Cannabis consumers should pay attention to the United States House of Representatives for what’s left of September. The House Committee on the Judiciary has approved the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019 (MORE) for a vote currently scheduled to for this month. Though sensibility seemed to guide the bill’s authors and supporters, those opposed repeatedly cited the STATES Act, or “Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States” Act, which completely misses the mark of restoring justice where America has been quite unjust.
The STATES ACT fails to protect banks, businesses and investors from State laws prohibiting transers of cash across state lines between those states that allow cannabis/marijuana and those that don’t. It also fails to provide tax relief to businesses from IRS Code 280E, which disqualifies a majority of would-be deductible business expenses because the nature or product of the business is Federally prohibited by the Controlled Substances Act.
The STATES ACT would allow states to continue to enforce previous convictions based on unjust Federal anti-marijuana laws. The States could still prohibit marijuana and enforce their own laws against what would then be a Federally descheduled substance, therefore completely lawful and regulated nation-wide, in order to impose their own local, and again unjust morality.
It is not a matter of educating the masses, but that we educate the few making the decision for America. They, the United States House of Representatives, will decide this month as to whether it is right to strip away a citizen’s rights, essentially destroying their life, and often an entire family’s lives over a very useful plant of which 68% of Americans would like to see Science and Medicine explore.
Remarks such as Americans demanding tougher sentencing for crack cocaine in order to purge it from the streets prompting legislation under scrutiny today (1:13:00 to 1:15:30) highlight the need to spend time with some of these Senators and give them the information they need in order to make informed decisions on behalf of the country. It is quite evident however, that certain states would prefer ignorance over exploration.
The House will vote on this soon and the division lies down party lines. Consumers are urged to call or write to their representatives and ask them to correct the injustice wrought by the War on Drugs and vote in favor of HR 3884, the MORE Act.
Find Representatives here.
Find Senators here.
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REFERENCES
Fertig, Natalie. “House set to vote on marijuana legalization”, (Aug 28, 2020), Politico
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/28/marijuana-legalization-house-vote-404455; Article accessed 20200907_1310
LINKS
House Judiciary Committee activity > Markups > The MORE act, Nov 20, 2019
Text of bill: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU00/20191120/110259/BILLS-1163884ih.pdf
Main Reference: https://judiciary.house.gov/calendar/?EventID=2263
YouTube video: https://youtu.be/gJLUmO_3x5s?t=2048 starts at the beginning of MORE Act discussion.
Full Transcript: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU00/20191120/110259/HMKP-116-JU00-Transcript-20191120.pdf
STATES ACT text (link): https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2093/text
