Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has released the long-awaited bill aimed at lifting the federal prohibition on marijuana.
The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, unveiled Thursday by Schumer and Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., would decriminalize marijuana on a federal level and permit states to set their own laws without fear of punishment from Washington, Politico reported.
Caitlyn Kim, a journalist for Colorado Public Radio News, tweeted: Schumer "calls it a framework that includes de-scheduling cannabis, encourages states to come up with their own laws, have rules to prevent youth access and impaired driving, expunge fed criminal records for non-violent cannabis offenses, creates opportunity trust fund to help communities."
"Schumer is talking about cannabis legalization he and Sens Booker & Wyden are introducing. It is time that Congress catches up with the rest of the country ... It's time to end the federal prohibition on cannibals [cannabis]."
The three Democrat senators had proposed a discussion draft of the bill more than a year ago. Politico said the odds of the bill passing in the Senate are slim.
The bill would expunge federal cannabis-related records, while also creating funding for law enforcement agencies to go after illegal cannabis cultivation.
"As more states legalize cannabis and work towards reversing the many injustices the failed war on drugs levied against Black, brown, and low-income people, the federal government continues to lag woefully behind," said Booker, according to NJ.com.
"With strong restorative justice provisions for communities impacted by the drug war, support for small cannabis businesses, and expungement of federal cannabis offenses, this bill reflects long overdue, common sense drug policy."
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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