Back in September of last year, Jerry Nadler reintroduced the MORE Act, which would legalize marijuana across the country and aid those effected by the War on Drugs. This was the third time it was introduced in the House after passing through twice before and getting nowhere in the Senate. Back in September, was introduced with a whopping 33 co-sponsors, and another 13 representatives adding their names to the list the day after.
Early this year, we got even more names co-sponsoring the bill. 36 more Democrats are now co-sponsoring the MORE Act, bringing the total to 82. That’s a huge backing of this bill.
Unfortunately, it will all still mean very little.
These are all Democrat Representatives, and we know from the past that this bill had no problem passing the House. Once it hits the Senate, however, pretty much the same pattern occurs of getting stuck in committees and not moving forward.
To make matters even more difficult, the Democrats no longer hold the power in the House, so passing even in the lower building will be unlikely this time around.
It’s worth wondering what the point of introducing this bill back into the House even is. Is it for the political points the sponsors will gain with constituents? Is it to push momentum forward on overall legalization, adding pressure to those who reject the bill? Perhaps a little bit of both?
Either way, the MORE Act’s existence is NOT to federally legalize marijuana. If anything, it’s one small step (that we take again and again) in that direction.
Read the original article at Cannabis Business Times.
