The Vine

This Friday announced much anticipated news for cannabis legalization advocates. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said the chamber will take up the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act some time between Wednesday, December 2nd and Friday December 4th, 2020. 

“This floor vote represents the first congressional roll call ever on the question of ending federal marijuana criminalization,” NORML Political Director Justin Strekal told Marijuana Moment. “By advancing the MORE Act, the House of Representatives sends an unmistakable signal that America is ready to close the book marijuana prohibition and end the senseless oppression and fear that this failed policy wreaks on otherwise law-abiding citizens.”

This bill could “reverse” the current cannabis policy gap that exists between states and the federal government, a new Congressional Research Service (CRS) report says.

NORML reports that the MORE Act would make several other important changes to federal cannabis possibly including: 

• Facilitating the expungement of low-level, federal marijuana convictions, and incentivizing state and local governments to take similar actions;
• Creating pathways for ownership opportunities in the emerging regulated industry for local and diversely-reflective entrepreneurs through the Small Business Administration grant eligibility;
• Allowing veterans, for the first time, to obtain medical cannabis recommendations from their VA doctors;
• Removing the threat of deportation for immigrants accused of minor marijuana infractions or who are gainfully employed in the state-legal cannabis industry;
• Providing critical reinvestment grant opportunities for communities that have suffered disproportionate rates of marijuana-related enforcement actions.

For more info, visit NORML's website HERE, and keep posted on daily cannabis news, follow us on our Twitter @PMProject.