House Democrats on Friday passed marijuana legalization legislation over Republican objections that a COVID-19 stimulus bill should come first.
The MORE Act would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and eliminate federal penalties for growing, selling and possessing the drug. It would expunge federal convictions for marijuana and allow states to set their own policies.
Polls show support for pot legalization nearing 70 percent nationally, and federal authorities have tolerated state-level legalization since Colorado and Washington residents voted in 2012 to tax and regulate recreational sales.
The House vote was 228-164, with five Republicans joining the majority and six Democrats defecting. It’s likely to die in the Republican-held Senate — though residents of GOP bastions South Dakota and Montana were among the latest to approve recreational use of the drug on Nov. 3.
Fifteen states, two US territories and the nation’s capital have laws allowing adults to use marijuana recreationally, but many people remain in federal prison for large-scale dealing. Two men seeking pardons from President Trump have life sentences for marijuana under President-elect Joe Biden’s 1994 crime law.
Biden does not support marijuana legalization, but Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, a California senator, is the MORE Act’s lead sponsor in the Senate. She previously convicted more than 1,900 people for marijuana as San Francisco district attorney.
President Trump has supported a states-rights approach to marijuana policy. Asked last year about federal legalization, Trump said “it’s a very big subject … we’re allowing the states to make that decision.”
The vote breakdown was unusually partisan as Republicans bashed Democrats for prioritizing marijuana over COVID-19 stimulus legislation as new infections soar. Many Democratic speakers described the bill as a racial justice measure following a year of anti-police brutality protests.
Historically, marijuana legalization has had substantial bipartisan support. For example, 2015 legislation from California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock that would ban the Justice Department from going after state-legal recreational weed won 45 Republican votes while 24 Democrats including some party leaders opposed it.
The MORE Act would set a new federal tax rate of 5 percent — gradually rising to 8 percent — for marijuana products.
Although current federal prohibition isn’t strictly enforced in states that allow the drug, federal law still defines state-legal sales as crimes, meaning risk-averse banks often won’t serve businesses for fear of money laundering charges.
By removing pot from its current Schedule I federal classification, which identifies dangerous and abusable drugs, the bill would allow scientists to research its potential medical uses with less onerous rules.
Republican Rep. Steven Palazzo of Mississippi said during House floor debate that the measure was inadequate because it lacked regulations for potency and advertising. He said it was “not time sensitive” and that his colleagues should focus on COVID-19 relief.
Oregon Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer fired back that “his voters [in Mississippi] just approved medical marijuana.”
“We’re not rushing to legalize marijuana, The American people have already done that,” said Blumenauer, who has championed legalizing pot for decades. He said the drug’s a safer alternative to opioids and pointed out former Republican House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio took a job with the pot industry.
Blumenauer pushed back on the concerns of some Republican speakers who said the bill could increase pot use among kids, which early data haven’t proven to be the case.
“No neighborhood drug dealer checks for ID,” he said.
But Missouri Republican Rep. Vicky Hartzler said she was “shocked and appalled” at the possible impact on children, noting her particular concern about flavored products.
Although trumpeted as criminal justice reform, Nebraska Republican Rep. Adrian Smith said that if the bill passed, the pot tax it establishes would create new crimes, meaning it “would likely lead to jail for small time dealers for tax evasion.”
House passage doesn’t mean federal legalization is imminent. Seven years ago, New Hampshire’s House of Representatives in January 2014 became the first state legislative chamber to approve pot legalization. But the effort stalled due to opposition in the state senate and from statewide Democratic officials. It still hasn’t become law.
State-level marijuana legalization is approved in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont and Washington state. Washington, DC, and the territories Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands also have legalized pot locally.