Bill to end federal marijuana ban to be drafted by House committee Wednesday

Harmony Dispensary of Secaucus grows and sells medical cannabis. NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

A key House committee on Wednesday will draft legislation ending the federal ban on cannabis, a second attempt to let the states decide whether to legalize marijuana and provide help to communities ravaged by the war on drugs.

The House Judiciary Committee will take up the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, or MORE Act, that would remove cannabis’ classification as a Class 1 drug along with heroin and thus end the conflict between federal and state law.

The legislation passed the Democratic-controlled House in the closing weeks of the last Congress and never came up in the Senate, then controlled by Republicans. It was reintroduced in May.

This year, the new Senate Democratic majority is working on similar legislation, with U.S. Sen. Cory Booker playing a key role.

The federal prohibition hasn’t stopped dozens of states, including New Jersey, have from legalizing weed for medical or recreational use. But most banks regulated by the federal government have shied away from providing checking accounts, credit cards, and other financial services to legal cannabis businesses, and such operations also have found it difficult to obtain insurance coverage.

The House last week added a provision to its annual defense policy bill allowing banks to provide financial services.

The MORE Act also would allow cannabis operations to receive Small Business Administration loans, while taking several steps to help individuals and communities hardest hit by the war on drugs.

It would require federal courts to expunge prior marijuana convictions and allow those currently under supervision to petition the courts for resentencing.

And it would impose a federal tax on marijuana to fund job training, drug treatment and literary programs, loans to small cannabis businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and programs to help those hardest hit by the war on drugs to enter the marijuana industry.

NJ Cannabis Insider is a weekly subscriber-based trade journal and events group produced by NJ Advance Media, which also publishes NJ.com, The Star-Ledger and other affiliated papers. For more information, email staff here.

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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @JDSalant.

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