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Persuasive Essay On Legalizing Marijuana

845 Words4 Pages

As more states are legalizing marijuana in some form, the substance is still illegal as a schedule I drug under the CSA. The effects of the prohibition on marijuana have adversely impacted people of color in many different way. Even now with legalization, people of color are being shut out of the economic benefits because of federal laws. In August of 2017, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker proposed legislation to address the prohibition of marijuana and its effects on targeted communities. The purpose of the Marijuana Justice Act is “to amend the Controlled Substances Act to provide a new rule regarding the application of the Act of Marijuana”. Section 2 of the bill would effectively de-schedule “marihuana” from the CSA. By removing marijuana as a schedule I drugs would end the federal criminalization of the substance and would remove its formal designation as an extremely dangerous …show more content…

In an interview with Vice news, He said, “This war on drugs is a war on people, and not all people: It’s a war on poor people, on mentally ill people, on addicted people, and on people of color. My bill is focused on understanding that it’s not just about ending prohibition. It has to be about retroactively expunging records. It has to be about community repair and addressing the generational damage that’s been done stripping communities of their economic strength”. Senator Booker is one of the first politicians who have addressed prohibition at such an institutional level imploring his colleagues to join in his crusade to end the prohibition of marijuana. However, his proposed bill would not explicitly make marijuana legal, rather it would take it off the federal scheduling of the CSA. This allows states to make their own laws to prohibit marijuana, if they want

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