Senate Democrats have filed a bill to federally legalize marijuana, a far-reaching proposal that comes as the Trump administration is moving ahead with a more incremental reform to reschedule cannabis.
The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA), which is also being led by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Ron Wyden, along with other Democratic senators, would remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), a process known as “descheduling.”
It would also create a pathway for people to get their prior criminal sentences for cannabis reduced and expunged while restoring access to housing, jobs and civil rights that they may have lost.
The legislation would additionally apply a federal tax on marijuana and use some of the revenue to create a Department of Justice Cannabis Justice Office that would manage a fund to support job training, reentry and legal aid for people from communities harmed by prohibition.
“For decades, generations have suffered unjustly under the failed War on Drugs and broken cannabis laws—hurting primarily people of color. It is long overdue that we stand up for them,” Booker said in a press release. “I am proud to reintroduce this commonsense legislation, which will dismantle the
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