January 05, 2021 John,
It’s a new year and this week marks the beginning of the 117th session of Congress. I’m happy to report that our prospects for success in Capitol Hill have changed dramatically for the better since I wrote to you two years ago at the start of the 116th Congressional session.
In just a minute, I’m going to ask you to send a message to your federal Representative asking them to join the bipartisan Congressional Cannabis Caucus - but first, allow me to recap a few of our recent successes in the House of Representatives. (If you really don’t want to read the full email, you can just click here and quickly send a message)
In the last two years, we saw:
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The House passed the bipartisan Blumenauer-McClintock Amendment as part of the appropriations process to restrict federal tax dollars from being used against state-legal marijuana programs. Twice.
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On multiple occasions, House members passed the SAFE Banking Act to allow state-legal marijuana companies access to basic banking services, thus normalizing the retail sale of consumer cannabis. These provisions passed not just once or twice, but three times! Once as a standalone measure in 2019 and twice as part of the COVID response HEROES Act.
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For the first time ever, the House voted on and passed a bill to repeal the federal criminalization of marijuana. In addition to ending prohibition, the MORE Act would also incentivize states and localities to facilitate the expungement of non-violent criminal records for marijuana as well as promote local and diverse ownership in the emerging legal cannabis trades.
Unfortunately, none of these bills received consideration by the Senate under the control of Mitch McConnell.
But despite the Senate’s intransigence and Leader McConnell’s apparent glee at the prospect of continuing cannabis criminalization in America, our prospects for federal marijuana reform have never been greater. The House’s historic support for ending prohibition is in no small part a testament to the growing influence of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus and its leadership.
Here at NORML, we are proud to work side by side with the Cannabis Caucus in advancing these critical efforts.
In order to continue making progress, we need to place even more pressure on lawmakers around the country so that we can better build upon this momentum.
So, I’m asking you today: Please take a moment to send your Representative a message and ask them to join Reps Earl Blumenauer, Barbara Lee, Don Young, and others as part of the Cannabis Caucus.
With more members officially joining the Cannabis Caucus and being encouraged to join the Caucus by constituents like you, we will be able to better educate lawmakers and their staffers about the disastrous effects of marijuana prohibition as well as the real-world benefits of legalization.
Since the formation of the caucus only four years ago, NORML has coordinated dozens of educational events with Its members to ensure that reefer sanity, not distorted propaganda, is the foundation of our country’s future marijuana policies.
We need the votes and we need bold strokes. To accomplish that, we need to convince more folks. Send a message to your lawmaker now and tell them that 2021 is the year to face the reality that the time to end criminalization is now.
Thanks for all you do,
Justin Strekal
NORML Political Director
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P.S. During these pandemic times, NORML’s efforts have largely been supported by our amazing sustaining members who contribute a few bucks a month to help ensure we have the resources for the long fight. If you can, please kick in $5, $10, or $20 a month to help us keep going.
