Ending Prohibition

American Government 101 is pretty clear: The chair of a committee can single-handedly determine if a bill is going to be called for a vote or not.

Never in American history has the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee introduced a bill to end federal cannabis criminalization.

This week, that has changed with the actions of Representative Jerry Nadler and his introduction of The Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act.

After nearly a century of prohibition, it is clear our drug policy has been an absolute failure and a national disgrace. All we have to show for the war we have waged on cannabis is the egregious harms it has wrought upon tens of millions of our fellow citizens.

More than 200 members have cosponsored one piece of legislation or another having to do with cannabis policy, but with the introduction of MORE, Rep. Nadler has drawn the line in the sand.

By passing the act, Congress can begin to remedy the pain caused by the criminalization of cannabis. This bill provides a real federal solution by fully de-scheduling cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and providing relief to those suffering under the collateral consequences of having a cannabis charge on their record by facilitating the process of expungements.

It’s time for a better approach. The American public is overwhelmingly ready to legalize adult-use cannabis.

Curtis Taylor 

Eugene