With the Olympics just in our rearview mirror, Americans are asking now, more than ever, why cannabis is still federally illegal. This question was spurred by events such as Sha’Carri Richardson, a promising U.S. Olympic Track star competing in the 100-meter event, testing positive for marijuana. She was disqualified from competing in the Tokyo Olympics.
According to a July 3 article in the Washington Post, she used cannabis in Oregon — a state where it is legal.
The testing and the ban of this track star had the effect of Americans wondering why a drug recreationally legal in 18 states — medically legal in 37 states — would form the basis for disqualification from the Olympics when cannabis use has become more acceptable in our society? What’s more, state laws like the Illinois Cannabis Regulatory and Tax Act, call for expungement of past cannabis related low level criminal offenses as part of the social justice element of State Cannabis legalization laws. So State legislatures are accepting and embracing cannabis use, many for beneficial therapeutic medical use, while the federal government, and even the Olympics, are still penalizing individuals.
What is even more ironic is that on July 14, right after Richardson’s Olympic ban, Majority Senate Leader Chuck Shumer (D-N.Y.) proposed new federal cannabis legislation that would decriminalize marijuana. This sweeping new bill, entitled the “Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act,” would remove cannabis from the Federal Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule I drug, and begin regulating and taxing it, placing new federal rules on the cannabis industry. Though states would still be allowed to set their own marijuana laws, businesses and individuals in states that have legalized cannabis would be free for the first time to sell and consume without the risk of federal punishment. In essence, the new federal law would codify what the federal government has been allowing for years with a wink and a nod: not prosecuting cannabis operators federally if they lawfully follow state cannabis laws.
This recent federal bill is not novel. We have seen federal bills in the past that have sought legalization of cannabis or tried to allow for the banking of cannabis. All have not passed to date. But what is interesting about this new bill is its support by Schumer. The bill still needs support from 10 Republicans, which could prove difficult.
But if a form of this bill passes that would mean several benefits for state cannabis businesses. For one, they would be allowed to use credit cards for purchase of products, eliminating the problematic use of cash for sales, which also lead to safety concerns, and several robberies of cannabis dispensaries. Furthermore, cannabis businesses would enjoy normal business tax benefits (like normal tax deductions) that they now cannot take advantage of due to the federal prohibition. Also, access to capital for cannabis businesses would improve as more banks could more freely loan to them if they are no longer seen as purveyors of a federally prohibited substance.
This bill would also put a federal excise tax on cannabis, helping to raise money that could be funneled back to communities most affected by federal drug policy. But also, that tax money can be used to fund much needed, expanded medical research into cannabis. Research regarding cannabis, despite 37 legislatures agreeing to its therapeutic benefits, has been thwarted in the U.S. because research institutions could not lawfully possess significant amounts of cannabis for research due to the federal prohibition. Lifting that prohibition would allow for much needed research that for years has been stifled in the U.S. due to cannabis’ status as a Schedule I controlled substance.
Finally, the bill puts forth several programs allowing for social equity applicants to gain foothold in the burgeoning field of the cannabis industry in the U.S. One part of the bill would foster loans to small cannabis businesses owned by members of racially or economically marginalized groups to help communities that suffered disproportionately under the war on drugs. Also, the bill would help individuals remove or reduce criminal marijuana charges from their records to better enable them to obtain housing, jobs, and even loans.
Ultimately, an April 2021 Pew Research Center Poll showed that a whopping 91% of U.S. adults say marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational use. So while lawmakers wrestle with cannabis laws, and its further acceptance, the Olympics missed a shining star in Richardson attempting her to reach 100-meter racing dream. Perhaps the federal government should have acted earlier to address changes in cannabis acceptance. That would have possibly lessened the penalty against Richardson and others already embracing cannabis for its lawful use.
Reprinted with permission of Chicago Lawyer.
