Chuck Schumer Introduces Marijuana Bill That Would Finally End Federal Prohibition

After months of speculation, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer unveiled his long-awaited law to legalize marijuana this morning. At first glance, it appears to be a slightly revised version of the MORE Act, which the House of Representatives passed last year but which was neglected in the Senate.

The bill would remove cannabis from the federal list of controlled substances, wipe federal cannabis records, impose a federal tax on marijuana, and reinvest that tax revenue in communities and individuals hardest hit by the war on drugs.

The new bill, known as the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, was officially introduced by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and endorsed by Schumer and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR). Politico published the first publicly available version of the bill this morning.

What’s New: Emphasis on Justice

The new bill differs in one major respect from many previous legalization efforts in Congress. It puts the inequality in today’s state-legal cannabis industry at the forefront.

“The communities that have been hardest hit by the cannabis ban will benefit the least from the legal marijuana market,” the bill reads. “A legacy of racial and ethnic injustices, compounded by the disproportionate side effects of 80 years of enforcing the cannabis ban, is now limiting participation in the industry.”

So the bill is opened – before there is even talk of federal legalization.

Leafly recently documented the factors linked to the cannabis industry’s diversity problem and ways to address it in the report Seeds of Change: Strategies to Create an Equitable Cannabis Industry.

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Equity measures included

The bill would create a community reinvestment program aimed at reinvesting cannabis tax revenues in communities hardest hit by the war on drugs.

Grants would be available to non-profit organizations involved in vocational training, re-entry services, legal aid, literacy programs, youth recreation or mentoring or health education programs.

The bill would also direct the state’s Small Business Administration to create a cannabis opportunity program. The program would provide federally supported Section 7 (m) small business loans to cannabis companies owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.

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Where are the republicans?

Significantly, the bill had no Republican co-sponsors when it was first introduced.

This is a big deal because Booker, Schumer, and Wyden will likely need at least a couple of votes from across the aisle to pass the measure. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to support legalization, but it’s not a strictly partisan issue. Support is crumbling across generations, and a number of senior Democratic senators – even from states that are already legalized – have long resisted the idea of ​​ending prohibition.

President Joe Biden, until recently a senator in his seventies, can hardly bring himself to accept the decriminalization of cannabis, not legalization. Decrim and not the legalization envisaged in the new Senate draft remains his official position.

The passage of the MORE Act in the House of Representatives last year was supported by a number of Republican members, including members of the House’s bipartisan cannabis caucus. The Senate does not have an equivalent cannabis caucus.

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What the bill actually does

Here are the key measures made possible by the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act.

Federal disposal and regulation

The new bill would:

• Remove cannabis from the federal register of controlled substances
• Take the DEA out of the cannabis law enforcement business
• Install the finance department; the Office for Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); and the Department of Health and Human Services as the agencies regulating the enforcement of state cannabis laws
• Insert “cannabis” in the official ATF agency title

Restorative Justice Programs

The new bill would:

• Creation of a Trust Fund for Opportunities under the Justice Department’s Office of Justice programs
• Establish a cannabis opportunity program within the Small Business Administration that would provide equity-owned cannabis companies with small business loans under Section 7 (m)
• Establish an Equitable Licensing Grant Program, overseen by the Small Business Administration, to fund state or municipal efforts to develop equitable cannabis licensing programs for those adversely affected by the war on drugs

New federal cannabis tax

The new bill would:

• Introduced a new federal cannabis tax that starts at 10% in the first two years of legalization and gradually increases to 25%. This would be in addition to any existing state and local taxes.

Define Who Has Been Harmed By The War On Drugs

The new bill also sets a standard for those eligible for state cannabis stock opportunities. These people would have to meet one of the two criteria listed below.

• Anyone who has had an income below 250% of the federal poverty line for at least 5 of the last 10 years in the past 10 years and has been arrested for possession, use, manufacture or cultivation of cannabis
• Anyone who is the parent, sibling, spouse, or child of someone arrested in the manner described above

There’s more to come

Leafly’s news staff will continue to update this article later in the day with new information about the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act.

Bruce Barcott

Leafly Senior Editor Bruce Barcott oversees news, research, and feature projects. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and author of Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America.

View article by Bruce Barcott

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