U.S. House Schedules Cannabis Legalization Vote for Next Week

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said the House of Representatives will vote next week on the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act, Marijuana Moment reports. The legalization bill seeks to end cannabis prohibition by removing the plant from the list of federally controlled substances, expunge prior cannabis convictions, and establish a tax on sales that would fund reinvestments into the communities most negatively affected by the drug war.

The legislation will likely appear in the House Rules Committee early in the week ahead of receiving a full-floor vote.

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

Beyond expungement and the community reinvestment fund, other social justice elements of the MORE Act include protecting immigrants from being denied citizenship over cannabis and providing pathways for currently incarcerated cannabis prisoners to apply for resentencing.

The MORE Act was scheduled for consideration in September but Democratic leadership delayed that vote to focus on reaching an agreement with the GOP over the federal coronavirus stimulus relief package.

68 percent of Americans currently support legalizing cannabis for adult use, including a strong majority of Democratic and Independent voters and a slight minority of Republicans, according to the latest Gallup poll.