A key U.S. senator is conceding that the votes may not be there to pass a wide-ranging legalization bill he’s sponsoring—but like his colleagues, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) says he remains hopeful that Congress will enact “some key reforms” on cannabis this session. This has become a consistent talking point since Wyden filed the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA) last month, alongside Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ).
All three of the prime sponsors have acknowledged in recent weeks that getting the comprehensive legalization bill through the Senate with the required 60 votes is an ambitious, if not impossible, goal. Wyden hasn’t been quite as vocal as Schumer and Booker about plans to pursue alternative, incremental legislation. But in a statement to The American Prospect that was published on Thursday, the senator tempered expectations about the prospects of CAOA.
“A 50-50 Democratic majority in the Senate will make passing our bill a difficult feat, but I hope we can at the minimum pass some key reforms this Congress,” he said. “This is a winning issue that is overwhelmingly backed by the American people, especially young voters, who understand how ridiculous and unfair it is for folks to be locked away for something that most states have legalized and almost everyone thinks should be legal.”
He added that the legalization bill “empowers states to set their own laws, and it fixes the myriad of issues caused by current prohibition, like banking and research,” which enjoy significant bipartisan support. But CAOA “goes even further by setting up a federal regulatory system to protect public health and safety, all while prioritizing restorative and economic justice to help undo decades of harm.”
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