House Passes Bill To Decriminalize Marijuana

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement ("MORE") Act of 2019 (H.R. 3884), which removes marijuana from the scheduled substances list under the Controlled Substances Act, and decriminalizes the manufacturing, distribution and possession of marijuana.

The bill passed largely along party lines (222 Democrats and five Republicans voted in support, 158 Republicans and six Democrats voted against), and represents the first time that a bill legalizing marijuana was passed by either chamber of Congress.

Key provisions of the bill include:

• an expungement process for low-level federal cannabis-related convictions and the conducting of sentencing review hearings;