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House Committee Passes the MORE Act in Historic Vote for Marijuana

Rally for the legalization of marijuana. The MORE Act passed a house committee, becoming the first bill to take such a step toward federal decriminalization.
Washington DC. April 2, 2016. A Rally for the legalization of Marijuana featured speakers, a giant inflatable joint and a Smoke-In at 4:20. (Photo: Susan Melkisethian)

In a historic first, a House committee passed the MORE Act, the first bill to take the initial steps toward decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level.

The legalization of marijuana at the federal level just took a giant step forward as a House committee passed the MORE Act.

The MORE Act removes marijuana from federal scheduling, but there are still many hurdles to pass before the Act becomes law. Step one in the process is a formal vote by the entire Democrat-controlled House where it is likely to pass. But the next major roadblock would be in the Republican-controlled Senate which could kill the bill on arrival or take up the vote but where it would face a stiff battle to get passed.

If the MORE Act did manage to get passed in the Senate it would then have to be signed into law by President Donald Trump. The proof of its herculean battle was evident in the House Judiciary Committee vote where it was approved by a margin of 24-10, mainly along partisan lines.

MORE Act Would Decriminalize Marijuana

The bill, which is formally named the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, was written by Democrat New York Rep. Jerry Nadler who is hoping to decriminalize marijuana.

“For far too long, we have treated marijuana as a criminal justice problem instead of a matter of personal choice and public health,” Nadler said in his opening statement.

“Whatever one’s views on the use of marijuana for recreational or medicinal purposes, arresting, prosecuting and incarcerating users at the federal level is unwise and unjust,” he said, CBS News reported.

MORE Act Makes History

While it is unlikely that this particular bill will become law anytime soon it does mark a historic first for marijuana legalization. It is the first time a Congressional committee has ever passed anything to take steps to legalize marijuana.

“If we can finally get a federal discrimination bill passed, it will have momentous effect for everyone. The social justice impact of something like that is huge when you look at how different social groups are impacted with cannabis laws,” Peninsula Alternative Health CEO Anthony Darby said, WMDT reported.

But, even with the House being Democrat-led, Democrats are divided on legalization which adds to the long odds the Act faces to become law.

Still, it is a first step on what appears to be a likely, eventual road to legalization.

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Carmine Sabia

Carmine began writing for BizPacReview in 2014 where he found success as a conservative writer. His popularity continued to soar as he gained tens of thousands of followers. ​Carmine has been quoted by Fox News, has been interviewed on television by Tomi Lahren, appeared on BBC Radio, "The Critical Hour" with Dr. Wilmer Leon, Sky News in the UK, NHK in Japan, Power 98.7 South Africa and various other media outlets.

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2 Comments

  1. Ben November 23, 2019

    3 cross-referencing points which demonstrate that cannabis should be legal for adults.

    1) cannabis is clearly far less addictive than cigarettes and is obviously less a social problem than alcohol
    – if we assume the laws to protect us from ourselves are even partially reasonable, then addition_risk/societal_damage are the factors

    2) cannabis was known to be prevalent in the 60s, etc. yet no one can spot any ‘pot babies’, whereas children born to alcoholic mothers often end up with ‘fetal alcohol syndrome’, and babies born to cocaine addicted mothers are sadly, ‘crack babies’
    – this is because cannabis, while probably unwise to be consumed by expecting mothers, is not the threat is is portrayed as

    3) continuing on #1, if the drug laws were really to protect people then then pharmaceutical manufacturers would have less market, because one must only catch a single infomercial about the latest pill (over-the-counter or prescribed) to see a list of risks, dangerous interactions, and problems associated with it
    – the biggest complaint about cannabis is that it may be a ‘gateway drug’ – that means that tying its risks with other drugs because there is no reason without to maintain its illegality without such an illogical fabrication

    * adults only
    * no driving while affected

    common sense, is clearly a rare commodity.

    Reply
  2. Larry N Stout November 24, 2019

    Fifty percent of all people are already numbskulls who plot on the bad side of the bell-shaped curve. Numb is numb. How numb is academic. Smoke your head off, Ben.

    Reply

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