House poised to pass bill legalizing marijuana

The House is poised to pass legislation this week that would legalize marijuana, just the latest example of the swiftly changing attitudes on drug laws that marks a near reversal from the Reagan-era war on drugs that also reverberated through the 1990s.

 

The bill legalizing marijuana has near-uniform support among Democrats and a top ally in Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.), who has been aiming to introduce a similar measure this spring.

 

And it’s just one of several pieces of legislation that underlines the shift in Congress’s attitude — a change that has come about in part because of the way past drug laws have disproportionately hit minority communities.

 

The legislation set for a House vote, titled the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, would eliminate criminal penalties associated with marijuana.

 

It would further establish a process to expunge the convictions of nonviolent marijuana offenders and fund programs to help communities negatively affected by the war on drugs by imposing a federal tax on marijuana sales.

 

In a notice to lawmakers announcing the vote, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) hailed it as “critical legislation that will restore justice to communities that have been disproportionately impacted by harsh penalties for possessing even small amounts of marijuana.”