Author: Lauren Vazquez
While the DEA fumbles cannabis rescheduling, Congress has introduced the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act to federally deschedule and legalize cannabis. Sponsored by Senators Booker, Schumer, and Wyden, this is the pathway out of prohibition to a functioning national cannabis industry.
The text of the Bill has not been posted on Congress’s website yet. However a copy of the full bill is available here. The formatting is not easy to read but the document is searchable.
A summary of the Bill is available here. Highlights include:
- Removes cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and empowers states to create their own laws
- Transfers authority over cannabis from the DEA to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau
- Establishes the Center for Cannabis Products within the FDA
- Strong focus on equity with funding and grant programs
Worker protections - Resentencing and automatic expungement
- Restores federal rights and benefits
Criticisms include:
- Federal cannabis excise tax
- Retains federal prohibitions on trafficking of cannabis in violation of state law, or in states that have not legalized cannabis
- Adopts quantitative limitations on retail purchases
Rescheduling is only one aspect of the comprehensive cannabis reform needed at the federal level. Congress is not about to let an executive agency take control of what should be a legislative process. The rescheduling announcement is the push Congress needs to finally enact legalization and regulate commercial cannabis. It is possible that by the time the DEA completes the Schedule III rule-making process and implements the regulations, Congress will act and override the DEA’s rescheduling. There is much uncertainty for the next few years in the cannabis industry while we watch how Congress and the DEA proceed.
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