By Tom Angell
A key congressional committee plans to hold a historic vote on a bill to end the federal prohibition of marijuana next week, two sources with knowledge of the soon-to-be-announced action said.
The legislation, sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), would remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and set aside funding to begin repairing the damage of the war on drugs, which has been disproportionately waged against communities of color.
Those programs—such as job training and legal aid for people impacted by prohibition enforcement, loans for small cannabis businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals and efforts to minimize barriers to licensing and employment in the legal industry—would be paid for with a new federal five percent tax on marijuana sales instituted under the bill, and some of them would be administered by a new Cannabis Justice Office in the Department of Justice.
The proposal, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, would also provide for resentencing and expungement of records for people previously convicted of cannabis offenses and would shield immigrants from being denied citizenship status over marijuana.
A Senate companion is being led by Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), a 2020 presidential candidate, though it has not yet been scheduled for action in the GOP-controlled chamber.
The Most Revolutionary Act 
Dr. Bramhall,
I oppose all drug laws, so am naturally in favor of legalizing marijuana. However, I suspect this move is motivated by the bankers and government to profit from the proceeds of marijuana sales, yet another money-grubbing scheme by the power-over-the-people control freaks that started in 1791 with the whiskey tax.
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I’ve heard a lot of people say that Katherine, but I think the move more likely relates to the fact that 1) medical marijuana (which is extremely popular among seniors – who vote) in 33 states and recreational marijuana in 11 states, 2) that prosecutors have been unable to prosecute federal anti-marijuana laws for about a decade now due to jury nullification, and 3) 62% of the population supports marijuana legalization.
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