{"id":49714,"date":"2021-07-14T22:31:11","date_gmt":"2021-07-15T02:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=49714"},"modified":"2021-07-14T22:31:20","modified_gmt":"2021-07-15T02:31:20","slug":"3-senators-introduce-a-draft-bill-that-would-decriminalize-marijuana-on-the-federal-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2021\/07\/3-senators-introduce-a-draft-bill-that-would-decriminalize-marijuana-on-the-federal-level\/","title":{"rendered":"3 senators introduce a draft bill that would decriminalize marijuana on the federal level"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A group of three Democratic senators, including the majority leader, introduced draft legislation Wednesday that would decriminalize marijuana on the federal level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Ron Ryden (D-Ore.) held a press conference to present the draft bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0\u201cWe are all joining together to release draft legislation to end the federal prohibition on cannabis. This is monumental because, at long last, we are taking steps in the Senate to right the wrongs of the failed war on drugs,\u201d said Schumer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Joining <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenSchumer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SenSchumer<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RonWyden?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@RonWyden<\/a> to announce our legislative draft that will:<br>\u2705 Legalize marijuana<br>\u2705 Expunge marijuana arrest records<br>\u2705 Reinvest in communities most harmed by the drug war<br>It\u2019s past time we take steps to fix decades of failed drug policy. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/SyrwUy9Liq\">https:\/\/t.co\/SyrwUy9Liq<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Sen. Cory Booker (@SenBooker) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenBooker\/status\/1415346171296559109?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 14, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act would remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances, expunge nonviolent federal cannabis-related criminal records, and start regulating and taxing the drug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe also very much believe in the expungement of records because of the historical overcriminalization,\u201d said Schumer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Schumer said people shouldn\u2019t have to live with criminal records for the rest of their lives if they are caught with a small amount of marijuana in their possession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cExpunge those records. Let these people become productive citizens without that criminal record, that severe criminal record hanging over their heads,\u201d said Schumer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Booker said the bill would also seek to reinvest in the communities that have been the most harmed by the &#8220;War on Drugs.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next step in the effort to get the bill passed is getting further input from stakeholder groups, according to Schumer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Booker said at the briefing that this is the first time in history that the majority leader of the U.S. Senate is leading the call to end the prohibition of marijuana. He said it was also noteworthy that Ryden, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, was joining them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While taking questions from the press, Schumer admitted that he doesn\u2019t currently have the votes needed to pass the bill, but a \u201clarge majority\u201d of his Democratic caucus supports it. He said he\u2019ll show them the draft legislation and negotiate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The legalization of cannabis remains popular in the U.S.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2021\/04\/16\/americans-overwhelmingly-say-marijuana-should-be-legal-for-recreational-or-medical-use\/\">A Pew Research poll<\/a>&nbsp;released in April found 91% of American adults say either that marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational use, or that it should be legal for medical use only. Fewer than 8% said it shouldn\u2019t be legal for use by adults.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A group of three Democratic senators, including the majority leader, introduced draft legislation Wednesday that would decriminalize marijuana on the federal level. Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":49715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[128],"tags":[505],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49714"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49716,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49714\/revisions\/49716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}