[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 960 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 960
Urging action to increase equity within cannabis policy and the legal
cannabis marketplace.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 11, 2024
Ms. Lee of California (for herself, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Johnson of
Georgia, Ms. Norton, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Adams,
and Mr. McGovern) submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to
the Committees on the Judiciary, Education and the Workforce, and
Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Urging action to increase equity within cannabis policy and the legal
cannabis marketplace.
Whereas persons and communities continue to be negatively impacted by cannabis
policies and marijuana's status as a scheduled substance under the
Controlled Substances Act;
Whereas the persons and communities that have been most harmed by marijuana
prohibition are benefitting the least from the legal cannabis
marketplace and other cannabis policy reforms;
Whereas a legacy of racial and ethnic injustices, compounded by the
disproportionate collateral consequences of 80 years of marijuana
prohibition and enforcement, now limits access to public benefits, such
as nutritional assistance, housing, education and economic
opportunities, including participation in the cannabis industry;
Whereas 24 States as well as the District of Columbia and the territories of
Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin
Islands have legalized cannabis use for adults and 38 now allow some
form of medical cannabis;
Whereas the United States cannabis market currently stands at around $65 billion
in annual revenue, and by 2030, this number is expected to balloon to
$100 billion if cannabis is federally legalized;
Whereas the failed war on drugs has cost the United States roughly $1 trillion,
with economists estimating that criminal justice expenditures related to
the marijuana prohibition costs States roughly $6 billion and the
Federal Government $4 billion per year;
Whereas people of color have been historically victimized by discriminatory
sentencing practices, resulting in Black men receiving drug sentences
that are 13.4 times greater than sentences imposed for White men, and
non-White persons accounted for 86.5 percent of cannabis convictions;
Whereas, according to the ACLU, Black people are 3.64 times more likely than
White people to be arrested for cannabis possession, even though usage
rates are comparable;
Whereas hundreds of thousands of people continue to be arrested every year for
cannabis violations, primarily at the State level, and that the Federal
placement of cannabis in the Controlled Substances Act is often cited as
a reason for States not to legalize cannabis;
Whereas the decriminalization of cannabis possession has proved to reduce the
disparity in arrest rates between Black and White men by almost 20
percent, as well as reducing total arrest rates by over 70 percent among
adults;
Whereas the criminalization of cannabis results in the detention and subsequent
deportation of countless immigrants seeking to build better lives for
themselves and their families in the United States;
Whereas, as a noncitizen merely working for a State-licensed marijuana business
and otherwise fully compliant with all Federal and State laws can still
be deported due to the placement of marijuana in the Controlled
Substances Act;
Whereas cannabis policies continue to punish people for personal cannabis use
and possession, as well as legal records and consequences associated
with cannabis violations;
Whereas non-White ownership of cannabis businesses shrank in 2022 to 15.4
percent from 20.7 percent in 2021;
Whereas cannabis businesses are limited by numerous laws, regulations, taxes,
and prohibitive permit applications and licensing fees in these States,
which can total more than $100,000, with annual renewal fees also
exceeding $100,000;
Whereas historically disproportionate arrest and conviction rates make it
particularly difficult for people of color to enter the legal cannabis
marketplace, as most States bar these individuals from participating;
Whereas Federal law severely limits access to loans and capital for cannabis
businesses, disproportionately impacting minority small business owners;
Whereas the World Health Organization reported that about 2.5 percent of the
global population use cannabis, and disparate legal outcomes pertaining
to the substance have been replicated in foreign states;
Whereas cannabis and cannabis resin, including extracts and tinctures of
cannabis, are classified by the United Nations (UN) as a Schedule I drug
under UN drug control treaties such as the Single Convention on Narcotic
Drugs;
Whereas the classification of cannabis as a Schedule I drug is outdated and the
U.S. should be leading the way on cannabis reform at the multilateral
level;
Whereas foreign states such as Canada, Luxembourg, Malta, Thailand, and Uruguay
have legalized cannabis for recreational use, and multiple others
including Mexico, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, and South Africa have taken
steps to legalize cannabis;
Whereas additional foreign states would reevaluate how cannabis is classified in
their countries if the United Nations did so; and
Whereas an increasing number of States and municipalities have taken proactive
steps to acknowledge and address the harms of cannabis criminalization,
advance equity in cannabis policy, and mitigate inequalities in the
legal cannabis marketplace: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Realizing Equitable & Sustainable
Participation in Emerging Cannabis Trades Resolution'' or the ``RESPECT
Resolution''.
SEC. 2. BEST PRACTICES AND STEPS TO ADVANCE EQUITY IN CANNABIS POLICY;
ADDRESS DISPARITIES IN THE CANNABIS MARKETPLACE
PARTICIPATION; ADDRESS, REVERSE, AND REPAIR CERTAIN
EFFECTS OF THE WAR ON DRUGS.
(a) In General.--The House of Representatives encourages States and
localities to adopt best practices and take bold steps referred to in
subsection (b) to advance equity in cannabis policy and address
disparities in the cannabis marketplace participation and to address,
reverse, and repair the most egregious effects of the War on Drugs on
communities of color, in particular to those who now hold criminal
records for a substance that is now legal and regulated.
(b) Best Practices and Steps.--The practices and steps referred to
in this subsection include--
(1) eliminating State and local criminal penalties for the
possession and use of cannabis and ensuring that public
benefits cannot be denied to persons due to a cannabis
conviction;
(2) establishing licensing and application fees that are
reasonable to cover only the costs of program implementation
and necessary regulations;
(3) creating a system where licensing is to be obtained at
the city or county level and should be based on regulations
determined by the local jurisdiction that meet the State's
minimum requirements, which allows the community to determine
the type and number of businesses, avoids arbitrary caps on
licenses, and results in an industry more representative of the
local market;
(4) in States where license caps are completely
unavoidable, establishing local oversight and control of
cannabis licenses by allowing local cities and municipalities
to prioritize licenses for local citizens and residents,
especially individuals most impacted by the War on Drugs, by
taking into account and prioritizing--
(A) long-term residency within the State or
locality;
(B) individuals whose income is less than 80
percent of the median household income within a county;
(C) individuals who have been formerly
incarcerated;
(D) individuals with prior drug law violations;
(E) individuals living within a jurisdiction that
is heavily policed; and
(F) policies and regulations that truly prevent
large companies and wealthy investors from obtaining
significant revenue generated by license holders who
have been prioritized for ownership for the reasons
described in subparagraphs (A) through (E) above and
for equity-based prioritizations determined by the
State;
(5) adopting laws and implementing regulations that will
allow small cultivators to thrive in the legal market;
(6) creating more equitable licensing by--
(A) eliminating broad felony restrictions for
licensing;
(B) focusing restrictions on entering the market to
those, determined on a case-by-case basis for both
licensees and employees, with criminal convictions that
are relevant to the owning and operating of a business;
and
(C) prohibiting previous cannabis convictions from
consideration as justification for a denial of a
license;
(7) creating an automatic process, at no cost for the
individual, for the expungement or sealing of criminal records
for cannabis offenses that is inclusive of individuals
currently on parole or under any probationary agreement, for
cannabis offenses, and provides notification and certification
of the expungement or sealing;
(8) establishing a process for resentencing persons serving
sentences for cannabis convictions and redesignating of
penalties for persons previously convicted of cannabis-related
crimes for which the penalties have been reduced or removed;
(9) eliminating suspicion-less drug testing for non safety-
sensitive employment positions;
(10) eliminating punishment or other penalization for
persons currently under parole, probation, or other State
supervision, or released on bail awaiting trial, for conduct
otherwise allowed under State cannabis laws, and allowing the
medical use of cannabis by incarcerated person if recommended
by their physician;
(11) setting aside a percentage of the tax revenue from
cannabis sales to be reinvested in communities that have been
most affected by cannabis arrests and the drug war, which most
frequently have been communities of color, including programs
for job training, reentry services, expungement expenses,
public libraries, community centers, programs and opportunities
dedicated to youth, and health education programs;
(12) using a percentage of tax revenue to establish a
special fund to provide small business investments to support
people of color entering into the legal cannabis industry;
(13) establishing cannabis regulatory and oversight bodies
and commissions that reflect the racial, ethnic, economic, and
gender makeup of the surrounding community;
(14) creating employment and subcontracting requirements
for cannabis licensees in order to use the ancillary business
activity generated by the cannabis industry to employ people of
color; and
(15) including provisions designating spaces for public
consumption, either by the licensing of social entities or by
creating these spaces.
SEC. 3. DESCHEDULING CANNABIS GLOBALLY.
It is the sense of the House of Representatives that the President
should direct the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and the Commission
on Narcotic Drugs to seek to deschedule cannabis from the international
drug control treaties, expunge and forgive legal penalties relating to
certain low-level marijuana offenses, and treat cannabis as a legal
commodity.
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