There’s over a dozen marijuana-related bills currently active in the United States Senate and House of Representatives.
In December, 2022, President Biden signed the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act into law, making it the first standalone piece of marijuana legislation to ever be signed by a US president.
Since then, lawmakers have filed multiple marijuana-related bills seeking to bring further reforms to America’s marijuana laws.
As the DEA continues its review of whether or not marijuana should be moved to Schedule III (aka legalized nationwide for prescription use), below is a look at every marijuana-related bill that’s currently active in US Congress:
The SAFE / SAFER Banking Act
Sponsors: 138
Filed: April / September, 2023
The SAFE and SAFER Banking Acts would provide explicit legal protections to banks and other financial institutions that provide financial services to marijuana businesses that are legal under their state’s law.
The SAFE Banking Act was filed in the House in April, with an updated Senate version, the SAFER Banking Act, filed in September. The SAFER Banking Act received approval by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with bipartisan support the same month it was filed.
The SAFER Banking Act has the support of the National Conference of State Legislatures, as well as a bipartisan group of 22 attorneys general. It’s also supported by a majority of US adults.
The MORE Act
Sponsors: 83
Filed: September, 2023
The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, filed by Representative Jerrold Nadler (D), would completely remove marijuana as a federally controlled substance. This would decriminalize it nationwide, while allowing states to decide whether or not they want to legalize it. The measure would place a 5% federal excise tax on state-legal marijuana sales 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.”
Although the measure has only a small chance of being passed through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, the MORE Act is likely the top vehicle Democrats will use to reform federal marijuana laws if they take back the House and retain the Senate this November.
Veterans Equal Access Act
Sponsors: 29
Filed: April, 2023
This bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to authorize providers to discuss medical marijuana with veterans and recommend its use if the patient is located in a legal marijuana state and the physician believes it could be beneficial.
Under current law, physicians at the VA are prohibited from discussing marijuana with their patients, and veterans who receive care from VA facilities cannot receive the forms required to participate in medical marijuana programs – regardless of whether the state they reside in has legalized it for medical use. H.R. 2431 would change this by providing federal protection to VA doctors who discuss and recommend medical cannabis.
Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor Act
Sponsors: 26
Filed: April, 2023
Filed in April, the Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor Act would allow veterans “to use, possess, or transport medical marijuana and to discuss the use of medical marijuana with a physician of the Department of Veterans Affairs as authorized by a State or Indian Tribe, and for other purposes.”
The measure is similar to the Veterans Equal Access Act.
VA Medicinal Cannabis Research Act
Sponsors: 9
Filed: February, 2023
This bill “requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to study the effects of cannabis on veterans who are enrolled in the VA health care system and have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or chronic pain (i.e., eligible veterans).”
The VA “must ensure that the study and trials are representative of the demographics of veterans in the United States, as determined by the most recent data from the American Community Survey of the Bureau of the Census”.
The STATES Act
Sponsors: 8
Filed: December, 2023
The STATES Act was filed State Representative Dave Joyce (R) with a bipartisan group of cosponsors. The measure would amend the Federal Controlled Substances Act so that those acting in compliance with state drug laws laws would no longer be committing a federal crime. This includes both marijuana consumers and those operating state-legal marijuana businesses.
The measure would also explicitly allow marijuana commerce between legal marijuana states and tribes, and it would amend an IRS regulation (section 280E) that prohibits businesses from taking tax deductions if they run a federally illegal business, even if the business is properly following their state’s laws. In addition, the STATES Act would direct the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study on the impacts of marijuana legalization on traffic safety.
RESPECT Resolution
Sponsors: 8
Filed: January, 2024
The RESPECT (“Realizing Equitable & Sustainable Participation in Emerging Cannabis Trades) Resolution, “Urging action to increase equity within cannabis policy and the legal cannabis marketplace”, was filed in the US House of Representatives earlier this month, with the measure cosponsored by Congressmembers Alma Adams (NC), Janice “Jan” Schakowsky (IL), Henry C. “Hank” Johnson (GA), Earl Blumenauer (OR), James “Jim” McGovern (MA), Eleanor Norton (DC) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ).
Congressmember Lee in a press release says the resolution “aims to elevate the importance of equity within the legal cannabis marketplace, address disparities and proactively address and repair the most egregious effects of the War on Drugs on communities of color”
Veterans Cannabis Use for Safe Healing Act
Sponsors: 7
Filed: January, 2023
This bipartisan measure was filed in January, 2023 by Congressmember Gregory Steube (R-FL) with no cosponsors, with it since garnering six cosponsors.
This bill “prohibits the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from denying a veteran any VA benefit due to participation in a state-approved marijuana program. For veterans participating in these approved programs, the VA must ensure its health care providers (1) discuss marijuana use with such veterans and adjust treatment plans accordingly, and (2) record such use in the veterans’ medical records.”
Under the bill, the VA “shall authorize physicians and other VA health care providers to provide recommendations to veterans who are residents of states with approved programs.”
States Reform Act
Sponsors: 5
Filed: October, 2023
The States Reform Act (House Bill 6028) b by Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC) in October, cosponsored by Representatives Tom McClintock (R-CA), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), David Trone (D-MD) and Dean Phillips (D-MN). The latter is currently running against President Biden in the Democratic primary.
The measure, according to its official legislative brief, “Federally decriminalizes cannabis and fully defers to state powers over prohibition and commercial regulation.” It “performs confirming amendments to relevant statutes to ensure that cannabis products are treated like alcohol by amended statutes in line with Title II of the Act.”
Hope Act
Sponsors: 5
Filed: April, 2023
This bipartisan bill, filed in April, would authorized the Department of Justice (DOJ) “to make grants to states and local governments to reduce the financial and administrative burden of expunging convictions for state cannabis offenses.”
The bill also “requires DOJ to study and report on (1) the effects on an individual of a criminal record report of a conviction for a criminal offense related to cannabis, and (2) the costs incurred for incarcerating an individual for a criminal offense related to cannabis.”
Marijuana in Federally Assisted Housing Parity Act
Sponsors: 5
Filed: January, 2024
The Marijuana in Federally Assisted Housing Parity Act was introduced last month in the US House of Representatives by Congressmember Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), with a companion bill filed in the Senate by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ). Since being filed three other lawmakers have signed on as cosponsors.
The proposed law would allow the use of marijuana in federally assisted housing, including public housing and Section 8 housing, if the consumer is in compliance with state marijuana laws.
Higher Education Marijuana Research Act
Sponsors: 3
Filed: June, 2023
Filed in June, the Higher Education Marijuana Research Act would “streamline the process for institutions of higher education to research marijuana”, allowing for increased marijuana research.
The measure was filed by Congressmember Dina Titus (D-NV), along with cosponsors Congressmembers Joe Neguse (D-CO) and Early Blumenauer (D-OR).
Randy’s Resolution
Sponsors: 2
Filed: February, 2024
Congressmembers Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) earlier this month filed bicameral resolutions urging federal agencies and state and local governments to do more research on the potential dangers of high-THC marijuana.
The resolution states that “It is the sense of Congress that Federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, should conduct and support research on the health effects of high-potency marijuana and its impact on vulnerable populations such as youth.”
It further “urges the Federal, State, and local governments to collaborate with public health organizations, medical professionals, and community stakeholders to developer evidence-based policies that address the public health and safety concerns association with high-potency marijuana.”
Note: Any marijuana-related bill filed prior to January, 2023 is no longer active (although lawmakers may have since refiled them).
