House Judiciary Committee Agrees We Need MORE with Historic Vote Clearing Path to End Marijuana Prohibition

Washington, D.C. – Today, the House Judiciary Committee voted to approve the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (MORE Act). This historic step makes the MORE Act the first piece of comprehensive marijuana legislation to ever make it out of a congressional committee, and barring any other committees claiming jurisdiction, will be the first to ever receive a floor vote.

The below is a statement from Drug Policy Alliance Executive Director Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno:

“With today’s mark-up of the MORE Act, the United States is coming one step closer to ending the devastating harms of marijuana prohibition, which have fallen so heavily on Black and Brown people. 

This legislation won’t make up for the full scale of harm that prohibition has caused to its victims. It’s not going to return anyone their lost dreams, time lost at the mercy of the criminal justice system; or the years spent away from their families. But this legislation is the closest we’ve come yet to not only ending those harms at the federal level, but also beginning to repair them. Now it’s up to Congress to do the right thing and swiftly pass the bill to ensure justice is not delayed a moment longer.”