Politics
Congressman Issues ‘Blueprint To Legalize Marijuana’ For Democratic House In 2019
A key Democratic congressman has a step-by-step plan to enact the end of federal marijuana prohibition in 2019 if his party takes control of the House, and he’s laying it all out in a new memo.
“Congress is out of step with the American people and the states on cannabis,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) writes in the eight-page document addressed to House Democratic Leadership. “We have an opportunity to correct course if Democrats win big in November. There’s no question: cannabis prohibition will end. Democrats should lead the way.”
House Republican leaders have blocked floor votes on dozens of cannabis-related amendments during the current 115th Congress. Not a single marijuana measure has advanced to a vote before the full body in 2017 or 2018.
Many political observers believe Democrats are likely to regain control of the House in next month’s midterm elections. Their chances in the Senate, however, are seen as more of a long shot.
But Blumenauer’s plan, which he is calling a “Blueprint to Legalize Marijuana,” is for a Democratic House to lead on the issue and build pressure on the Senate, where bipartisan support for cannabis reform is already growing.
The Oregon congressman says that after the 116th Congress is seated in January, Democrats should begin holding a series of hearings on cannabis issues.
“Almost every standing House committee has jurisdiction over some aspect of marijuana policy,” he writes. “Within the first six months of the new Congress, these committees should hold hearings, bring in experts, and discuss potential policy fixes.”
He gives nine examples, including:
- House Judiciary Committee hearing on descheduling marijuana
- House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on safe and equal access to medical marijuana for veterans
- House Financial Services Committee hearing on barriers to the safe access of banking services and capital as well as unnecessary and unwise barriers to banking services for state legal marijuana businesses
By April, Blumenauer wants committees to begin passing legislation to “narrow the marijuana policy gap—the gap between federal and state marijuana laws.”
These incremental fixes would include measures concerning the removal of barriers to marijuana research, making amends for racial injustices stemming from unequal enforcement, providing pathways to banking services and tax reform for cannabis businesses, granting easier access to medical marijuana for military veterans and more.
Blumenauer suggests that Democratic leaders bring such bills to the House floor by August.
Come September, he wants the body to begin work on the ultimate goal: ending federal marijuana prohibition through a “full descheduling bill.”
His vision is that by the end of 2019, “Marijuana will be legal at the federal level, and states allowed to responsibly regulate its use. The federal government will not interfere with state efforts to responsibly regulate marijuana use within their borders.”
But while there is majority support for ending marijuana prohibition among House Democrats, the party’s leadership has so far appeared lukewarm to the idea of prioritizing the issue in 2019.
For example, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) recently said top Democrats “haven’t talked about that” when he was asked about pushing cannabis reform in next year.
And Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the minority leader who many expect will seek the speakership again if her party regains a majority in the House, suggested that marijuana bills’ success would largely depend on support from President Trump.
“I don’t know where the president is on any of this,” she said. “So any decision about how we go forward would have to reflect where we can get the result.”
In fact, Trump, who repeatedly pledged to respect state marijuana laws on the 2016 campaign trail, indicated earlier this year that he would be likely to back sweeping cannabis reform legislation.
But Blumenauer is worried that if Democrats don’t move quickly to seize the marijuana reform, the GOP may seek to make the issue their own.
“If we fail to act swiftly, I fear as the 2020 election approaches, Donald Trump will claim credit for our work in an effort to shore up support—especially from young voters,” he writes. “Democrats must seize the moment.”
Also this week, Blumenauer is introducing legislation to address U.S. federal policy that could prevent Canadians who have ever used marijuana or work or invest in the legal cannabis industry from visiting the country.
The bill, pegged to Canada’s legalization law going into effect on Wednesday, would “exempt cannabis-use and/or participation in the cannabis industry as a disqualification for entry into the United States from a country that has ended its marijuana prohibition” and would shield “foreign nationals who participate in state-legal cannabis activity from deportation,” according to a congressional staffer.
Read Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s full plan for marijuana reform in a Democratic Congress here.
This piece was first published by Forbes.
