By The congressional hearing on marijuana law reform, the first of its kind, at the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security was convened on the 10th of July. The debate was held to discuss alteration of federal laws on cannabis.
The majority seems to think that the need for reforming cannabis law is here, but disagreement is reached where it comes to framing the legislation, and the strategic decision to advance it. According to Representative Tom McClintock, E-Calif., decriminalization of marijuana may be among the first issues which will see a bipartisan agreement within this session
.This meeting marks a culmination point of sorts for the marijuana reform movement. Lawmakers have assumed so far that reforming these laws is bound to happen, and the matter deserves a fair hearing. Rep Karen Bass, D-Calif., spoke about the hearing being the first step towards putting the consensus of the nation towards the subject into law.
Proposals which were introduced in the session began from legislation to allow states to have their own policies, to bills which would de-schedule cannabis and include social equity provisions. The spread of legal pot is now causing major payment problems for federal law, since it is still being considered illegal. Due to this, banks and credit card, and debit card companies are too shy to enter into the equation at all, preferring to sit out until policy makers have their word.
Makil Burnett a physician at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who presented a written testimony at the hearing said that this legalization must simply take place. He is the COO of a cannabis business and was also a former policy manager for the Drug Policy Alliance National Affairs Office in Washington DC.
Among the popular cannabis regulations, the States Act is the most popular. This policy states that the Controlled Substances Act needs to be amended and exemptions of State approved marijuana activity should be removed from federal enforcement. Proponents of this say that the federal concerns regarding legal marijuana will then be eliminated. However, it is to be noted that no rachial or social profiling has been considered in this bill.
Through these trials and tribulations, the retail industry of cannabis remains to grow and has seen as many as 11 states legalizing recreational use of marijuana. Majority citizen support also favours the decriminalization.
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