Eighteen states plus the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana use. Another 18 states have made it legal for medical use, some of them also decriminalizing it recreationally. But marijuana remains a Schedule 1 controlled substance by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, which makes it dangerous for users to transport it across state lines and for the burgeoning marijuana retail industry to procure conventional banking services, including business loans.
Though not a priority on Capitol Hill these days, there is an ongoing movement to change federal laws restricting marijuana use. Late in September, the House Judiciary Committee voted, 26-15, to advance a bill that would decriminalize and deschedule cannabis, following a two-day markup.
Two Republicans, Matt Gaetz of Florida, and Tom McClintock of California, joined 24 Democrats on the committee in favor of moving it forward, according to Roll Call. The vote came after a two-day markup in which the panel also approved a bipartisan[CD1] plan to lower drug prices.
The proposed legislation is based on a bill that Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, introduced in 2020. That bill passed the House but stalled in the Senate, which last year was controlled by the GOP. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, now majority leader, proposed similar legislation last year.
But even with apparent support in the House of Representatives and the Senate, it faces a potential veto from President Biden, who has endorsed decriminalization but not legislation removing it from the DEA’s list of controlled substances. Biden’s position means that even more states could decriminalize or legalize, but marijuana consumers still will not want to carry it on an airplane, and banks will still be reluctant to give business loans to head shops.
What do you think? Legalize it, or no? Read the left and right columns for a few of our contributing pundits’ opinions.
--Todd Lassa
[CD1]I was checking the Hustings site and you sometimes use bipartisan and other times bi-partisan. I’d go without the hyphen.