MORE Act

Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act or the MORE Act

This bill decriminalizes marijuana.

Specifically, it removes marijuana from the list of scheduled substances under the Controlled Substances Act and eliminates criminal penalties for an individual who manufactures, distributes, or possesses marijuana.

The bill replaces statutory references to marijuana and marihuana with cannabis.

The bill also makes changes related to the economic impact of decriminalization, including the following:

• requires the Bureau of Labor Statistics to regularly publish demographic data on cannabis business owners and employees,
• establishes a trust fund to support various programs and services for individuals and businesses in communities impacted by the war on drugs,
• imposes an excise tax on cannabis products produced in or imported into the United States and an occupational tax on cannabis production facilities and export warehouses, and
• makes Small Business Administration loans and services available to entities that are cannabis-related legitimate businesses or service providers.

The bill also makes changes to other federal programs and legal processes to account for decriminalization, including the following:

• prohibits the denial of federal public benefits to a person on the basis of certain cannabis-related conduct or convictions,
• prohibits the denial of benefits and protections under immigration laws on the basis of an event (e.g., conduct or conviction) relating to possession or use of cannabis that is no longer prohibited under the bill, and
• establishes a process to expunge convictions and conduct sentencing review hearings related to federal cannabis offenses.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov