Crime & Police
It would still be illegal under federal law to import marijuana into a state where it is illegal from outside the U.S. The Dept. of the Treasury would be responsible for regulating interstate and international marijuana businesses, while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would have the same powers to regulate marijuana as it does alcohol.
bill Progress
- Not enactedThe President has not signed this bill
- The senate has not voted
- The house has not voted
- house Committees
Conservation and ForestryNational Parks, Forests, and Public LandsCommittee on the JudiciaryCrime, Terrorism and Homeland SecurityIntroducedJanuary 9th, 2019
What is House Bill H.R. 420?
This bill — the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act — would remove marijuana from all schedules of the Controlled Substances Act, thereby making it legal, and allow states to choose how they want to regulate the substance. At the federal level, marijuana oversight would be transferred from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to the to-be renamed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Marijuana, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Impact
Anyone who uses marijuana products, marijuana dispensaries and producers, local law enforcement, the DEA, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and related federal regulators.
Cost of House Bill H.R. 420
A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.
More Information
In-Depth: Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), co-chair and founder of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, reintroduced this bill from the 114th Congress to end the federal prohibition of marijuana and regulate cannabis like alcohol:
"While the [H.R. 420] bill number may be a bit tongue-in-cheek, the issue is very serious. Our federal marijuana laws are outdated, out of touch and have negatively impacted countless lives. Congress cannot continue to be out of touch with a movement that a growing majority of Americans support. It’s time to end this senseless prohibition.”
Rep. Blumenauer is optimistic about the odds of this bill's passage in the current Congress, due to the 116th Congress's "pro-cannabis" attitude:
"This will be the most pro-cannabis Congress in history. We’ve had a number of people who’ve stepped up, who’ve taken a stand, campaigned on it. I’ve talked to over five dozen of the new people and they’re very open-minded or, actually very supportive.”
In the 114th Congress, Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) (who's now the governor of Colorado) introduced this bill to end the federal prohibition of marijuana:
"Colorado has proven that allowing responsible adults to legally purchase marijuana, gives money to classrooms, not cartels; creates jobs, not addicts; and boosts our economy, not our prison population. Now, more than ever, it is time we end the federal prohibition on marijuana and remove barriers for states’ that have chosen to legalize marijuana. This budding industry can’t afford to be stifled by the Trump administration and its mixed-messages about marijuana."
This bill doesn't have any cosponsors in the current Congress. In the 114th Congress, it had the support of 19 cosponsors in the House, including 18 Democrats and one Republican.
Of Note: As of February 2019, 10 states and Washington, D.C. have legalized recreational marijuana for adults over 21. Additionally, 33 states have legalized medical marijuana.
Media:
- Sponsoring Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) Press Release (116th Congress)
- Sponsoring Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) Press Release (114th Congress)
- The Cannabist
- Portland Mercury
- AP
Summary by Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: Pixabay / Public Domain)
AKA
Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act
Official Title
To provide for the regulation of marijuana products, and for other purposes.
Hell yeah!!!! Put a federal tax on it and devote the proceeds to health care and research
As a systems engineer I have worked with some brilliant people over the years. That said, I noticed over time that those coworkers who regularly smoked weed (10 years plus) exhibited a marked decline in their cognitive abilities. They began to have difficulty grasping concepts and appeared to suffer greatly reduced performance overall. Just my observation.
I totally agree with Governor Polis. Colorado has proved there are more advantages than disadvantages to fully legalizing marijuana. It should be handled exactly like alcohol, taxed and decriminalized. HB 420 has my full and unhesitating support.
I am tired of my tax dollars being used to fight reefer madness !
Remove marijuana from Schedule one and legalize at the federal level!
The government already profits off of two of the most dangerous and addictive drugs in the world. There are virtually zero medicinal uses for alcohol and tobacco and yet they are both legal in USA. Marijuana has positive medicinal, social and economic benefits. Many of the voters that are against this are using outdated and myopic information for their arguments. I for one would rather make tobacco and alcohol illegal. The cost and lives affected by these drugs far outweigh any negative effect marijuana will present.
On a political note, this is not a res blue issue that many of the “nays” seem to be referencing. Sneaky Pete, a smoker and a vet, somehow feels that this is a democratic plot to corrupt Americans into using harder drugs. It is a shame that so many people feel the need to pit citizens against one another. As a vet I would have thought he would speak to the facts and not point fingers in a political direction. We need to stop acting like there are two teams in America ( red and blue) and start focusing on working as one team. The USA team. We all have opinions and the true loyal Americans learn to work together. Maybe if more people were able to chill out and smoke weed they might be able to understand another voice besides their own.
It’s about time we allow for legal weed across the country
Absolutely End Prohibition..... We need to have another major celebration to Re-Unite The United Sates..... Let’s Make America Great Again!!
Just go by consensus. Draconian laws need to stop. The war on drugs is a war on people.
For like the 597th time. Yes. It was all based on lies from the get go. A proxy for racism used to demonize “others”, enforce Mormon morality, and give Anslinger a budget based on racism and bigotry. The history of its prohibition is absurd and it’s lingering costs are about 8 billion annually in direct costs and who knows what in indirect costs.
Yes it’s a total waste of time and resources marijuana flows into the country by the ton ever increasing by the day and most importantly Americans in every state purchase and use it voraciously in copious amounts. Stop the nonsense prohibition isn’t working here.
Don’t listen to the gateway drug falsehoods as the reason not to legalize. Legalization at the federal level will go a long way in curbing the ‘war on drugs’ by freeing up and even generating funds in order to protect Americans against the real drug issues we face.
It is ridiculous in this day and age to demonize a natural substance that has so many benefits, the least of which is giving people a feeling of well-being. Honestly, if you want people to chill out and stop hating Republicans so much, why not let them smoke a few joints and/or eat a few brownies.
Yes, and while we are at it, let’s sadly admit we like our recreational drugs. We shouldn’t but we do. I confess to coffee/caffeine. I’ve never met a pastry cream I didn’t love. Outlawing these things has never worked for us. Perhaps we should focus on some kind of control, but we simply cannot handle prohibition. We have proven we lack the strength.
There are more advantages than disadvantages to the legalization of cannabis. We have an understanding of this from the states that have legalized cannabis, and Canada legalizing cannabis in its country.