A coalition of over 100 organization are banding together to get Congress to pass far-reaching legislation that would federally legalize marijuana.
Organizations include the NAACP, ACLU and Human Rights Watch.
“We are encouraged by the progress around marijuana reform at the state and federal level,” the groups wrote. “While this progress is promising, we insist that any marijuana reform or legalization bill considered by Congress include robust provisions addressing social justice and criminal justice reform.”
The organizations are in support of the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, which was filed last month by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY).
The bill would remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act. It would also create processes for expungement and resentencing of prior convictions and block agencies from denying access to federal benefits or citizenship status for immigrants on the basis of marijuana use.
According to the group, the bill is an important step “to bolster communities ravaged by the war on drugs.”
The letter was delivered on Thursday to the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA).
“The war on drugs, which includes the war on marijuana, devastated the lives of generations of African American and Latinx Americans from low-income communities,” the groups wrote. “These individuals were disproportionately targeted and brought into the criminal justice system for engaging in marijuana activity that is increasingly lawful.”
“Criminal justice involvement deprives individuals from low-income communities of color equal access to economic opportunity,” the groups wrote. “Incarceration robs families and communities of breadwinners and workers. Thus, any marijuana reform bill that moves forward in Congress must first address criminal justice reform and repair the damage caused by the war on drugs in low-income communities of color.”
The groups are led by the Center for American Progress (CAP).