Government

An Historic Vote On The MORE Act

Making the legalization of cannabis a focus in national politics is so brilliant it's shocking the Democrats did it.

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Last Friday, December 4, the House of Representatives passed the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment And Expungement Act of 2020 (MORE) with a vote of 228 to 164. The makeup of the vote was almost entirely along party lines with only five Republicans and the Libertarian Justin Amash voting with the Democrats. Because it would remove cannabis from the Controlled Substance Act and create a system of automatic expungement of federal cannabis crimes, it is a scandal that the MORE Act faces “less than a snowball’s chance of passage in the Senate.” Indeed, by refusing to pass the MORE Act, current U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is showing less intelligence and humanity than Representative Matt Gaetz — yes, that terrible human being Matt Gaetz — who is a co-sponsor of the MORE Act.

In a shot at his Republican colleagues who continue to oppose the MORE Act Representative Gaetz said:

“I am here as the only Republican co-sponsor of the MORE Act, and I’m voting for it because the federal government has lied to the people of this country about marijuana for a generation,” he said. “We have seen a generation, particularly of black and brown youth, locked up for offenses that should not have resulted in any incarceration whatsoever. I’m also deeply troubled that the current policy the federal government inhibits research into cannabis, research that could unlock cures and help people live better lives. My Republican colleagues today will make a number of arguments against this bill, but those arguments are overwhelmingly losing with the American people.”

Of course, over two-thirds of the states have already legalized medical cannabis and after the most recent election, now 15 states have established permitted recreational use. Moreover, despite  attempts by the current president’s administration to crack down on legal state cannabis markets, Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon has remained successful in passing an Amendment to an annual appropriations bill that prohibits the United States Department of Justice from using funds to interfere with state cannabis programs. But make no mistake, if passed into law — which it won’t because Mitch McConnell — the MORE Act would still represent a significant act of mercy as the federal government still arrests a lot of people for cannabis.

Even if the MORE Act does not become law, House Democrats have still sent a strong message to President-elect Joe Biden. The degree to which Democrats will make cannabis an issue in national politics, however, still remains an open question. Given the broad support for cannabis markets the Democrats would seemingly be foolish not to make Republican opposition a focal point for people to draw their lines of support. Especially now with control of the Senate coming up soon in Georgia. Also working in the Democrats’ favor is that after nearly a decade of state-legalized cannabis markets, traditional conservative fearmongering can no longer stand up to evidence.

A Democratic-controlled House passage of the MORE Act therefore has the potential to be a big step toward ending the national nightmare of arresting hundreds of thousands of Americans for cannabis. The fact that McConnell is committed to preventing the MORE Act from becoming law is good enough reason for him to lose his job of deciding the matter. The only question is will Democrats make cannabis the reason McConnell can’t decide.

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Tyler Broker’s work has been published in the Gonzaga Law Review, the Albany Law Review, and is forthcoming in the University of Memphis Law Review. Feel free to email him or follow him on Twitter to discuss his column

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