According to Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), if the Democrats can successfully take back the Senate, marijuana legalization will become a priority.
In a new video interview last week that was hosted by Green Enterprise, Schumer said he will prioritize advancing marijuana legalization legislation.
In the video chat, Schumer talked about his cannabis reform bill the Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act. The legislation will federally deschedule the plant, reinvest tax revenue into communities most impacted by the drug war and fund efforts to expunge prior marijuana records.
According to the Senator, the state-level legalization movement has demonstrated that the policy works, and it’s a necessary step to promote racial equity.
“I’m a big fighter for racial justice, and the marijuana laws have been one of the biggest examples of racial injustice, and so to change them makes sense,” said Schumemr. “And that fits in with all of the movement now to bring equality in the policing, in economics and in everything else. Our bill is, in a certain sense, at the nexus of racial justice, individual freedom and states’ rights.”
The Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act was first introduced in 2018 and was refiled last year with a House companion version.
If he’s reinstalled as senate majority leader, Schumer said he “will put this bill in play,” adding “I think we’ll have a good chance to pass it.”
States that have legalized adult-use marijuana have helped normalize the policy and revealed the benefits of reform said Schumer.
“It helps push things over. What happens then is the people in those states say, ‘see, this was a good thing,’” he said. “All the people who were, you know, wah-wah-wah, something terrible is gonna happen, lose their credibility.”
“If I become majority leader, I put this on the floor and it’s likely to pass. So, how do I become majority leader? Well, this is a little political you’ll forgive me, Andrew, but back to the facts, you vote for a Democratic senator in your state, that’s going to make it happen,” he said. “Vote if you believe in reform here, if you believe in decriminalizing cannabis. The thing to do is vote for your Democratic Senate candidate because they’ll be part of my team to get this done.”
Kal Penn, an actor who starred in the Harold & Kumar film series but also worked in the White House Office of Public Engagement during the Obama administration, remarked on Twitter, “You don’t have to be a stoner (or play one) to change marijuana laws. Had a great call with @SenSchumer this eve. He’s committed to decriminalization if he’s Senate Majority Leader after the election. One of the many reminders of why voting matters + progress takes hard work.”
