The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act is finally making its debut in Congress. Here’s what it would do

The recent federal legalization bill (CAOA) would remove cannabis from the controlled substances list and eliminate all marijuana offenses — but will the Democrats get it through Congress before the November election?

The Cannabis Administration & Opportunity Act (CAOA) was officially filed today (July 21). The law would legalize cannabis nationwide, end federal prohibition and erase records of some cannabis offenders. The CAOA also establishes a framework for establishing a federal cannabis tax and creating FDA regulations for cannabis products.

A draft of the CAOA began circulating more than a year ago. After receiving 1,800 comments from lawmakers, the federal legalization bill has grown from 163 pages in the original to 296 pages in the re-released final draft.

“For far too long, the federal cannabis ban and war on drugs has been a war on people, and especially people of color,” Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) said in a press release after the bill was filed.

“(The CAOA) will be a catalyst for change by removing cannabis from the Federal Controlled Substances List, protecting public health and safety and erasing the criminal records of those with minor cannabis offenses and giving millions a new life.”

Senator Chuck Schumer on the newly filed Cannabis Administration & Opportunity Act (CAOA).

Here’s what CAOA authors Sen. Schumer, Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Cory Booker included in the potentially groundbreaking federal bill.

Here’s what the new federal legalization law says

The CAOA looks very similar to the MORE Act, which passed the House of Representatives in April but not the Senate. Both MORE and CAOA would remove cannabis from the controlled substances list and allow the government to begin taxing cannabis sales. However, some key differences are the tax rates and plans for distributing federal tax revenues.

Last year, Senator Booker said the CAOA’s holistic approach to legalization would take precedence over more limited specific efforts like the SAFE Banking Act. Sen. Booker has vowed in the past to prevent SAFE from moving forward, largely due to a lack of action on social justice and criminal justice reform.

Read the full CAOA bill here. Key takeaways from the nearly 300-page bill include:

• The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) would work together to regulate various aspects of the cannabis industry.
• CAOA would protect the rights of workers in the cannabis industry, aided by the potential loss of operating licenses for companies that do not comply with labor laws (Sec 606).
• CAOA would allow cannabis companies access to banks (Sec 706).
• The law provides for retrial and deletion for some cannabis offenders (Sec 311).
• The law imposes a 5% federal excise tax on small and medium-sized manufacturers, increasing gradually to 12.5% ​​after five years. For larger corporations, the federal tax rate would start at 10% and end at 25% (Sec 5901).
• Some taxes would go to grant programs that fund nonprofit organizations specializing in job training, reentry into society after incarceration, and securing legal aid.
• Equal licensing grant programs would be available to states and local communities that wish to encourage minorities and low-income people to get involved in the industry.
• CAOA would launch a 10-year pilot program through the Small Business Administration to secure “interim loans” for “direct lending to eligible intermediaries, who in turn make small business loans to startups, businesses owned by individuals adversely affected by the war on drugs, and socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses.”
• Federal employers could no longer test employees for cannabis, with some exceptions for jobs like law enforcement and national security.
• CAOA defines penalties for growing, manufacturing, shipping, transporting, receiving, possessing, selling, distributing, or purchasing 10 pounds or more of cannabis without a state or federal license (Sec 511).
• The law outlines a new federal definition of hemp that increases the allowable amount of THC to 0.7% of a plant’s dry weight, more than doubling the current limit of 0.3% (Sec 803).
• The CAOA would remove “marijuana” from the Controlled Substances Act within 180 days of the CAOA’s enactment.
• The law would establish a federal standard for driving with disabilities (sec 222).
• CAOA proposes to ban all products from vaping systems with added natural or artificial flavors.
• The FDA would be expanded to include a cannabis products center that would regulate “the production, labeling, distribution, sale and other elements of manufacturing and retailing in the cannabis industry,” according to a summary of the CAOA law.
• States could ban the production and sale of marijuana, but they could not prevent cannabis products from being transported between legal states while passing through a banned state.
• The Justice Department would offer grants that would be used to hire law enforcement, do public relations, and try to fight the illicit market.
• Access to federal benefits will be protected for those with cannabis convictions, including federal employees.
• Veterans would have expanded access to medical cannabis through US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) physicians.
• All retailers would have a federal limit of 10 ounces per single retail transaction.
• The Government Accountability Office (GAO) would facilitate marijuana policy studies on safety and compliance.
• The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would study various effects of marijuana products.
• The law would increase the supply of cannabis available for scientific study and research.
• CAOA funds public education to discourage youth use of cannabis, as well as government funding to discourage youth use and impaired driving.
• The Department of Transportation must develop regulations to identify THC-impaired driving within three years of the effective date. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) would aggregate data on impaired driving to educate citizens and law enforcement at the state level.
• 21 years and older would become the national minimum age for purchasing cannabis (Sec. 1105).

The next steps point to the big meeting next Tuesday

The bill could make further headway as early as next Tuesday (July 26), when Senator Cory Booker is scheduled to chair the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism in a session on “Federal cannabis decriminalization: steps needed to address past harm.” .”

Details of the meeting have not been released, but the Democrats behind CAOA will likely rush their peers down the aisle to pass this massive bill as soon as possible. The only thing standing in the way of federal legalization is the Senate, which has rejected previous attempts to approve the MORE Act. If the Democrats lose ground in the November elections as planned, the CAOA could drift into purgatory or fizzle out for good.

With Republicans now favored to gain control of the House but not the Senate in November, Democrats’ green energy and economic agenda bills could be brushed aside. But CAOA could be a last-second long shot for the party to legalize America’s fifth-biggest cash crop. Weed has emerged as one of America’s few bipartisan issues after booming during the pandemic. And with the Pew Research Center reporting that 72% of Democrats and 47% of Republicans support legalization of both medical and recreational marijuana, legalization is doing better in polls than most candidates from either party.

Why social justice and criminal justice reform are vital

Police have used the cannabis ban as an excuse to harass and arrest black and brown people for decades. In addition to mass wipeouts, the new CAOA law proposes providing licensing programs and taxpayer dollars to Americans hardest hit by the failed War on Drugs. (AdobeStock)

Despite President Biden’s campaign promises, cannabis arrests are up 25% since he took office.

According to the CAOA, “Continued enforcement of cannabis prohibition laws resulted in over 350,000 arrests in 2020, disproportionately affecting people of color who are nearly four times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than their white counterparts, despite equal use rates among populations.”

“People of color and Native Americans have historically been targeted by discriminatory sentencing practices, resulting in black men receiving drug sentences 13.1 percent longer than sentences for white men, and Latinos almost 6.5 times more likely to receive one Federal penalties for cannabis possession were higher than non-Hispanic whites.” The bill continues, “In 2013, simple possession of cannabis was the fourth most common reason for deportation for all offenses and the most common reason for deportation for drug law violations.

Authors of the CAOA wrote, “The United States has expelled more than 45,000 people whose most serious conviction was cannabis possession.” The accounts state that “less than one-fifth of cannabis business owners identify as minorities, and only about 2 percent are black. Cannabis license applicants are constrained by numerous laws, regulations and exorbitant permit applications, royalties and costs in these states which can require upwards of $700,000.”

The bill states that in 2021, “legal cannabis sales totaled $25 billion” and that total revenues are expected to reach $45 billion by 2025.” Taxes collected from these projected sales should improve society far more than the $3.6 billion the ACLU says prohibition laws cost taxpayers each year.

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