He said the reform legislation would focus on small business, especially those in communities bearing the brunt of the marijuana laws – and “justice, justice, justice — as well as freedom.”.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaking at a press conference outside of the Capitol building on March 17, 2021.
“We don’t want the big tobacco companies and the big liquor companies to swoop in and take over,” Schumer said.
“I want to take it off the federal list that makes it as serious a drug as heroin or cocaine,” Schumer said.
Schumer said the legislation was “long overdue” because when states decriminalized or legalized marijuana use, the crime rates that critics warned would shoot up never materialized.
Most states allow medical marijuana and 15 states, two US territories and the District of Columbia have passed ballot measures or enacted laws that allow recreational marijuana.
Schumer said along with decriminalizing marijuana use, people’s records should be expunged “so that they don’t live their lives as if they committed the most dastardly felony because they smoked marijuana.”. »
