On Friday, April 1, 2022, the House passed legislation that would finally remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances. If passed, H.R. 3617, also known as the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (the MORE Act), would remove marijuana from the list of scheduled substances under the Controlled Substances Act.
The bill would also mandate the replacement of all statutory references to the term marijuana with the term "cannabis," require the Bureau of Labor Statistics to publish data on cannabis business owners and employees, establish a trust fund for services and programs for those in communities impacted by drug use, impose various taxes on cannabis products, allow the Small Business Administration loans and services available to cannabis-related businesses, and direct the Government Accountability Office to study the social impact of cannabis legalization.
It would also prohibit the denial of federal public benefits and the denial of benefits and protections under immigration laws based on cannabis-related conduct or convictions, and establish a process to expunge convictions and conduct sentencing reviews related to federal cannabis offenses.
The Senate still has to act on the Bill. Prospects at that level seem low, though, because Democrats would need all of their members, plus ten Republicans in order to overcome a 60-vote barrier in order to advance to a final vote, which is not a likely outcome. The legislation passed in the House last year, but it did not move forward in the Senate at that time.
While the Bill addresses legalization and sales of the product, taxes, and individuals with previous convictions, it does not address any of the issues covered by the CLAIM Act or the SAFE Banking Act. The CLAIM Act is designed to allow insurers to provide coverage for cannabis-related businesses without fear of penalty, and the SAFE Banking Act is designed to allow banks to handle funds and financial services to cannabis-related businesses.
Federal decriminalization would make those Acts unnecessary; once decriminalized, insurers and banks would not have the concerns about dealing with funds from illegal businesses. The ability to accept such funds would make it easier for carriers to provide the necessary coverage to those businesses. While there are some specialty insurance policies, most standard carriers are still excluding cannabis products and businesses, with exceptions for certain hemp products only. Giving carriers the leeway to deal with cannabis businesses the same way they deal with other businesses would allow for the development of coverages that address the needs particular to cannabis.
Editor's Note: For many years, marijuana use, both for recreational and medical purposes, has been controversial. It has been and still is federally illegal, while over the years public and medical opinions have changed. As opinions have changed many states have legalized or decriminalized, marijuana for medical or recreational purposes, or both. With the growth of state legalization, the industry of growing and selling marijuana has developed into a billion-dollar industry, with legal sales totaling $19 billion in 2020 and expected to reach $41 billion by 2025. Currently, marijuana is a Schedule I drug along with heroin, LSD, and others. Schedule I drugs are considered as having no currently accepted medical use and having a high potential for abuse. Changing the status of cannabis from Schedule I to a lower schedule would allow scientists to study the effects of marijuana to determine what benefits it actually has.