The United States Senate will study a bill, presented this Thursday, that can legalize the marijuana use across the country, removing barriers for states that want to relax their cannabis laws.
The legislation was introduced by the leader of the Democrats in the Upper House, Chuck Schumer, and progressive senators Ron Wyden and Cory Booker, although there are members of their own party who are against it.
The president of the United States, Democrat Joe Biden, has declared in the past that he opposes the legalization of cannabis.
The initiative has few signs of prospering in the Senate, due to the narrow majority of the Democrats, who do not have all the support within their party, and the filibustering rule that implies that almost any legislative project needs a qualified majority of 60 votes to move forward.
The bill may eliminate federal cannabis-related criminal records and may give law enforcement more resources to combat illegal cultivation of the drug
In addition, it can establish a system of aid for small entrepreneurs who want to dedicate themselves to the cannabis industry and who come from communities especially affected by the legal persecution of drugs.
It is legal in more than 19 US states
“Cannabis legalization has demonstrated great success at the state level, so it’s time for Congress to catch up,” Schumer said in a statement celebrating the bill’s introduction.
In parallel, there is already a bill on the legalization of marijuana approved twice in the Lower House, although it has not yet received the approval of the Senate.
Currently, the recreational use of marijuana is legal in 19 states and the District of Columbia, where the US capital, Washington, is located.
Additionally, 37 of the 50 states allow medicinal use of the drug.
However, at the federal level, cannabis is still on the list of controlled substances, so the government can, in theory, order federal agencies to prosecute its use, although this does not happen in practice.
