The entire U.S. House is expected to vote soon on a sweeping reform bill that would remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act,. Since 1970, cannabis has been classed as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act. Currently cannabis is legal in 11 states and Washington D.C.
The new vote comes in the form of the the social justice-focused Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act of 2019 (with ‘marijuana’ being a synonym for cannabis, albeit one that is derogatory to the Mexican population). The reference to 2019 reflects the U.S. House Judiciary Committee voting to support the bill H.R. 3884 (116) – in the November of that year.
The bill is backed by most of the Democratic Party and given that the lower house is controlled by the party it should progress to the senate. Whether it passes in the upper House (for a vote not expected until 2021) will depend on the balance of elements within the Republican Party who will veer to support the legislation and the outcome of elections that could tip the balance of power towards the Democrats.
“It will be interesting to see if this historic vote draws more attention to marijuana legalization as the election approaches. After all, most of the people who will cast a vote on this bill are up for re-election in November. Now they have to take a clear position on this issue whether they like it or not”, says Sam D’Arcangelo, Director of HeadCount’s Cannabis Voter Project (quoted by the website Leafy).
In terms of being ‘historic, neither chamber of Congress has ever voted on removing marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act.
