United States: Congress postpones vote to legalize cannabis at federal level until after the elections

The Democratic leadership of the House of Representatives has postponed the vote on the More ACT, a federal cannabis legalization project initially scheduled for next week's vote, The vote will take place later this year, according to the party leadership. The vote will take place later this year, according to the party leadership.

«Right now, the House is relentlessly focused on securing a deal to avoid a government shutdown and continues to do its job to fight the COVID-19 pandemic,» a declared House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer in a statement. «Later this fall, the House will pass the MORE Act with strong support, another crucial step in making our justice system fair for all Americans.»

If passed, the bill would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level and officially allow states to set their own cannabis regulatory policies. The bill would also overturn convictions for many federal cannabis offenses and impose a 5% commercial cannabis tax to be invested in communities that have suffered the most damage from the failed war on drugs.

«The MORE Act remains an essential part of House Democrats» plan to combat systemic racism and advance criminal justice reform," Hoyer added.

«As Americans face hundreds of years of systemic racial injustice, ending the failed war on drugs that has disproportionately hurt black Americans must be front and center,» said Earl Blumenauer and Barbara Lee, co-representatives of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus.

«As co-presidents of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, Our goal has always been a vote on federal cannabis legalization and social justice in Congress. Thankfully, leadership has now made a firm commitment that the House will consider the bill this fall. The public deserves this vote and we will continue to build support to achieve our goal of passing the MORE Act in the House and sending it to the Senate, which is one step closer to passage.».

Barbara Lee also said she would agree to postpone the vote if it meant persuading more legislators to approve the bill. She said specified that she and other House members would «do everything we can over the next week to build broad coalitions of support to make this happen sooner rather than later.