Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARBAJAL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the MORE Act, and urge my colleagues--on both sides of the aisle--to support this important and comprehensive cannabis reform legislation. It tackles inequities and historic criminalization associated with cannabis.

The MORE Act will begin the long-overdue effort to undo the damage to families and communities across our nation that has been caused by misguided and ineffective federal drug polices related to cannabis. It will finally establish a safe and well-regulated interstate marketplace for cannabis.

It is vitally important that at the federal level we finally recognize and invite this economic engine of job creation into the mainstream of our economy and workforce development. The vast majority of Americans support this long overdue change, and voters in many states including my home state of California have already taken action to legalize cannabis at the state level. It is time that we end this senseless and impactful disconnect between state and federal law.

I also want to bring my colleagues' attention to one outstanding issue as this legislation moves forward. California's farmers are among the most productive and innovative in the world. Not surprisingly, that is the case with our cannabis farmers too, including those in my congressional district. Unfortunately, cannabis farmers are in the same legal limbo as everyone else in the industry because there are grey areas in the law that need to be resolved: they can't enroll in crop insurance programs, they can't receive an official ``organic'' designation, and they can't access USDA programs and support. Yet cannabis cultivation is not significantly different from farming strawberries, wine grapes, cut flowers, vegetables, and other crops grown in my district and state. I am hopeful that as we work with the Senate on comprehensive cannabis reform, we can provide clear statutory direction to bring USDA into this conversation as well and eliminate this remaining area of ambiguity for the farmers in my state.

Once again, I urge a yes vote on this bill.

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