Following the announcement of a Nov. 15 U.S. Congressional hearing titled “Developments in State Cannabis Laws and Bipartisan Cannabis Reforms at the Federal Level,” a U.S. House subcommittee has issued a joint memorandum on cannabis.
The memo, from the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, proposes decriminalization, various policy reforms, and the removal of cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act.
Positions on Decriminalization
The report states there are multiple benefits to federal cannabis decriminalization.
Drawing from the American Civil Liberties Union’s 2020 report, “A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform,” the memo states that Black people are nearly four times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than white people, despite similar consumption rates between Black and white people.
“In many states, marijuana arrests can have life-altering consequences—parents may lose their children in court proceedings, disabled and low-income recipients of public assistance may lose healthcare, immigrants can face deportation, families can be evicted from public housing, and finding a job can be difficult or outright impossible in some cases. Black and Brown people disproportionately face these repercussions,” the memo shares.
Additionally, the memo discusses cannabis as a treatment option for veterans, stating that the “federal prohibition against Veterans Affairs (VA) doctors prescribing or recommending medical cannabis leaves a significant treatment gap.”
“Despite years of limited access to medical cannabis for research, the first Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-regulated study of veterans’ treatment with smoked cannabis was conducted in fall 2021,” according to the report. “The study revealed promising potential for PTSD alleviation. Additional recent research has shown a correlation between cannabis use and reduced recovery timelines and PTSD symptoms.”
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