Despite 11 U.S. House Republicans backing legislation that intends to permanently punish cannabis businesses in the federal tax code, a trio of bipartisan representatives introduced a bill on April 17 that would do just the opposite and then some.
U.S. Reps. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, Max Miller, R-Ohio, and Dina Titus, D-Nev., filed the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) 2.0 Act, legislation that aims to federally legalize cannabis through an approach that allows states, Washington, D.C., U.S. territories and tribal nations to determine how to regulate cannabis within their borders.
Primary provisions under the legislation include:
- Removing cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act while also supporting states that choose to maintain prohibition enforcement policies;
- Providing state-sanctioned cannabis businesses with federal tax relief by allowing them to deduct ordinary business expenses (removing their conduct as “drug trafficking” from Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code); and
- Allowing for interstate cannabis commerce, including transportation through states and territories that choose to maintain prohibition policies.
Joyce, who co-chairs the Congressional Cannabis Caucus (CCC), sponsored a previous version of the STATES Act last Congress.
“Whether a state is pro-legalization or anti-legalization, we can all agree that the current federal approach to cannabis policy is not working,” Joyce said in a press release. “As President Trump has acknowledged, the existing policy has caused unnecessary harm and squandered taxpayer dollars by diverting law enforcement resources from combatting violent crimes to making needless arrests and facilitating incarcerations for small possessions of state-legal marijuana.”
Although President Donald Trump indicated along the campaign trail in September that he supported states’ rights on cannabis policy, as well as federal rescheduling and banking reform for the industry, he’s been silent on the issue since taking office 91 days ago.
Hellbound and Down 