Indopedia All Things Marijuana
This Monday, senior Democratic Senator Ron Wyden announced that he was joining Senator Cory Booker in co-sponsoring the Marijuana Justice Act, a new bill that would legalize marijuana federally and punish states that continue enforcing cannabis prohibition laws. “The Marijuana Justice Act seeks to reverse decades of failed drug policy that has disproportionately impacted low-income individuals and people of color,” a representative from Senator Booker’s office explained, as reported by NBC affiliate KOBI-TV.
The bill would take a number of steps to update the country’s antiquated cannabis laws. The legislation would remove marijuana from the list of controlled substances, effectively legalizing the drug at a federal level. Since individual states would be allowed to continue cannabis prohibition on their own, the bill would allow the government to withhold funds from states that disproportionately arrest or incarcerate low-income or minority individuals for cannabis offenses.
The Marijuana Justice Act would also create a community reinvestment fund to support communities that have been hit hardest by the War on Drugs. The funds would be allocated to job training and…
