More Than 100 Organizations Urge Congress to Move Forward on the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act

Author

Center for American Progress (CAP)

Release Date

Thursday, August 1, 2019

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Washington, D.C. — Today, more than 100 organizations released a letter asking Congress to quickly mark up and schedule the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act (H.R. 3884) for a floor vote. The MORE Act is the most expansive marijuana reform bill centered on social and racial justice introduced in Congress in recent years. By removing marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and making way for the expungement and resentencing of marijuana convictions, this bill would reduce racial disparities in the criminal justice system and ensure that marijuana activity no longer jeopardizes a person’s immigration status or ability to receive federal benefits. Moreover, it would provide funds for services in communities most harmed by the war on drugs and would diversify the regulated marijuana industry by supporting entrepreneurs whose communities bore the brunt of this country’s lopsided marijuana enforcement.

The letter’s signatories represent a broad cross-section of national and local social justice, economic opportunity, criminal justice reform, and drug policy organizations, including the NAACP, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the Center for American Progress, and the National Employment Law Project.

Maritza Perez, senior policy analyst for Criminal Justice Reform at the Center for American Progress, explained:

The MORE Act is the most far-ranging marijuana reform bill introduced in Congress to date. It provides a roadmap on how to reform our nation’s marijuana laws in a way that leads with social justice, beginning to repair the harm the drug war caused in African American and Latinx communities across the country. We urge House leadership to bring justice to these communities and expeditiously move this bill through the committee process and to the floor for a vote.

Queen Adesuiyi, policy coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance and one of the signers of the letter, added:

The MORE Act provides both relief and opportunity for communities most devastated by decades of the racist and failed war on marijuana. Historically underserved communities that bore the brunt of marijuana criminalization have waited long enough. We strongly urge Congress to move promptly on the MORE Act and end federal marijuana prohibition with an emphasis on racial and economic justice.

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