Letting States Decide on Marijuana Legalization (S. 2237)

What is S. 2237?

(Updated December 4, 2020)

This bill would remove marijuana from the list of federally controlled Schedule I drugs (a list that includes acid, coke, ecstasy, PCP, and heroin) and give control of legalization to individual states. 

So if a state wants to regulate marijuana like alcohol (like four states and the District of Columbia have already done), or legalize medical marijuana (like 23 states and D.C., have) — people in those states don't have to worry about federal penalties for marijuana possession. That said, states who don't want recreational or medical marijuana can maintain marijuana's illegal status. 

Transporting marijuana across state lines and to and from U.S. territories would still be illegal. The bill would also require any growers, sellers, or importers of marijuana to obtain a permit for any of these marijuana-related activities.

Argument in favor

This bill lets states decide if they want to legalize marijuana, while protecting those states that want to keep it illegal. The current federal ban on weed is a waste of taxpayer dollars and puts an undue burden on our criminal justice system.

Argument opposed

The normalization, expanded use, and increased availability of marijuana across the U.S. does not detract from the fact that it is a dangerous substance. It is classified as a Schedule I drug for a reason, and it should stay that way.

Impact

People who use (or would like to use) marijuana for medical or recreational purposes, voters in the U.S., businesses and producers in the marijuana industry, Bernie Sanders' presidential bid, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, other related federal agencies, and local/state law enforcement.

Cost of S. 2237

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

Of Note: A 2014 survey conducted by Pew Research, found that 69 percent of those interviewed think alcohol is worse for your health than weed. Sponsoring Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) isn't necessarily pushing for looser marijuana laws because he believes in health benefits resulting from weed use. He noted in the first Democratic debate:

"I am seeing in this country too many lives being destroyed for non-violent offenses. We have a criminal justice system that lets CEOs on Wall Street walk away, and yet we are imprisoning or giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana. We need to rethink our criminal justice system, we we've got a lot of work to do in that area."

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