周三，一些参议院民主党人有史以来第一次在联邦一级将大麻合法化，提议将大麻从联邦受控物质清单中删除。
参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默是这项努力的领导者之一，他承诺利用他的“影响力”使非刑罪化成为参议院的优先事项。
“这具有里程碑意义，”舒默告诉记者。“我们终于在参议院采取措施，纠正这场失败的禁毒战争的错误。”
尽管舒默承认民主党人尚未一致支持他公布的非刑罪化法案草案，但他表示，这一声明标志着打击不公正的重要一步，尤其是在有色人种之间。
舒默说:“对毒品的战争实际上是对人的战争，尤其是有色人种。“过去几十年来，由于历史上的过度刑事化而造成的人力资源浪费一直是重大的历史错误之一，我们将改变这种情况。”
舒默说，这项由参议院金融委员会主席罗恩·怀登和新泽西州参议员科里·布克共同提出的法案草案还旨在删除犯罪记录，并建立银行系统，让小企业和少数族裔企业有一席之地。
怀登称该法案为“大麻常识”。
布克长期以来一直主张合法化，他说，迫切需要这样一项法案。
他说:“每天都有生命被摧毁，这种虚伪的表现是，就在国会大厦这里，竞选国会议员的人，竞选参议院议员的人，竞选美国总统的人，他们欣然承认他们使用过大麻，但我们在这个国家有孩子，全国各地的人，我们的退伍军人，黑人和棕色人种，低收入人群，现在背负着因做了过去四任总统中有一半承认做过的事情而被定罪的污点。
迄今为止，大约有18个各州已经合法化娱乐用途大麻37个州，连同哥伦比亚特区，波多黎各关岛和美属维尔京群岛现在允许这种药物的医疗用途。
讨论稿写道:“大麻管理和机会法案将确保美国人——尤其是黑人和棕色人种美国人——不再因在合法的州使用大麻而害怕被捕或被禁止进入公共住房或接受高等教育的联邦财政援助。“符合国家规定的大麻企业最终将获得与其他企业一样的待遇，并被允许获得基本的金融服务，如银行账户和贷款。医学研究将不再被扼杀。”
但是以参议院共和党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔为首的一些共和党人。，反对合法化。
“我没有任何支持大麻合法化的计划，”麦康奈尔在2018年宣布支持大麻合法化时表示，并指出它们是“完全不同的植物。”
联邦立法将允许各州制定自己的大麻法律，就像各州对酒精一样。这将结束一些州的混乱局面，这些州以各种形式将大麻合法化，但大麻消费者可能面临潜在的民事和刑事处罚。
类似于酒精和烟草的立法也将产生新的联邦消费税。
该法案成为法律后的第一年，大麻将被征收10%的税。这一比率“将在接下来的几年里每年增加到15%、20%和25%。根据讨论草案，从第五年及其后开始，将对大麻花按每盎司税率征税，对任何大麻提取物按每毫克四氢大麻酚税率征税。
这项立法如果获得通过，将对许多人的生活产生直接影响，释放一些在监狱里的人非暴力犯罪。
“该法案自动删除了联邦非暴力大麻犯罪，并允许一名目前因非暴力大麻犯罪在联邦监狱服刑的个人向法院申请重审，”草案指出。
它还将把新的联邦税收重新投入到受20世纪80年代“禁毒战争”影响最大的少数民族社区，并确保过去与大麻相关的犯罪不会被用来拒绝联邦公共援助。
拟议中的立法将激励各州和地方在联邦援助下删除大麻犯罪的犯罪记录，以换取两个新的小企业管理项目下的资金，这两个项目旨在帮助受灾严重的社区。
“大麻机会计划将向符合条件的州和地方提供资金，以提供贷款，帮助社会和经济弱势个人拥有的大麻产业小企业。公平许可赠款计划将向符合条件的州和地区提供资金，以实施大麻许可计划，最大限度地减少受禁毒战争不利影响的个人的障碍，”草案在谈到两个新的小型企业管理局计划时说。
根据赞助商的说法，对大麻影响的研究也将得到改善。
草案指出:“研究人员表示，为研究而生产的大麻无法与全国范围内成人使用和医药市场使用的大麻相提并论，(缉毒机构)过去未能扩大联邦政府批准的大麻生产，这进一步限制了他们研究的生产率。
房子去年通过了立法将大麻从受管制物质清单中删除，该立法于5月份再次提出。
Democratic senators move to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level
For the first time in history, some Senate Democrats on Wednesday moved to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, proposing to the remove cannabis from the federal list of controlled substances.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, one of the leaders of the effort, promised to use his "clout" to make decriminalization a Senate priority.
"This is monumental," Schumer told reporters. "At long last we are taking steps in the Senate to right the wrongs of the failed war on drugs."
While Schumer conceded that Democrats do not yet unanimously support the draft decriminalization bill he unveiled, he said the announcement marks an important step in combatting injustice,especially among communities of color.
"The war on drugs has really been a war on people, particularly people of color," Schumer said. "The waste of human resources because of the historic over-criminalization has been one of the great historical wrongs for the last decades and we are going to change it."
Schumer said the draft bill, being proposed with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. also aims to expunge criminal records and create banking systems that give small and minority businesses a seat at the table.
Wyden called the bill, "cannabis common sense."
Booker, who has long advocated for decriminalization, said the need for such a bill is urgent.
"Lives are being destroyed every single day and the hypocrisy of this is that, right here in the Capitol now, people running for Congress, people running for Senate, people running for president of the United States, who readily admit that they've used marijuana, but we have children in this country people all over this nation, our veterans, black and brown people, low income people, now bearing the stain of having a criminal conviction for doing things that half of the last four presidents admitted to doing," he said.
To date, some 18states have legalizedthe recreational use ofmarijuanaand 37 states, along with the District of Columbia,Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, now allow the medical use of the drug.
"The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act will ensure that Americans -- especially Black and Brown Americans -- no longer have to fear arrest or be barred from public housing or federal financial aid for higher education for using cannabis in states where it's legal," the discussion draft reads. "State-compliant cannabis businesses will finally be treated like other businesses and allowed access to essential financial services, like bank accounts and loans. Medical research will no longer be stifled."
But a number of Republicans, led by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., oppose legalization.
"I do not have any plans to endorse the legalization of marijuana," McConnell said in 2018 when he announced his support for legalizing hemp, noting that they are "entirely separate plants."
The federal legislation would allow states to craft their own cannabis laws, just as states do with alcohol. It would end the confusion in some states that have legalized the product in various forms, but where consumers of marijuana could face potential civil and criminal penalties.
A new federal excise tax would also be created by the legislation similar to alcohol and tobacco.
Cannabis would be taxed at 10% in the first year after the legislation becomes law. That rate "would increase annually to 15 percent, 20 percent, and 25 percent in the following years. Beginning in year five and thereafter, the tax would be levied on a per-ounce rate in the case of cannabis flower, or a per-milligram of THC rate in the case of any cannabis extract," according to the discussion draft.
The legislation, if approved, would have an immediate effect on the lives of many,freeing some in prisonfor non-violent offenses.
"The bill automatically expunges federal non-violent marijuana crimes and allows an individual currently serving time in federal prison for non-violent marijuana crimes to petition a court for resentencing," the draft states.
It would also reinvest new federal tax revenue into minority communities most affected by the 1980's "War on Drugs" and ensure that no past marijuana-related crimes are used to refuse someone federal public assistance.
The proposed legislation would incentivize states and localities with federal aid to expunge criminal records for cannabis offenses in exchange for funding under two new Small Business Administration programs designed to help hard-hit communities.
"The Cannabis Opportunity Program will provide funding to eligible states and localities to make loans to assist small businesses in the cannabis industry owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. The Equitable Licensing Grant Program will provide funding to eligible states and localities to implement cannabis licensing programs that minimize barriers for individuals adversely affected by the War on Drugs," the draft says of the two new SBA programs.
Research into the effects of marijuana would be improved, as well, according to sponsors.
"Researchers have stated that the cannabis produced for research is not comparable to cannabis used in adult-use and medicinal markets nationwide, and that the (Drug Enforcement Agency)'s past failures to expand federally-approved production of cannabis have further limited the productivity of their research," the draft states.
The Housepassed legislation last yearremoving marijuana from the controlled substances list and the legislation was reintroduced in May.
