Kyle Jaeger, writing for Marijuana Moment:
The Senate will vote to pass a bill to federally legalize marijuana within the next two years.
That’s according to the top Democratic lawmaker who is expected to be installed as majority leader following his party’s projected clean sweep in this week’s two Georgia runoff elections that will give them control of the chamber.
Coupled with Joe Biden’s presidential win, the new situation on Capitol Hill means that federal cannabis policy change is in the cards for the 117th Congress. While the former vice president has declined to embrace adult-use legalization, he’s pledged to adopt modest reforms such as marijuana decriminalization and expunging past records.
And a push from House and Senate Democratic leadership—who are already on record with pledges to advance far-reaching marijuana reforms—could lead to the comprehensive changes that advocates have been fighting for, including the advancement of a federal cannabis descheduling bill that cleared the House last month.
Although there’s been a lot of insanity happening on Capitol Hill this week, federally-legal cannabis might actually become a reality within the next two years. And even if Congress doesn’t approve legislation that would legalize marijuana nationwide (or at least deschedule it), several states are already working on state-level reforms that could take place later this year.
Of course all this is assuming that the United States still has a functioning democracy in the future. I’m not much of a betting man, but if I was then I’d wager that our country will recover from this week’s craziness and that weed will be legal by 2022—maybe even this year. Here’s hoping.