Lawmakers Ask Fellow Congressional Democrats To Pursue Marijuana Legalization Amid Policing Debate

As congressional Democrats push for a broad package of policing reform legislation, two members of the House circulated a sign-on letter on Thursday urging fellow lawmakers to keep marijuana reform in mind as a way to further promote racial justice. Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Barbara Lee (D-CA) led the “Dear Colleague” letter, which was shared with Marijuana Moment and asks members to “consider another crucial issue towards criminal justice reform: eliminating the failed prohibition on cannabis.” “We have all seen the pernicious effects of selective enforcement of cannabis prohibition across the country, and it is not just in red states or rural Republican America,” the letter states. “We have seen for the last 50 years the cannabis prohibition used disproportionately against people of color, especially young Black men. The use of cannabis is fairly uniform across different racial groups, but the people caught up in the net of cannabis enforcement are heavily skewed towards these young Black men.” “It is time that we as Democrats take a stand against this pernicious hold-over from Richard Nixon’s blatant attempt at criminalizing the behavior of African Americans,” the two lawmakers, who are co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, wrote, adding that prohibition has contributed to mass incarceration across the country. They said the “simplest and most direct thing we could do” would be to pass the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act, sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). That bill cleared his panel last year and awaits floor action,…

Excerpt only …
READ MORE BELOW
Source : MJ moment
Link to original : Lawmakers Ask Fellow Congressional Democrats To Pursue Marijuana Legalization Amid Policing Debate
reposted by Cannabis News World