Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019
Floor Speech
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Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019 or the MORE Act. This landmark legislation is long overdue. It will descheudule marijuana, provide expungement for previous offenders, clarify that those previously convicted of marijuana related offenses would be eligible for federal benefits, and will establish an excise tax system on marijuana to invest in communities disproportionately affected by our failed marijuana policy.
I have been working on this issue since I was first elected to the Tennessee General Assembly in 1982. In this Congress, I have sponsored the CARERS Act to provide legal certainty for those using medicinal marijuana allowed under state law and the Fresh Start Act which provides a pathway for expungement for these types of offenses.
The history of marijuana as a Schedule-I drug is one full of bias and discrimination. This policy has served its racist purposes, targeting communities of color and disproportionately incarcerating people of color.
The War on Drugs has been a resounding failure, especially regarding cannabis. About 700,000 Americans each year are arrested for cannabis related offenses. Despite similar usage rates, there are nearly four Black Americans arrested for a cannabis-related offense for every white American. In my district, the situation is even worse. According to a 2013 ACLU study, in Shelby County, 83.2 percent of people arrested for cannabis offenses were Black, which the report cited as one of the highest county-level statistics in the nation. These arrests and convictions have long term impacts. Those with criminal records are limited from receiving federal benefits including SNAP, housing benefits, and Pell Grants. Our policy is exactly backward. We should be supporting those susceptible to substance abuse, not punishing them.
This bill rights an historic wrong and invests in the communities most harmed. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this bill. I thank Chairman Nadler for his leadership on this important issue.
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