Will marijuana soon be decriminalized at the federal level? The House of Representatives voted to allow states to set their own policies on marijuana, meaning that the drug would be decriminalized at the federal level.
However, the bill is unlikely to become law. The Senate is expected to kill the bill.
If the Senate blocks the bill, it would mirror what happened when a similar House-passed bill that removed marijuana from a list of federally controlled substances withered and died in the Senate two years ago.
Despite this, the vote in the House gave lawmakers the chance to state their views on a decriminalization push, which has broad support from voters across the U.S.
The election in 2020 showed how broadly accepted weed has become in America. Measures to legalize recreational marijuana have quickly come into victory in states of varying political stances, including in progressive New Jersey, moderate Arizona, and conservative Montana and South Dakota.
The House voted mostly on party lines, approving the bill at 220 to 204. Two Democrats did not back the matter, and three Republicans did.
If the bill were to go through the Senate, it would require federal courts to expunge prior marijuana convictions and conduct re-sentencing hearings for people who are currently completely sentenced for it. Thousands of inmates would be able to be released, saving about $800 million over a decade.
The bill would provide economic reasoning for it as well, authorizing a 5 percent tax on marijuana and marijuana products, which would increase gradually to 8 percent over five years. This money would be used to fund grant programs focused on the job training, legal assistance and aid, substance abuse treatments, and loans to help disadvantaged small businesses break into the weed industry.
It is estimated that the federal deficit would be reduced by nearly $3 billion over the next decade.
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