September 01, 2021 John,
A month and a half ago, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senators Cory Booker and Ron Wyden released their legislative discussion draft to repeal federal marijuana prohibition, entitled the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA).
After receiving thousands and thousands of comments from supporters just like you, today we submitted our formal comments to strengthen the provisions related to consumer protections, rights, and access to cannabis.
-
96% of you said it is important that expungement provisions be included.
-
98% of you said it is important to end discriminatory employment testing policies.
-
92% of you said it is important to have consumer access to a wide array of American-grown cannabis.
But we cannot just tell our elected allies what we want them to do; we need every Senator willing to engage in this discussion NOW.
So take today as an opportunity to yet again engage in the most American thing you can do: engage in the democratic process and tell your elected Senators to support these reforms and work with our Senate champions to end prohibition once and for all.
Last December, NORML and our allies in the Marijuana Justice Coalition made history when against all of the odds, we pushed the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement Act to become the first-ever bill to end prohibition to receive a vote in the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, under the then-leadership of Mitch McConnell, the Senate refused to hear the will of the people. But no longer is that the case.
Over the last 7 weeks, our policy team has met with over 60 different Senate offices and we can confidently tell you that there is a pathway (albeit very narrow) toward victory. But it will take all of us, together, to build the pressure needed to push Congress every step of the way.
This is why we need every civil-liberties-loving American to send a message to the Senate over the course of the next few months.
So here are our asks:
As we wrote to the Senate: ‘Reefer Madness’ era rhetoric has dominated the mentality of federal cannabis policy since the days of Harry Anslinger stating "Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men's shadows and look at a white woman twice." For too long, the criminalization of cannabis has been a tool used to disrupt communities and foster distrust of law enforcement.
But you have helped NORML change that narrative. Since our founding in 1970, we have seen public support for legalization grow from 12% to now nearly 70%.
We will legalize marijuana nationwide. Now is the time to do it right.
Thanks for all you do,
NORML
P.S. During these unprecedented 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.
