As advocates push for congressional action on Democratic-led marijuana legalization bills in the House and Senate, a Republican congresswoman who’s championing an alternative reform measure says she has received assurances that there will be a hearing on her proposal even as a minority member of the chamber. And she also said that recently internal polling she’s done for her reelection campaign shows voters in her district are on her side when it comes to cannabis even as her primary election challenger and her own state party attack her reform efforts. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) spoke about the path forward for her States Reform Act (SRA) during an interview published on Thursday with the Psychoactive podcast hosted by longtime legalization advocate and Drug Policy Alliance founder Ethan Nadelmann. There was earlier reporting about Mace receiving assurances that Democratic leaders would hold a hearing on her bill. But when asked whether that was contingent on a “yes” vote for a separate legalization bill—House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler’s (D-NY) Marijuana Opportunity, Expungement and Reinvestment (MORE) Act—the congresswoman said there was “no quid pro quo.” “Personally, I want to respect the process and MORE is going to come up again and let Democrats do MORE Act. It’ll die in the Senate,” she said. “And so when that’s done, we will do our hearing, and there was nothing done in exchange for it. I just made the ask and we’re making it happen.”
Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 03/03/2022 12:08:00