US: House of Representatives wants to legalize marijuana

The US House of Representatives, which is dominated by Democrats, has spoken out in favor of legalizing the drug marijuana. Even if the bill is likely to fail in the Senate, it sends a signal.

The United States House of Representatives voted to legalize marijuana at the federal level. 228 MPs in the Democratic-dominated House of Parliament voted to remove marijuana from the US narcotics law. 164 deputies voted against. The majority of the votes against came from the Republicans. The bill is likely to fail in the Senate because Republicans have a majority in this House of Parliament.

The vote in the House of Representatives still sends a signal. A spokesman for then-candidate and now-elected president Joe Biden said in September that the Democrat was in favor of decriminalizing marijuana and the automatic expungement of a criminal record for possession of the drug. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who will remain in the Senate until next month, also supports legalization. He presented a corresponding bill to the Senate.

Several US states have already legalized marijuana

Biden and Harris will be sworn in on January 20 in Washington. Several U.S. states have already legalized marijuana, and other states plan to decriminalize it. As president, Biden could also address the issue at the federal level without Congress passing legislation.

The Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jerry Nadler, had presented the bill to the House. The Democrat stated after the vote: “For too long we have treated marijuana as a criminal justice issue rather than a matter of personal choice and public health.” The bill would also take the necessary steps to address the problem of the many victims of the “war on drugs”, which the latter had called for, especially among minorities.