A bill that would get the ball rolling on restorative justice for tens of thousands of Americans was unveiled Wednesday by the leader of the U.S. Senate.
WASHINGTON (CN) — Federal decriminalization of marijuana is on the table in the U.S. Senate following the proposal of new legislation to shake up regulations on cannabis from how its taxed and sold to restorative justice for nonviolent, weed-related convictions and arrests.
Introduced Wednesday by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act is a long-shot bid in the Senate where, despite a growing appetite for federal legalization throughout the U.S., many lawmakers are at odds on the path forward.
Co-sponsored by Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Cory Booker of New Jersey, the 163-page draft bill is packed with provisions that go beyond descheduling cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act. It is also geared heavily toward reversing damage done to communities devastated by the War on Drugs.
“A legacy of racial and ethnic injustices, compounded by the disproportionate collateral consequences of 80 years of cannabis prohibitions enforcement now limits participation in the industry,” the bill states.
And what an industry it is.
Market researchers at BSDA, an organization that studies futures for cannabis, reported this March that U.S. sales of marijuana for 2020 exceeded $20 billion, a come-up of nearly 50% from just a year before when legal sales hovered closer to $14 million. By 2025, legal weed is forecast to bring in over $40 billion in revenue.
Despite the gradual mainstreaming of weed into everyday American life, crime reports compiled by the FBI show that the number of people arrested for marijuana-related crimes has dropped in the last few years. There are, however, still more people arrested for nonviolent cannabis crimes than violent crimes, generally.
The FBI estimated in 2020 that roughly 600,000 people were arrested on weed-related charges, and the American Civil Liberties Union says enforcement cost taxpayers $3.6 billion.
Unequal enforcement of the law is widely known. Though Black and white Americans consume marijuana at similar rates, Black Americans are nearly four times more likely than whites to be arrested on cannabis charges. Black and Latinos also receive harsher sentencing for cannabis offenses on average, too.
Notably, this is not a uniquely American phenomenon: a 2020 study in Canada found Black and indigenous people there were disproportionately arrested for weed.
Schumer’s bill seeks to rectify some of these inequities by demanding that, within one year of enactment, orders to expunge “each conviction or adjudication of juvenile delinquency for a non-violent federal cannabis offense” should be entered by each federal court in their respective districts. The same goes for arrests. Further, resentencing hearings for nonviolent offenses must also be granted. And if states wish to take advantage of any federal grant funding established under the bill, they must agree to expunge nonviolent cannabis offenses first.
The U.S. comptroller is expected to produce a comprehensive report for Congress studying the demographics of those convicted of a cannabis offense within two years.
Under the draft bill, public benefits cannot be denied to anyone because they possess weed, and past or present cannabis use cannot be used as criteria to bar someone from obtaining security clearance any longer. And, in a boon for veterans, the secretary of Veterans Affairs is directed to inform physicians and health care providers within the Veterans Affairs network to participate in grant programs to help their patients gain access to marijuana as needed.
Small-business owners and entrepreneurs who want to break into the cannabis industry aren’t going to be left in the dust either. They will receive priority for loans with emphasis on recipients from marginalized communities.