Senatre Majority Leader Charles Schumer joined Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to release a discussion draft of a bill to remove the federal prohibition on marijuana use “and repair damage done by the War on Drugs.” It would decriminalize and federal reschedule cannabis, expunge prior convictions, allow people to petition for resentencing, maintain the authority of states to set their own marijuana policies and remove collateral consequences, including immigration-related penalties.
“Cannabis prohibition, a key pillar of the failed war on drugs, has caused substantial harm to our communities and small businesses, and especially for communities of color,” Wyden said. “It’s as simple as this: Senators Booker, Schumer and I want to bring common sense to the federal government, end prohibition and restore the lives of those hurt most and set them up for opportunity.”
The bill would also impose a federal tax on marijuana products and put some of that revenue toward grant programs meant to support people from communities most impacted by prohibition who want to participate in the industry.
Further, the legislation would transfer regulatory authority over cannabis from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).
The measure, while removing federal prohibitions and penalties, enables states to continue to prohibit production, use and sale if they wish.
The discussion draft asserts that people from communities of color have been most targeted by cannabis criminalization and seeks to correct that by establishing “funding to eligible states and localities to make loans to assist small businesses in the cannabis industry owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals” through the Small Business Administration (SBA).