“This week the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on a bill that would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and require federal courts to expunge many prior marijuana offenses. It will be the first time the full House will vote on ending the federal prohibition of cannabis,” Yahoo! Finance reports.
The bill was introduced by New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, but portions of it were authored by Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee, including a five percent tax on cannabis products. The proceeds from the tax would go toward helping groups “adversely impacted by the War on Drugs.”
“When you’ve been incarcerated or when you have have a record based on unjust laws — they’re really targeted in many ways, Black and Brown people — then you’ve got to make restitution, you’ve got to repair the damage,” Lee said. “This fund is about the time that was lost because of barriers to employment, because of incarceration.”
ebcitizen.com 