On Friday, April 1, 2022, the House of Representatives passed the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act for the second time in two years, with 220 votes in favor and 204 votes in opposition. The MORE Act is one of at least three pieces of offered legislation that legalizes, or partially legalizes, marijuana at the federal level. After an hour of debate, the House also adopted two amendments aimed at assuaging Republican concerns about impaired driving and workplace safety. All three proposed laws expressly address some financial institutions’ ability to operate in this emerging market. The MORE Act not only removes marijuana from Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), but it ushers in a regulatory framework for taxing the sale of cannabis products and using the tax receipts to fund a number of equity and economic programs for those adversely impacted by the War on Drugs. The MORE ACT also will authorize expansive research on cannabis and the impact of the War on Drugs, and it will create a process for expungements of non-violent federal marijuana convictions across the country.
Author S, Cannabis Law Report, 04/15/2022 21:03:00