Marijuana to be Removed from Controlled Substances List If Proposal Passes
Pot could be removed from the federal list of controlled substances, should a proposed legislation make it through. The proposal also has a few additions that could impose sanctions on states that have racial disparities in arrest and jail statistics connected to cannabis.
Democratic Senator Cory Booker from New Jersey has submitted the proposal for the "Marjuana Justice Act of 2017" on Tuesday, Aug. 1, seeking to remove marijuana from the list of controlled substances in the United States.
This legislation could make recreational marijuana legal outside of the eight states that have legalized it: Alaska, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Massachusetts and Maine. While several other states have also broadly legalized medical marijuana, the substance still remains illegal under federal law.
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The fallout from the War on Drugs against illegal pot has been costly, as Senator Booker noted in his live message on Facebook on Wednesday, Aug. 2.
"Today I'm introducing the Marijuana Justice Act, a bill that if passed will legalize marijuana at the federal level and go even further in an effort to remedy many of the failures of the War on Drugs," Booker stated in the caption that went with his Facebook live video.
"I'll also answer many of your questions - please leave them in the comments," he added, as he solicited comments from social media users about his proposed "Marijuana Justice Act of 2017."
His proposal could get the entire country adopting policies started from pro-marijuana legislation in several states. Moreover, his bill could also penalize states for being anti-pot, with sanctions including the withholding of federal funds.
The proposed measure also has a provision for a "Community Reinvestment Fund," which could provide up to $500 million per year for programs aimed at revitalizing communities that have been "most affected by the War on Drugs."
The video below shows Sen. Booker expanding on his views on the War on Drugs and what his proposed legislation could do to address several issues related to marijuana policy.
