Yesterday, Senator Cory Booker, D-N.J., introduced a bill to legalize cannabis nationwide as he prepares his presidential campaign.
Co-sponsors of the bill, known as the Marijuana Justice Act, include fellow 2020 Democratic contenders Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Kamala Harris of California and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. Booker first introduced the bill in 2017, but it was not taken up for a vote.
The bill comes as increasing numbers of states are legalizing cannabis on the local level, and public opinion has shifted clearly in favor of legalization.
Finally, my bill includes community reinvestment provisions like job training for areas hardest hit by the failed drug war—to make them more economically vibrant, fair and just. Let’s make marijuana legal but also invest in undoing the damage done by a war gone horribly wrong.
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) February 28, 2019
Booker’s bill would remove cannabis from the federal list of controlled substances, while also providing financial incentives to states to loosen their cannabis laws.
The bill also aims to reverse the damage done to those who were prosecuted for cannabis use by expunging federal crimes and allowing offenders to petition courts for shorter sentences.
Black people are 3.7 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than their white peers even though they use marijuana at similar rates. If we truly want to be a fair and just nation we need to correct for this disparate treatment of enforcement practices,
Booker tweeted
Even though the support for cannabis legalization is growing in Washington, the bill is likely to face an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled Senate, overseen by majority leader Mitch McConnell.
I hope u get the bill through I use weed for depresision it works no more pharm please try to push this through if it happens I’ll swap over to a democrat
What democrats are ruining our country. You don’t have to go for them. That’s a stupid sratement!!!! Trump 2020
I use weed for my legs cause i sk8board allot and have restless leg syndrome and its hard for me to sleep at night without cause ill just randomly jump in my sleep. It would be amazing if it was legal or decrimalized
I’m a female from center America with work permit and I need to apply for green card but I smoke weed for my depressions and I have 3 posecions charges of like a gram . And now I’m having problems trying to apply for my green card due to those weed charges.
I don’t use marijuana anymore. But if I wanted to. I firmly believe that it should be my right to be able to make that choice for myself!!! This is supposed to be a FREE country for godsakes!!!! How is free. If the government can CONTROL what I put in my body??!!! I honestly believe that ALL drugs should be legal to a certain extent. What a person chooses to do in the privacy of thier own home. Should be there choice!!! We are supposed to have the freedom of choice in this country!!!!! But the reality is far from that!!!
Under US Code section 1300 of Food and Drug, there are no enforcement provisions for marijuana.