Politics and impeachment already had slowed things down. Then coronavirus changed the course entirely, torching the chances of any standalone cannabis legislation passing Congress this year
Rep. Earl Blumenauer's road map for the current Congress ended in full legalization by the end of 2019.
Lawmakers and advocates are saying this Congress laid a strong foundation for the next to build on, but it may be time to write off cannabis legislation for the time being. The MORE Act would remove the federal prohibition on marijuana, erase marijuana-related criminal records and create grant programs to help communities disproportionately affected by the war on drugs. It moved out of the House Judiciary Committee in November. Legalization advocates initially hoped the proposal would get a House floor vote this year.
But the Senate is an obstacle. The Republican-controlled chamber largely has been hostile to marijuana legislation. Last year, for example, it renewed a rider banning a recreational market in D.C. in the 2020 appropriations package. “We all know [McConnell is] not going to support cannabis legislation publicly; whether or not he would allow it to pass remains to be seen,” said Melissa Kuipers Blake of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, which lobbies for the Cannabis Trade Federation. “He obviously cares a lot about the hemp farmers in Kentucky, who have yet to get clarity on banking.”
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