The White House’s 2026 fiscal year budget request calls for the repeal of a long-standing federal budget rider that prohibits the Justice Department from using taxpayer dollars to prosecute patients and others involved in the state-legal medical cannabis industry.
“Although Congress has failed to amend federal cannabis laws to explicitly recognize state-legal cannabis markets, the attitudes and priorities of federal law enforcement agents and prosecutors have clearly shifted in a manner that reflects their reality. Now it’s time for Congress to do so by repealing the failed policy of federal marijuana prohibition.”
This week, I received a Pardon Certificate for a marijuana offense from the President of the United States.
“This bill will facilitate trusted university partners to engage in the kinds of research that will best equip state and federal lawmakers and regulators to develop effective cannabis policies based on public health and safety, will allow consumers to make more informed choices, and will help train the next generation of cannabis researchers.”
Members of the US House of Representatives have announced that they will hold a floor vote next week on the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act. The MORE Act, or H.R. 3617, removes marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, facilitates expungement and resentencing for nonviolent federal marijuana convictions, promotes diverse participation in the regulated cannabis industry, and helps repair the racially and economically disparate harms caused by our nation’s disastrous prohibition policies.
“Congressman Young was a passionate supporter of ending America’s failed marijuana prohibition and implementing a legalization policy based on personal freedom and individual liberty.”
We have a chance to push a major marijuana legalization bill through the House of Representatives, but time is quickly running out.
