That same year, as the coronavirus pandemic engulfed the country in March 2020, medical marijuana businesses were declared essential, allowing them to remain open along with pharmacies and grocery stores.
As of 2020, one in three Americans lived in a state with access to legal marijuana, according to Politico, and that number is quickly growing as the East Coast catches up with the West — last year, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia all passed adult-use cannabis laws, joining Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont.
However, under the federal Controlled Substances Act, marijuana remains classified as a Schedule 1 illegal drug with no medical uses, on par with heroin and LSD.
But after more than one year in office, Biden’s promises remain unfulfilled — and a January YouGov poll of 1,500 people showed that more than half of Americans believe that the Biden administration has made little to no progress advancing marijuana reform.
Legal cannabis, however, also presents a tremendous financial opportunity, and despite federal inaction, the industry is growing fast; a report from the cannabis website Leafly shows there are more than 428,000 full-time jobs in the cannabis industry, with a 33 percent increase in jobs just last year.
Historically, Democrats have championed legalization as a social justice issue; Gallup poll numbers indicate that half of Republican voters now also support legal marijuana.
It’s still wholly unclear, however, what that policy will even look like.
Ted Lieu Act be “expeditiously considered by the House and Senate.” The MORE Act would deschedule cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and enact criminal and social justice reforms, including the expungement of prior cannabis convictions.
Another piece of legislation aims to change federal regulations for cannabis-related businesses: The Safe and Fair Enforcement Banking Act, which has been passed by the House six times since it was first introduced in 2013.
Federal reform would prevent regulators from penalizing banks who do business with the industry and allow marijuana businesses to operate with safer, more trustworthy financial practices rather than relying entirely on cash.
The SAFE Banking Act, which has had bipartisan support since its inception, was most recently attached to a manufacturing and innovation bill called the America COMPETES Act in February, and passed the House with a vote of 222-210.
There’s some tension between supporters of the MORE Act, who want criminal justice reform first and foremost, and those backing the reforms in the SAFE Banking Act, which opens a clear pathway for more capitalistic endeavors.
Nancy Mace , the legislation was framed as an alternative to Democratic-led reform proposals and would end federal prohibition and regulate cannabis under various agencies, including the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration, for growers, consumers, and medical marijuana patients, while notably allowing states to determine their own policies on commerce and other aspects of legalization.
Cory Booker , and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, aims to delist marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act while recognizing existing state laws; it would enact banking reform, criminal justice reform, and automatic expungement of federal records for nonviolent marijuana crimes.
The policy gap between state and federal law is now so vast that it has created a patchwork of marijuana markets that could be incredibly difficult to unify under one federal law.
If cannabis were removed from the Controlled Substances Act by the federal government, that wouldn’t mean it would instantly be legal in Nebraska, for example, where the sale of marijuana is a felony under state law.
“If local policies are confusing and chaotic and inequitable, passing a state legalization law doesn’t automatically fix the problem,” Title says.
Title says that federal regulation could also give the green light for massive corporations, even Big Tobacco, to move into the space.
Last year, Amazon announced its support for legislation to federally legalize marijuana and an end to drug testing of its employees for cannabis.
She points to Massachusetts, where she served as commissioner of the Cannabis Control Commission from 2017 to 2020, as a successful model for policy change.
Yet there are myriad reasons for the growing support for federal legalization.
The Drug Policy Alliance’s 2021 report of recommendations for federal lawmakers was extensive, authored by a group of reform advocates, public health professionals, regulators, and attorneys .
Although the total number of people arrested for marijuana possession has decreased in the past decade, law enforcement still arrested 6.1 million people over that period, even in states and cities where marijuana had been decriminalized, and racial disparities in arrests remain intact.
The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, for example, implemented a social equity program that serves the individuals most impacted by marijuana prohibition, arrest, and incarceration, by providing participants with education and training for jobs in the cannabis industry.
Cannabis attorney Cristina Buccola, who also contributed to the Drug Policy Alliance report, says that federal lawmakers need to consider marijuana legalization first and foremost as a justice issue, and that New York state’s Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act could serve as a gold standard.
A big reason that the federal government might also want to legalize marijuana is, of course, cash.
According to a 2018 study by New Frontier Data, a data analytics firm focused on the cannabis industry, legalizing marijuana nationwide could create as much as $130 billion in tax revenue and more than a million new jobs across the United States in the next decade.
Change in a particular federal policy also stands to benefit marijuana businesses: Under current federal law, cannabis businesses are subject to the same Internal Revenue Code statute enacted in 1982 that prevents smugglers from deducting expenses like guns and yachts from illicit operations.
Federal reform could repeal that law and allow cannabis companies to deduct such expenses, potentially increasing tax revenue by encouraging growers and retailers to report income, and even offer incentives for environmentally sustainable industry practices like renewable energy and waste reduction.
If a nationwide industry opened up, struggling cannabis farmers would potentially be able to ship their products around the country to states like Massachusetts and Florida, which could force regional cultivators and small local businesses to compete with cheaper out-of-state marijuana, potentially pushing them out of the market altogether.
However, as the industry continues to grow, pressure is sure to increase on legislators to end federal prohibition, one way or another.