U.S. Rep. Marilyn Strickland (D-WA) recently joined 10 colleagues in forwarding correspondence to Congressional leadership as a means of advocating Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act consideration.
The legislators indicated the measure would end the federal prohibition on marijuana while seeking justice for those convicted on marijuana-related charges.
The lawmakers sent the letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and House Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
The legislators conveyed while they were disheartened by the Senate’s inaction on the measure in the wake of the House of Representatives’ passage of the MORE Act last Congress, they expressed optimism the measure’s re-introduction during the present Congress indicates progress for descheduling marijuana.
“To create a society that is just and secure, we must restore the lives of those convicted on marijuana-related charges,” said Strickland, who serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and is the only African-American woman serving on the House Armed Services Committee. “Cannabis being listed under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act has impacted our local and Tribal businesses, families, communities of color, and countless residents across the South Sound. It is time for Congress to decriminalize marijuana by passing the bipartisan MORE Act to promote racial justice, spur economic growth and protect retailers and their employees.”
The legislators noted the MORE Act would also support businesses within the cannabis industry in dire need of access to safe and secure banking. Small cannabis industry businesses are at a higher risk of robbery and other threats to their sustainability.
“Descheduling marijuana at the federal level would protect financial institutions from investigations due to receiving and conducting financial transactions suspected of the use marijuana-related funds,” the lawmakers concluded.