A bill in the United States House of Representatives to fully decriminalize and deschedule marijuana gained two new sponsors yesterday.
Congressmembers Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Valerie Foushee (D-NC) have officially signed on as cosponsors to the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act. The measure, filed in September by Representative Jerrold Nadler (D), now has 82 sponsors.
The MORE Act would remove marijuana as a federal controlled substance, effectively decriminalizing it nationwide. It would place a 5% federal excise tax on marijuana sales in states where its legal for the first two years, with it increasing to 8% by the fifth year.
The Act also includes several provisions to protect marijuana consumers, including preventing them from being denied public benefits and allowing marijuana convictions to be expunged (removed) from people’s records
Representative Nadler has described the MORE Act as “one of the most comprehensive marijuana reform bills ever introduced in the U.S. Congress”, which “aims to correct the historical injustices of failed drug policies that have disproportionately impacted communities of color and low-income communities by requiring resentencing and expungement of prior convictions.”
You can find the full text of the MORE Act by clicking here.
A similar measure was approved through the House of Representatives in 2021 but failed to advance in the Senate.
For a look at the federal marijuana bills most likely to be passed by the House and Senate this year, click here. For a look at the six states most likely to legalize marijuana in 2024, click here.
