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EDITORS NOTE: NJ Cannabis Insider is hosting a two-day business and networking conference June 8-9, featuring some of the states most prominent industry leaders. Tickets are limited.

Federal lawmakers took another step Friday towards eliminating the federal prohibition against cannabis with the reintroduction of legislation that would let the states decide whether to legalize the marijuana and provide help to communities ravaged by the war on drugs.

The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, or MORE Act, would remove cannabis classification as a Class 1 drug along with heroin and thus end the conflict between federal and state law.

It comes as an increasing number of states, including New Jersey, have legalized the drug for either medical or recreational use.

Last year, we saw more progress toward cannabis legalization than ever before, said Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., co-chair and founder of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus. This has been driven by unprecedented reforms at the state level. Now, Congress must deal with the problems created by the failed federal policy of prohibition.

The measure passed the House in December but never came up for a vote in the Senate, then controlled by Repiblicans.

When the MORE Act was approved by the House of Representatives in the previous session, Congress demonstrated in no uncertain terms that the days of federal marijuana prohibition are numbered, said Justin Strekal, political director of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

This year, with Democrats in control of the Senate, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., have said they would introduce a comprehensive cannabis bill.

The House legislation would remove the need for separate legislation allowing banks to provide financial services to legal marijuana businesses, since cannabis no longer would be illegal under federal law, and would allow cannabis operations to receive Small Business Administration loans.

The measure also would take several steps to help individuals and communities hardest hit by the war on drugs. It would require federal courts to expunge prior marijuana convictions and allow those currently under supervision to petition the courts for resentencing.

In addition, a 5% federal tax on marijuana and marijuana products would fund services such as job training, drug treatment and literary programs, loans to small cannabis businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and programs to help those hardest hit by the war on drugs to enter the marijuana industry.

Im proud to reintroduce the MORE Act to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, remove the needless burden of marijuana convictions on so many Americans, and invest in communities that have been disproportionately harmed by the War on Drugs, said the bills chief sponsor, House Judiciary Chair Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.

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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @JDSalant.

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Legislation to remove federal ban on marijuana introduced again in U.S. House - NJ.com