The More Act passes a key House committee

A key committee of the U.S. House of Representatives approved last Thursday the More Act, one of the current bills to legalize cannabis at the federal level and promote social equity.

The Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act was passed by the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by the sponsor of the legislation, Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler, by a vote of 26 to 15.

This development comes a week after the House of Representatives voted in favor of a defense spending bill which includes an amendment to protect banks that provide services to state-legal cannabis businesses from penalties by federal regulators.

«This historic, long-overdue legislation would reverse federal policies that have failed to criminalize marijuana. It would also take steps to address the heavy toll this policy has taken across the country, especially in communities of color,» said Jerrold Nadler in his opening remarks. «I have long believed that the criminalization of marijuana was a mistake. Racially disparate enforcement of marijuana laws has only made the situation worse, with serious consequences, particularly for communities of color.»

Read Chairman @RepJerryNadler's opening statement for the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act here: https://t.co/G8xEXdKk63

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- House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) September 30, 2021

Jerrold Nadler's cannabis legislation was passed by the House of Representatives last year, but made no headway in the GOP-controlled Senate. This time around, cannabis advocates are optimistic that a similar bill could pass now that Democrats rule both chambers and the White House, and more and more U.S. states are moving to legalize cannabis.

The bill proposes to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act (Controlled Substances Act, CSA) and allow people with cannabis convictions to have their criminal records expunged. A federal cannabis tax would be created, with revenues used to support community reinvestment and other programs.

The bill also contains provisions to create an opportunity for sentence reassessment for those incarcerated for cannabis-related offenses, to protect immigrants from being denied citizenship because of cannabis, and to prevent federal agencies from denying public benefits or security clearance because of cannabis use.

In addition, a proposal to downgrade cannabis at the federal level, which does not include elements of social equity, was filed by two Republican members of Congress in May.