skip to Main Content
Bernie Sanders Backs Bill To Punish States With Bad Marijuana Laws

Several potential rival presidential candidates are teaming up on legislation to end the federal war on marijuana.

On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is signing on as a cosponsor of the Marijuana Justice Act, introduced last year by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ).

Many political observers expect that Booker and Sanders will compete for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), another rumored contender, is also a cosponsor of the bill.

Although the three senators may be just months away from the start of a hard-fought political nominating contest, they are linking arms in support of the most far-reaching cannabis reform bill ever to have been filed in Congress.

“Leaders in the Democratic Party are increasingly recognizing that leading the charge on legalization is not only good policy, but good politics,” Justin Strekal, political director of NORML, said in an interview. “The constituencies which the party claims to stand for are the ones who have most felt the weight of prohibition and the lifelong consequences of prohibition.”

The Marijuana Justice Act, if passed, would not only remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act so that states could legalize without federal interference, but would also withhold funding from states that maintain criminalization and continue racially disproportionate arrest and incarceration rates for cannabis. [Read more at Forbes]

This Post Has 0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Stories

Kentucky’s Medical Cannabis Program Undergoes Dramatic Transformation: Navigating HB 829 and the Emergency Licensing Regulations

By Hannah King and Arin Aragona Plans for Kentucky’s medical cannabis program took a significant turn last week with the passage of House Bill 829 and the implementation of emergency…

Cannabis in Court: When Federal Courts Will Hear Commercial Disputes Related to the Cannabis Business

By Steven Ascher and Anna M.Windemuth The unique status of the cannabis business —  legal in a majority of states, but still illegal under federal law — creates a thorny…

Patchwork Regulation of CBD Products Continues Despite Rise in Demand

By Courtney A. Hunter and Jessalyn H. Zeigler Demand for cannabidiol (CBD) products continues to climb, and the market has risen to the occasion. There is now a robust array…

How Private Equity Trumped Social Equity in State Cannabis Deal

Confidential documents obtained by THE CITY reveal how Chicago Atlantic Group became one of the biggest beneficiaries of the state’s legalization program. Last June, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that a…

More Categories

Back To Top
×Close search
Search