Less than a week after an Election Day in which voters in five states approved ballot measures to legalize cannabis in some form, a top leader in the U.S. House of Representatives announced that the body will hold a floor vote on a bill to end federal cannabis prohibition next month.
While the presidential election has seized national attention, with advocates hoping President-elect Joe Biden will make good on his campaign pledge to pursue modest cannabis reform starting next year, the comprehensive cannabis legalization bill is still in play during the current Congress.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) previously announced this summer that the chamber would vote on the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act in September, but that plan was postponed following pushback from certain centrist Democrats who worried about the optics of advancing cannabis reform before passing another coronavirus relief package.
Several of those members were voted out during an election in which voters in red states such as Montana and South Dakota approved cannabis legalization ballot measures, raising questions about the lawmakers’ strategic thinking on the issue.
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