Possessing And Cultivating Psychedelics Would Be Legalized In Michigan Under New

As the House prepares to vote on a bill to federally legalize marijuana this week, the office of a key Republican congressman who supports ending federal prohibition circulated a letter to fellow GOP members on Wednesday offering guidance on the current “cannabis policy landscape” while explaining why he intends to vote against the Democratic–led reform legislation as drafted.

The letter from the office of Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, says he remains willing to “serve a resource for anyone looking to talk through” marijuana policy issues as the chamber gets ready for a floor vote on the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY).

This comes a month after Joyce separately sent a letter to Nadler expressing his commitment to “ending federal marihuana prohibition, enacting sensible regulations, and reversing the injustices that have resulted from nearly a century of cannabis criminalization.”

That letter to the sponsor says that the “outlook for substantial and immediate reform has grown immensely more positive since I first engaged on this issue in 2013. However, it remains clear that at this juncture, any effort on cannabis reform must have substantial bipartisan support to be successful.”

“Luckily, as the breadth of cannabis related legislation introduced in the past year alone indicates, this is neither a Democrat nor a Republican issue. It’s a bipartisan one,” Joyce said, adding that he is “willing and ready to work with you to refine the MORE Act so that it can garner adequate bipartisan support.”

It does not appear that the offer was taken up, as the newer letter from Joyce’s office to GOP congressional staff makes clear that, from his perspective, the MORE Act in its current form is unworkable. The bill has remain mostly unchanged, but for a few technical amendments, since it was reintroduced last year.

“As the Cannabis Caucus Republican Co-Chair, Congressman Joyce wants to be sure all GOP offices are equipped with any cannabis information they need,” the letter says. “Congressman Joyce is opposed to the MORE Act for a few reasons.”

Those reasons include opposition to provisions of the MORE Act that “would punish those who have made a point to operate legally at their own personal cost, by placing an additional tax on legal operators to pay for the cost of industry access for illegal operators.”

This appears to refer to components of Nadler’s bill that are meant to allocate portions of cannabis tax revenue to promoting participation in the industry by communities disproportionately impacted by prohibition—an equity concept that has been routinely touted by many advocates as a key component of any legislation to legalize marijuana.

Joyce’s office also said the congressman takes issue with what is described as a lack of a “responsible regulatory framework upon…