or on parole.
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