Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced this month that he’ll formally introduce his long-awaited bill to legalize cannabis in the Senate this April, saying that marijuana policy reform “is a priority for me.” Schumer, a Democrat and the senior US senator from New York, made his comments at a February 4 event in New York City attended by fellow lawmakers and drug policy reform advocates.
Since that time Schumer has said on more than one occasion that the bill would be formally introduced “soon.” But until this month, he had failed to set a timeline for officially filing the bill in Congress.
“In the coming weeks, we’re ramping up our outreach—and we expect to introduce final legislation.
Under the CAOA, marijuana would be removed from the list of regulated drugs under the federal Controlled Substances Act and cannabis would instead be regulated and taxed like alcohol and tobacco.
The CAOA would also shift authority over marijuana regulation from the Drug Enforcement Administration to the Food and Drug Administration, with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau also assuming some regulatory duties.
“As more and more states move to legalize cannabis for both adult and medical use, the federal government has an important role to play.
“If any senators have other ideas that they want to add to the bill, as long as it keeps social and economic justice as the spearhead, we’re happy and willing to listen,” he added.
The majority leader said that the cannabis legalization bill passed by New York last year could serve as a model for marijuana reform at the federal level.
The legislation was passed by the House of Representatives in December 2020 but failed to advance in the Senate.