White House Won’t Say If Biden Supports Federal Marijuana Legalization Bill Passed By House
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President Joe Biden agrees that “our current marijuana laws are not working,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Friday just hours after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to federally legalize cannabis. But she declined to directly address whether the president supports the specific legislation. The Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act passed along mostly partisan lines, with all but two Democrats voting to advance it to the Senate. Asked about the president’s position on the measure, Psaki said vaguely that Biden “agrees that we need to rethink our approach” to cannabis policy. She reiterated points that Biden made on the campaign trail about the need to “address the racial disparities and systemic inequities in our criminal justice system, broaden research on the effects of marijuana and support the safe use of marijuana for medical purposes.”

But while the MORE Act includes provisions to support those objectives, it goes further. Specifically, it would remove marijuana from the list of federally controlled substances, impose a tax on cannabis sales to fund various programs and promote equity in the industry. Biden isn’t in favor of adult-use legalization, even if he’s expressed support on the campaign trail for letting states set their own policies. About a year ago, Psaki reiterated that the president’s opposition to broad reform “has not changed.” At Friday’s briefing, the press secretary, who is reportedly planning to leave the administration later this year, said that “we look forward to working with Congress to achieve our shared goals—and we’ll continue having discussions with them about this objective.” Do those “shared goals” include the main components of the MORE Act to holistically end prohibition? Psaki didn’t get into detail. It’s another example of the marijuana policy schism that’s divided not just congressional lawmakers…

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Source : White House Won’t Say If Biden Supports Federal Marijuana Legalization Bill Passed By House

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