What’s Going on With Marijuana Law in the U.S.?
The marijuana industry throughout the U.S. has remained quite topsy turvy given so much new legislation and changes to the public opinion regarding the substance. One of the biggest issues over the course of the past few years has been the federal classification of cannabis in the U.S. Much of this is due to age-old recommendations and propaganda regarding the substance which originated early in the 20th century.
One of the most recent updates in the industry has been that the new Democratic control of the House could be reviewing marijuana law. As so many states have chosen to forgo the federal restrictions on cannabis, the government has no choice but to take a second look at it.
Currently, recreational cannabis is legal in ten states in the U.S. with six more in the works. By the end of this year, as many as 130 million Americans could have access to legal adult-use cannabis. This would make it extremely similar to the way that alcohol and tobacco are viewed in the nation.
William Barr, Trump’s nominee to lead the Justice Department put out a quote stating that “the current situation is untenable and really needs to be addressed. It’s almost like a backdoor nullification of federal law.” He also stated that the government should take a much more hands-off approach when it comes to cannabis legislation as it has worked quite well up to this point.
This is stark opposition to the past Attorney General Jeff Sessions view on cannabis, which was essentially a continuation of the nonsensical prohibition of cannabis. The fact that there is a new Democratic majority in the House means that new marijuana bills could potentially be passed in the near future and beyond. Congressman Steve Cohen stated that “I think the people are getting more and more aware of the fact that marijuana is the least harmful drug.”
This sentiment, however, is not quite shared throughout the federal government, which leaves a lot of room for disagreement. The fact is that the feds should be listening to the overwhelming majority of the U.S. public that wants to see cannabis be legalized nationwide.
We can look at Canada as an example of how a federally legal marijuana market can flourish. Canada has been leading the charge as far as this controversial law is concerned for around a year now. Since October 17th, when legal sales began, they have been able to create a domino effect that has resulted in more and more considering the idea of legalizing cannabis.
Neal Levine, the CEO of the Cannabis Trade Federation stated that “we have more support and more potential to actually pass game-changing legislation at the federal level in this Congress than we ever had before.”
It continues to be extremely exciting that new legislation has the potential to pass through the federal government. Only time will tell how long these new laws take and whether or not they can become official throughout the U.S.
MAPH Enterprises, LLC | (305) 414-0128 | 1501 Venera Ave, Coral Gables, FL 33146 | new@marijuanastocks.com
