A Democratic lawmaker has introduced a resolution in Congress that notes the country’s “moral obligation to meet its foundational promise of guaranteed justice for all,” in part by legalizing marijuana, expunging drug-related records and allowing facilities where people can consume controlled substances in a supervised fashion to prevent overdose deaths.
The legislation, filed by Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), proposes a number of reforms to address systemic issues like mass incarceration, racial discrimination, addiction and homelessness.
Cannabis isn’t the focus of the measure, but it’s included in a section calling for the decriminalization of “behavior and divert cases that do not require confinement” in order to reduce the country’s prison population.
Part of that effort should include “decriminalizing addiction, homelessness, poverty, HIV status, and disabilities, including mental health diagnosis, by legalizing marijuana and overdose prevention sites, declining to criminally prosecute low-level offenses such as loitering and theft of necessity goods, and expunging the records of individuals for all drug-related offenses.”
This marks the fourth Congress in a row that the resolution has been filed. Past versions did not advance to hearings or votes.
The measure also points out that approximately 30 percent of the federal prisoners are serving drug-related sentences.
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