Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement on the Biden administration’s executive action on cannabis:
“Today is a huge step forward in the fight to restore lives destroyed by the criminalization of cannabis. I echo President Biden’s call for states to do the same and repair harms done by the failed War on Drugs by pardoning all non-violent cannabis convictions. A review by HHS of how cannabis is scheduled is welcome, but those of us who have been advocating for reform, we already know that a comprehensive federal solution is needed. Legal protections for victims of the War on Drugs should be codified in law, cannabis should be descheduled and a federal regulatory system should be put in place to protect public health and safety. Leader Schumer, Senator Booker and I have the bill to get it done. I look forward to working with President Biden to build on today’s movement and advance commonsense cannabis reform.”
A web version of this memorandum is here.