[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 75 (Wednesday, May 1, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H2778-H2779]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        RESCHEDULING OF CANNABIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, the Biden administration announced the 
long-awaited rescheduling of cannabis from schedule I to schedule III.
  This reschedule eliminates the vestige of the failed war on drugs 
started by the Nixon administration. Contrary to science, it was used 
for political purposes against Black Americans, young Americans.
  A schedule I controlled substance, which cannabis has been for over 
50 years, is one that has no medicinal value and is highly addictive. 
At the time the Nixon administration made that determination, they knew 
that that was false. It is not highly addictive, and it has, in fact, 
medicinal purposes. That has been demonstrated by vote after vote by 
Americans across the country that recognize that medical cannabis has 
tremendous therapeutic features.
  I could not be more excited or optimistic that we are finally on the 
homestretch to end the failed and misguided war on drugs. This action 
by the Biden administration ties together many of our initiatives, from 
justice to research to tax fairness, and charts the path for more 
progress sooner.

                              {time}  1045

  One of the overhauls here is the prohibition of the State legal 
cannabis businesses from banking services. Every day in the United 
States, there are people with shopping bags full of $20 bills that they 
use to pay their State taxes.
  Think of it. It is outrageous. It has made these State legal cannabis 
businesses sitting ducks for robbery, and it severely handicaps their 
ability to work in a constructive fashion.
  Furthermore, what is going to happen with this rescheduling is it is 
finally going to allow State legal cannabis businesses to fully deduct 
their business expenses.
  Right now, due to a provision known as 280 of the tax code, these 
businesses are prohibited from deducting legitimate business expenses.
  As a result, State legal cannabis businesses pay two, three, maybe 
four times more than a comparable noncannabis business. It is 
outrageous. It poses serious problems in terms of their profitability 
and being able to thrive.
  These decisions are going to raise the profile of an issue very 
important to some of us but which has never gained the attention it 
deserves or the momentum that it demands.
  We have made some progress here in the House. We have passed safe 
banking seven times with overwhelming bipartisan support, but it never 
could quite get across the finish line.
  This rescheduling by the Biden administration is going to help us 
change

[[Page H2779]]

that, and it is going to help the almost half a million people who work 
in the industry, the $40 billion a year of economic activity, eliminate 
the injustice, and perhaps, most of all, it will usher in a new era of 
protections because right now, somebody who buys their marijuana from a 
corner drug dealer in a park, that person has no license to lose. It 
doesn't check for ID.
  Treating marijuana in a thoughtful fashion is going to help us solve 
the racial injustice that has been evidenced against Black, against 
young people.
  It is going to be able to open up a whole array of cannabis products 
that will make a big difference in communities across the country.
  Today's decision changes all of that, and there is no going back. In 
this troubled Congress, it will also pave the path for building on our 
bipartisan Cannabis Caucus, an example where people can come together 
to work on something that can unite us rather than divide us.
  The rescheduling of cannabis is an important step in that direction 
and will have profound impacts from coast to coast.

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