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A major obstacle to federal marijuana reform has been lifted. The Democrats are now in control of the executive branch, of the House of Representatives and the Senate, with 50 Democratic Senators plus the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris. The Democratic-controlled House already approved two historic bills that would decriminalize marijuana nationally, and the political will seems present to force these bills through in the near future.
The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act made history in early December when it was approved by a large majority of Representatives, becoming the first cannabis liberalization bill approved by Congress since prohibition. At that time, the MORE Act could not have become law; the Republican majority in the Senate were clear in their refusal to reform laws that lead to over 600,000 arrests for petty non-violent offenses every year.
Now, however, passing the MORE Act seems likely, along with the SAFE Banking Act, another bill spearheaded by Democrats which would allow state-legal marijuana businesses to operate like all other legal businesses. The Senate’s Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, has introduced his own bill, the Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act, which goes even farther than the MORE Act to fully scrub the prohibition of marijuana from the law books. Schumer has been clear: With him at the helm, marijuana legalization will be a priority of the Senate.
“If I become majority leader, I put it on the floor, and my guess, it’ll pass. It’ll get Democratic and Republican votes,” Schumer promised about marijuana reform.
Passing of Power
Due to the passing of power to a new Congress, the MORE Act and other marijuana bills considered by the House need to be reintroduced, which will require time and effort. But, as shown by previous votes, it appears evident that there is intense political will to get this done: When the MORE Act made its way to the House floor in December 2020, 222 Democrats voted in favor of it and six voted against it, while 158 Republicans voted no and five voted in favor.
As it stands, the only real hurdle left to take the MORE Act from bill to reality is gathering the votes in the split Senate. There is a possibility that some Democratic senators could go against the demands of the party, opposing the Democrats’ official platform, and vote no in the Senate. That could potentially be offset by Republican senators choosing to support reform like five Republican Representatives did.
The support for legal marijuana is at an all-time high, reaching 68% according to a recent Gallup poll. A majority of Republican voters also support it: A September 2020 survey by the Justice Collaborative Institute found that only 27% of Republican voters oppose the MORE Act, while 53% actively want it to pass. This has been confirmed by another poll led by Politico in December, showing more than half of Republican respondents actively want cannabis to be removed from the list of controlled substances.
What Would the MORE Act Do?
The MORE Act is not the only such bill that attempted to make its way through Congress, but it is the more likely to succeed. It has been the cannabis industry’s best hope since it was taken up by Democratic lawmakers and made viable all the way to a successful vote in the House.
The MORE Act is not very precise regarding matters of regulation once cannabis is removed from the list of controlled substances, however, and experts predict that, if it passes, it will be modified and serve as a foundation for an all-encompassing bill that all Democrats could get in lockstep behind. Congressional Democrats now have two years to take full advantage of their position of power before the deck gets reshuffled, which means that the MORE Act, if it is meant to pass, could become a reality by 2022.
But what would the MORE Act mean? The bill aims to remove cannabis entirely from the list of controlled substances, therefore making it federally legal but allowing states to ban it if they wish. In short, it would make the possession and consumption of marijuana legal in Wisconsin unless the Wisconsin Legislature chooses to go out of its way to ban it. However, Gov. Tony Evers has been extremely clear about his stance: He wants legal marijuana, and he would therefore veto any attempt to ban cannabis. Therefore, if the MORE Act becomes law before 2023—the end of Evers’ current term—this right will be safe from Republican state lawmakers. The MORE Act would not necessarily allow marijuana retail stores to crop up in Wisconsin, but it would waive away the ban on crossing state lines with cannabis; it would then become fully legal to drive to the Illinois border to purchase legal weed and bring it back home.
More importantly, as the MORE Act would expunge the records of people convicted of federal cannabis offenses, it would lead to the release of “thousands of current inmates... In the future, decriminalization also would reduce the number of people in federal prisons and the amount of time federal inmates serve,” severely reducing the damage done by over-incarceration. More than 600,000 people are arrested each year for marijuana offense, a large majority of which are minor possession. The MORE Act would save $1 billion in incarceration costs and, by releasing prisoners on a marijuana-related sentence, it would save the equivalent of 73,000 years of imprisonment before 2030.
The Congressional Budget Office offers an in-depth look at the actual consequences of the MORE Act passing in its current form. By 2030, they estimate that the MORE Act would bring in more than $13.6 billion dollars in additional revenue federally. It would bring a stream of revenue in the tens or hundreds of millions to Medicaid and Medicare, Social Security, Supplemental Security Income and SNAP. It would decrease the federal deficit by more than $7.3 billion while bolstering social services and supporting communities. For the first time since marijuana prohibition started, Congress is finally in a position to make this dream a reality.
