Dear US House Republicans, if there’s one point that needs to be stressed when discussing American cannabis reform and those who are advocating for those reforms, it’s that there is considerable support from conservatives for those very reforms. While conservatives support cannabis on a spectrum from only wanting strictly medical usage such as Agricultural Commissioner Sid Miller to South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace who introduced the States Reform Act that would end federal prohibition, the support for one type of cannabis reform or another among the GOP is certainly present.
In the Texas Legislature alone, many Republican representatives have shown their legislative support behind cannabis. For the vote of the 2019 House Bill 63 which would have lessened the criminal penalties for low-level cannabis possession, 37 Republicans representing districts that span Texas voted in favor of the measure. As for the heavily medical-focused bill of the 2019 Legislative Session that was HB 1365, 62 Texas House Republicans voted in favor of the measure.
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We’ve profiled Houston Young Republicans and their support behind HB 63 in the 2019 Session and their questioning towards Lt. Governor Dan Patrick about his unwavering views on cannabis. In November of 2020, I wrote an op-ed on this very site detailing many examples of conservative support behind cannabis across the country and why it’s time to acknowledge and appreciate that support. When a state as almost opaquely red as Mississippi legalizes medical cannabis with an overwhelming majority, then the rapidly growing and nationwide conservative support behind cannabis can’t be denied.
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Yet, despite the majority support among conservatives for one type of reform or the other, The US House Republicans once again voted strongly against The MORE Act, which would have been monumental for cannabis reform on the federal and state level alike. Fully entitled the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2020, the bill would’ve established measures that even states with fully legal cannabis are lacking.
As it would decriminalize at the federal level, cannabis businesses would be able to have access to loans from the Small Business Administration, protect US citizens and even immigrants who are cannabis users from losing any federal public benefits. From a criminal justice reform standpoint, The MORE Act would provide a process for expungement opportunities, meaning those who have criminal charges because of the decades-failing drug war may now have a second chance at life with a clean record. And almost as an example of social equity on a national level, The MORE Act also establishes “a trust fund to support various programs and services for individuals and businesses in communities impacted by the war on drugs.”
During a House vote on April 1st, the same day that New Mexico celebrated their inaugural day of recreational sales, The Democrat-controlled US House of Representatives passed The MORE Act with a vote of 220-204, meaning that the bill will move onto the Senate. Unfortunately yet predictably, all but three House Republicans voted against the wide-sweeping measure and continued to perpetuate the myth that those less informed on cannabis reform believe. The myth that not even a fraction of support for legal cannabis exists among conservatives.
Different from the Texas Legislature, US House Republicans still have miles to go and so many otherwise stubborn and tribalistic representatives to win over. And worse, several of the high-profile House Republicans are using the exact same reasons for opposition as they used back in December of 2020 when the House voted on a similarly large-scale cannabis reform bill. Very little of the GOP’s argument is based on criticism of the text of The MORE Act itself, but rather one-sided blame directed towards House Democrats and their octogenarian leader, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
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“Record crime, record inflation, record gas prices, record number of illegal immigrants crossing our southern border, and what are Democrats doing today? Legalizing drugs. Legalizing drugs and using American tax dollars to kick start and prop up the marijuana industry. Wow.” said Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.
In fact, most of the blame from the Republican side comes once again from what they view as Pelosi’s twisted priorities for the House. An open supporter of cannabis reform despite leaning conservative on other issues, co-Chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus and Ohio Republican Representative David Joyce voted against the MORE Act. Although stating his support for reform in a letter to his co-Chair Representative Jerry Nadler and admitting that “any effort on cannabis reform must have substantial bipartisan support to be successful”, still voted against the measure.
Joyce views the social equity measures included in the bill which would provide a portion of cannabis tax revenue to boost involvement from communities devastated by the Drug War as provisions that would “place an additional tax on legal operators to pay for the cost of industry access for illegal operators.” Furthermore, Joyce found the lack of a regulatory framework on the federal level mentioned in the bill to be a source of concern.
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“If The MORE Act is enacted,” Rep. Joyce wrote to Nadler, “individual states would be left to sort out issues typically reserved for federal agencies, such as labeling requirements and safety instructions.”
As someone who’s fully employed in the Nevada cannabis industry however, I find these claims to be confusing, as The Silver State alone created the most strictly regulated recreationally legal state in the country. If a federal agency such as the FDA were to create an entirely fresh set of regulations, then I wonder how it would change current regulations.
In total, only three House Republicans voted in favor of the bill. Florida Congressmen Matt Gaetz and Brian Mast who are 39 and 41 years old respectively. Since the vote, Mast has been appointed to the GOP co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus. The third notable vote in favor was California Congressman Tom McClintock. McClintock, who’s significantly older at 65 years old, has voted in favor of nearly every large piece of federal cannabis reform legislation, from voting in favor of The Medical Marijuana Research Act to the SAFE Banking Act of 2019 and even being a co-sponsor on the SAFE Banking Act of 2021.
McClintock is an interesting case of conservative support for cannabis where it truly matters. While McClintock is openly not a fan of cannabis use nor does he or any of his family members use the plant, he admits that cannabis prohibition has failed and only leads to further crime and an increase in underage usage.
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“If we want to keep marijuana out of the hands of young people, and we should,” Rep. McClintock explained in a 2020 interview, “the best way to do it is to legalize and regulate it as we do alcohol.”
The MORE Act has quite an uphill battle in the Senate. Although Democrats also have a majority in the Senate, it’s a slight majority at best and at least ten Republican Senators would need to vote in favor of the measure. And considering that 48 of the 100 current Senators are above the age of 65 and therefore were likely raised on Reefer Madness, it’s very possible that even many elder Democrat Senators won’t vote in favor of the measure.
Still though, the continued passing of various iterations of The MORE Act shows that the fire that powers federal cannabis reform is still burning brightly, even with a somewhat red tint.