Skip to main content

House to make historic vote to end marijuana prohibition this week


mikeledray / Shutterstock

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on whether to federally decriminalize marijuana this week — an action that would be the biggest move toward marijuana legalization ever taken by Congress.According to a notice posted by the office of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, the vote for the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act, HR 3884, should come between Wednesday, Dec. 2 and Friday, Dec. 14."This floor vote represents the first Congressional roll call ever on the question of ending federal marijuana criminalization," NORML Political Director Justin Strekal said in a statement. "By advancing the MORE Act, the House of Representatives sends an unmistakable signal that America is ready to close the book marijuana prohibition and end the senseless oppression and fear that this failed policy wreaks on otherwise law-abiding citizens."He added, "Americans are ready to responsibly legalize and regulate marijuana, and this vote shows some lawmakers are finally listening."The MORE Act would remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, expunge some criminal records, allow for more testing and research of the substance, allow veterans for the first time to obtain medical cannabis recommendations from their VA doctors, remove the threat of deportation for immigrants accused of minor marijuana infractions or who are gainfully employed in the state-legal cannabis industry, and create funding for people and communities impacted by the War on Drugs.According to an October poll from Gallup, marijuana legalization has wide support. Overall, 68% of respondents said they supported it, compared to 32% who did not. Those who support it include 83% Democrats, and 72% of independents. Just 48% of Republicans support it, according to the poll.The MORE Act was sponsored by Senator and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. President-elect Joe Biden has indicated that he supports cannabis decriminalization but has come short of calling for it to be legalized.In November's general election, 15 states and the District of Columbia have now legalized the recreational use of marijuana, and another 16 have decriminalized it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Biden says K-12 education isn't working — calls for free pre-K to "grade 14"

President Joe Biden on Wednesday praised the nation's K-12 education system for fueling America's economic growth for almost a century. But, he stressed, that system may no longer be sufficient as the foundation for future prosperity. Mr. Biden's American Families Plan is taking aim at an issue that has bedeviled economists as well as millions of families struggling to stay afloat financially: A high school diploma is no longer enough to secure a middle-class life. Under the White House proposal, the nation's K-12 system would be expanded on both ends — from free pre-kindergarten education through a "grade 14," funding two years of schooling before kindergarten and two years of post-high school education through free community college. There's plenty of economic research that links rising high school graduation rates throughout the 20th century to faster U.S. economic growth. For example, broadening education help women enter the workforce and enabled men ...
Post a Comment
Read more

In Trump Farm Bailout, Top 1% Reaped Nearly One-Fourth of Aid

LISTEN TO ARTICLE 4:43 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Tweet Post Email Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg The Trump administration’s farm bailouts steered an expanding share of subsidy payments to the nation’s biggest farms, according to an analysis by an environmental advocacy group that highlights issues of equity as the Biden administration designs potential new climate-related financial incentives for farmers. Just 1% of farm aid recipients collected 23% of subsidy payments in 2019, up from 17% in 2016, as former President Donald Trump’s trade bailout swelled payments to farmers. Their portion crept up to 24% in the first half of 2020, the most recent period covered in the data, as farm aid hit a record level with coronavirus relief payments, according to the Environmental Working Group analysis. That is the largest share of federal farm subsidies going to the top 1% -- the 7,873 subsidy recipients who got the highest payments -- since 2007, accordi...
Post a Comment
Read more

New climate envoy John Kerry sold off energy holdings to avoid conflict of interest, disclosures show

Financial disclosures released by former Secretary of State John Kerry indicate that until March of this year he held hundreds of thousands of dollars of investments in energy-related companies that may end up being affected by policies he'll help shape as President Joe Biden's new climate envoy. An ABC News analysis of his assets show that in recent years, Kerry held stakes in at least three dozen companies related to the energy industry, including firms dealing in electric, oil and gas, and nuclear energy, with shares worth between $204,000 and $960,000. Kerry had also recently held high-ranking positions within firms and entities that could end up being regulated by his climate action policies, filings show. A certificate of divestiture issued by the Office of Government Ethics on March 8 shows Kerry's plan to divest from companies that could pose a conflict of interest for his new role as U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, a common measure that newly appointed...
Post a Comment
Read more