A bill to legalize weed at the federal level is currently being discussed in the Senate. Thanks to opposition from most Republicans and some Conservative Democrats, it is almost certain to fail this session. But when we have a current law in hand and a debate is ongoing, we know what our lawmakers think and how such a law could play out in the years to come, when most observers believe that legalization is likely to be finalized , depending on the composition of Congress and who might be in the White House.
The momentum is strong, however, and it is conceivable that even a Republican-controlled Congress could legalize cannabis. After all, more than 90% of Americans think weed should be legal, at least for medicinal purposes. There is no longer really a constituency for bans, no matter how loud the few remaining banned believers may be. Meanwhile, the demand for reform is growing along with the lobbying power of the cannabis industry. As more states legalize each year, the federal ban seems increasingly ridiculous.
But will Congress mess it up and pass a bad law? It certainly could. The response to the current bill introduced a few weeks ago by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has been generally characterized as generally positive but “mixed”. That is, the reaction of the cannabis industry and proponents of legalization; The prohibitionists’ reaction is obviously not mixed: they are in.
The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, sponsored by Schumer along with Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, would completely remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and give states the power to pass their own cannabis laws . Creating a legal environment similar to the regulation of alcohol.
An excise tax would create a “restorative justice” system and fund research on the public health and safety aspects of cannabis. That’s okay, skeptical observers say, but the tax would be too high, especially in states and municipalities – like California and some of its cities – where taxes are already prohibitively high.
The revenue from the tax would, among other things, benefit an office of the Department of Justice, which would help fund professional training and legal assistance for people whose cannabis convictions would be overturned under the law. It would also lend to small cannabis companies owned by people from economically or racially marginalized groups.
But the tax would go up to 25% for large companies. Cannabis companies with annual sales less than $ 20 million would receive huge tax credits, but even then the tax would be above the often high rates that the industry has cited as prohibitive for many aspiring entrepreneurs in a business that makes cannabis prohibitive often with low profit margins and also has to deal with expensive regulations. In California in particular, high tax rates – a 15% state excise tax and other state and local taxes – are blamed for sending customers to illegal weed dealers who have zero tax rates.
Of course, the phrase is not set in stone in this bill, and proponents are largely cheering, even if they have reservations. Your challenge is to get enough Republicans and Conservative Democrats to overcome the filibuster that would require 60 votes in the Senate. At the moment it seems almost impossible.
But if it did, another challenge would loom: getting President Biden to sign the law. Just hours after the bill was passed, White House press secretary Jen Psaki issued a statement reiterating that Biden remains opposed to legalization. That doesn’t mean he can’t be influenced on the matter – the stance could simply be a negotiating tactic; Biden has shown some flexibility lately on this issue, although he has also spoken out strongly against legalization in the past – but that means the bill in its current form is being tinkered with a lot.