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The midterm elections are just around the corner and talk about a winning issue: over the next few years federally legalizing cannabis would create an estimated 1.1 million U.S. jobs while bringing in approximately $132 billion of domestic tax revenue and 2018 can be the year that it finally becomes reality.
Now, there’s been some very encouraging progress towards this perennial goal since FreeMartyG last covered this topic with “Trump Should Move to Federally Legalize Weed and Here’s Why” back in January and it’s clear that the majority of the people out there want to see the end of the federal prohibition on cannabis. So, this will be short as there’s not that much more that needs to be done to make federal legalization a long overdue reality and November 6th is now much closer.
First, President Trump overruled Attorney General Jeff Sessions after the AG caused quite a scare by announcing that the DOJ intended to crack down on cannabis earlier this year. The Los Angeles Times considered the president’s April commitment pulling rank on Sessions “an almost unheard of undermining of a Cabinet official.” The AG has since repeated his threats of potential nationwide federal cannabis prosecutions, including in states like Colorado, despite the president’s clear mandate.
The Washington Post via Getty
The move being after Colorado Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) ground Senate confirmations of DOJ appointees to a halt, demanding that the Justice Department not interfere with his state’s budding recreational and medicinal cannabis industries. It was following a very productive call between Senator Gardner and the president that Trump announced he would both overrule Sessions on the cannabis issue and that he would support a bill to end the federal prohibition of the plant once and for all.
Having been leashed and curbed for the time being, the DOJ and its lap dogs appeared to back down, but the AG’s renewed insistence on the matter makes it clear that a change in the legislature may still be needed to permanently resolve the issue. With election day approaching, Senator Gardner and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) introduced a Senate bill which would do exactly that.
Though today cannabis remains illegal under federal law, currently 22 states have decriminalized the possession of small quantities of cannabis while 30 states and D.C. have regulated its medicinal use and 9 have voted in some degree of recreational sales. Removing cannabis from the federal list of controlled substances would eliminate banking restrictions, allow for interstate cannabis commerce, and make international exports and imports of cannabis legal again. New Frontier Data estimates that federal legalization would add 1.1 million American jobs by 2025 to the 121,000 already estimated to exist in the nation’s cannabis industry. It’s also estimated to generate $132 billion in federal tax revenue over the next decade.
Though notwithstanding any decision to federally legalize cannabis, individual states would still be able to ban it, but any who continue to do so would be missing out on the potential revenue streams brought in by the plant.
However, now with the Senate currently in session and the House reconvening after Labor Day, the Trump administration should champion Gardner and Warren’s cannabis legalization bill in the Senate and help introduce and push through corresponding legislation in the House. Will President Trump fulfill his promise and move to federally legalize cannabis during this historic opportunity?
Marty Gottesfeld is considered a prisoner of the Massachusetts Democratic establishment for helping to save the life of medical kidnapping victim Justina Pelletier when she was endangered by Harvard-affiliated Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH). To donate, learn more about him, or follow him on social media, go to www.FreeMartyG.com.
