A divided House panel has endorsed a proposal to decriminalize and tax marijuana at the federal level.
Groups supporting an end to the nation’s longstanding prohibition on cannabis call the 24-10 vote by the House Judiciary Committee historic.
Opponents called the vote Wednesday in Washington a hollow political gesture.
If the measure comes up for a vote in the full House, it has better chances in the Democratic-controlled chamber than in the GOP-held Senate, where it’s future is uncertain.
The proposal would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act and allow states to set their own marijuana policy.
Marijuana legalization advocates said the vote marked the first time legislation to end the federal prohibition had cleared a congressional committee.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) delivered the following opening remarks during the markup of H.R. 3884, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act of 2019:
In part he says,Â
"H.R. 3884, the 'Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019,' or the 'MORE Act of 2019.' This bill would make three important changes to federal law. It would:
"These steps are long overdue. For far too long, we have treated marijuana as a criminal justice problem instead of a matter of personal choice and public health. Whatever one’s views on the use of marijuana for recreational or medicinal purposes, arresting, prosecuting, and incarcerating users at the federal level is unwise and unjust.
"This issue is not new to Congress. There have been many Members who have introduced bills upon which provisions in this bill are based. Representative Barbara Lee has sponsored bills that are the foundation of key provisions of the MORE Act, and I thank her for her longstanding leadership on this issue.
"Federal action on this issue would follow growing recognition in the states that the status quo is unacceptable. Despite the federal government’s continuing criminalization of marijuana, 33 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical cannabis. Eleven states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis for adult recreational use.
"I have long believed that the criminalization of marijuana has been a mistake, and the racially disparate enforcement of marijuana laws has only compounded this mistake, with serious consequences, particularly for minority communities.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
