While December’s big story was Hemp getting re-legalized by descheduling it off the Controlled Substance List, THC hasn’t made the same headway until now.
Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer, introduced bill H.R. 420, otherwise known as the “Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol Act.”
“While the bill number may be a bit tongue-in-cheek, the issue is very serious,” Blumenauer told Willamette Weekly. “Our federal marijuana laws are outdated, out of touch and have negatively impacted countless lives. Congress cannot continue to be out of touch with a movement that a growing majority of Americans support. It’s time to end this senseless prohibition.”
The bill now has 26 total cosponsors under the 115th Congress. It still needs to pass the Senate in order to get in front of Trump, but who knows how the current government shutdown will affect that, or how long it will take.
Should H.R. 420 pass, it would be regulated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, cannabis businesses could have access to banking, and cannabis could foresee-ably, in the future facilitate interstate commerce.
H.R. 420 is not the first bill or even the first lawsuit introduced in an attempt to reschedule cannabis over the last 30 years. Many of them have largely been ignored, delayed or dismissed. Perhaps the political climate is right now for real cannabis change.
B. Le Grand
