House Votes to Decriminalize Marijuana – an Important First Step

The House on Friday passed legislation to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (or MORE) Act will head to the U.S. Senate, which last time declined to follow suit. CEI Senior Fellow Michelle Minton says the bill would be an important first step toward a sensible policy change, but next steps would also prove critical to true reform:

“We applaud the House’s step to end the disastrous and harmful prohibition of cannabis, but for this measure to pass the Senate and reach the president’s desk, both sides of the political aisle must work together to ensure federal regulation and taxation on cannabis supports, rather than hampers, the legal industry’s ability to compete with the illicit market. Congress should heed the lessons learned from California, where overly-burdensome regulation and sky-high taxes have crippled the legal cannabis industry.”