The House of Representatives recently passed a bill to completely legalize all usage of marijuana in a vote of 220-204. The votes fall almost completely along party lines with the democrats pushing it through. However, considering the fate of the last failed cannabis legalization bill from 2020, the bill making it through the Senate seems unlikely.
This bill comes as a juxtaposition with President Joe Biden’s inconsistent rhetoric regarding marijuana use; despite promises of decriminalization during his campaign, Biden has yet to move to change current federal policy. Additionally, five staffers who admitted to past marijuana use were fired at the beginning of his presidency, creating more uncertainty about the president’s stance on marijuana.
All of these events have also brought Biden’s history with legalization and the War on Drugs back into light. He played a key part in passing the 1994 bill, when he was a senator. The bill marked the beginning of mandatory minimums and widespread arrests of people of color, shifting the landscape of drug policing. The bill also made life more difficult for those in prison. It simultaneously eliminated higher education for inmates in certain circumstances while increasing funding for prisons and protections for police officers.
The mandatory minimums that came from the 1994 crime bill could be repealed with the new bill; while it’s not clear whether or not it can work retroactively, this new bill represents a step in a different direction for drug policing.
If the bill were to be put into effect, cannabis would be descheduled, and would become legal to possess, consume, and distribute. While this might not change much for states who already have legalized the possession of THC products, the bill might have drastic effects on states who still police marijuana usage.
Which states have legalized cannabis tends to fall on partisan lines; red states overwhelmingly favor marijauna criminalization. Additionally, drug policing can be violent and racialized. Many of the most infamous instances of police brutality towards people of color were carried out in the name of the war on drugs.
Barstow student Anita Mohan (‘23) explains her support for the new bill, “Rehabilitative services will always be more effective than incarceration. It’s ridiculous that even with recent examples of police brutality, like Breonna Taylor, we still haven’t really gotten anywhere.” Breonna Taylor was a 26 year old black woman, who was wrongly killed by three white police officers during an unsuccessful drug raid on her apartment.
“Hopefully this bill can create some sort of positive change,” Mohan (‘23) continued. “If it even passes the senate.”
The senate represents a much greater hurdle than the house. In addition to partisanship issues, some democrats in the senate have also expressed concern about legalizing cannabis for recreational use, making getting 50 votes extremely difficult.
