Last Friday, the US House of Representatives passed the MORE act, basically legislation that would decriminalize marijuana on a federal level.
It is the first time that a House of Congress has approved the initiative, with 228 votes to 164.
The vote was on the federal decriminalization of marijuana and seeks to “address the devastating injustices caused by the War on Drugs.”
It also includes creating a process to expunge prior convictions and conduct sentencing review hearings for federal cannabis crimes and also aims to remove marijuana from the Federal Controlled Substances Act, which classified it as a drug.
“The lives of millions of Americans have changed as a result of convictions for possession of small amounts of marijuana, and the racial disparities in conviction rates for these crimes are as shocking as they are unfair”, said the House Majority Leader Dem. Representative Steny Hoyer, of Maryland. “That’s why we passed the Marijuana Opportunity Elimination and Reinvestment Act (MORE) today.”
In addition to these changes at a federal level, five more states voted to legalize marijuana for medicinal and recreational purposes, bringing the current national total to 15 states where recreational use and 36 states where medical use is legal.
Naturally following this a special federal tax on legal cannabis has been established, which will start at 5% and increase to 8% during the first five years after its implementation.
US neighbors such as Canada and Mexico are already well advanced in the matter. Canada had marijuana fully legalized in 2018, and Mexico also took a further step toward legalization last month.
Another small step on the right track, that is a sign of how the world mindset is changing about cannabis.
