A New Republican-Led Bill To Legalize Marijuana Is Under Review

Something good is on the rise. Marijuana Moment reported that a new Republican-led congressional marijuana legalization bill is expected to pass later this month.

Marijuana Moment describes the measure as a “compromise between simple descheduling as proposed by other GOP lawmakers and wide-ranging comprehensive legislation that Democratic leaders are championing.”

Led by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), the States Reform Act is currently under review by stakeholders and is in its early days of action, but it’s expected to be filed in a final version by the end of November. The new legislation would prove that it’s not just one sole party that favors federal cannabis legalization.

Now that the GOP is on board and putting it into action, this confirms that Congress is just one giant step closer to passing the large-scale marijuana bills that Democrats have been pushing for in the House and Senate.

Mace’s legislation is not only striving to deschedule marijuana and create a regulatory approach, but it ensures to protect established markets in legalized states and allow them to have the resources to expand upon federal regulations.

Marijuana Moment obtained the 116-page draft legislation and shared the outlines of the bill; here are the most important takeaways:

• Cannabis would be federally descheduled and treated in a manner similar to alcohol.
• A 3.75 percent excise tax would be imposed on cannabis sales.
• Raw cannabis would be considered an agricultural commodity regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
• The measure also stipulates that veterans can’t face discrimination in federal hiring due to cannabis use, and doctors with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would be specifically authorized to issue recommendations for medical cannabis for veterans.
• People with certain federal cannabis convictions that were non-violent would be eligible for expungements.

These are major moves by the government, and we expect that the majority of America is more than ready to put an end to federal marijuana prohibition. In a poll released last week by Gallup, they found that 68% of U.S. adults said they support legalizing cannabis, and this includes majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and independents.

Although more than half of the country is pro-cannabis and has made their opinions clear, President Joe Biden still seems to oppose adult-use legalization.

However, he does support more moderate proposals to decriminalize cannabis at a federal level, legalize cannabis for medical use, and allow states to make their own policies. So even though the new bill looks promising, whether the President would sign any Democratic or Republic-led legalization bill is still up in the air.