The act would remove marijuana from the controlled substances list.
Today, the United States House of Representatives is slated to vote on the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, or “MORE” Act. This piece of legislation, if passed into law, would completely remove marijuana from the national controlled substances list, decriminalize its use, begin establishing taxing procedures for its legal sale, and perhaps most importantly, expunge marijuana-related convictions from many records.
“This landmark legislation is one of the most important criminal justice reform bills in recent history,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday.
“There’s so many discussions that have gone on over the years about the use of marijuana or cannabis or whatever. The fact is, it exists. It’s being used. We’ve got to address how it is treated legally,” Pelosi added.
The proponents of the MORE Act are hoping to reverse the severe criminal penalization system established in the 1970s by former President Richard Nixon and the infamous “war on drugs,” a system that has jailed many citizens over fairly innocuous crimes, a disproportionately large number of whom are black.
“More than anything else, the MORE Act is about ending and reversing decades of failed federal policy that has taken a heavy toll on too many people across this country, with a disproportionate impact on communities of color,” New York Representative Jerry Nadler told ABC News.
