National Conference of State Legislatures Passes Resolution Calling for Cannabis Descheduling
The National Conference of State Legislatures, which represents lawmakers from all 50 states, has passed a bipartisan resolution calling on the federal government to remove cannabis as a Schedule I controlled substance, which puts it alongside hard drugs such as heroin.
“The Controlled Substances Act should be amended to remove cannabis from Schedule I thus enabling financial institutions the ability to provide banking services to cannabis related businesses”, reads the resolution which was passed earlier today at the group’s annual legislative summit (held this year in Chicago).
The resolution was introduced by Oregon Representative Ann Lininger, and initially called for cannabis to be completely removed from the federal controlled substances list; it was amended to simply call for cannabis to be removed as a Schedule 1 drug, without explicitly stating that it should be off entirely.
The resolution is a step further than one passed by the group last year, which states that “federal laws, including the Controlled Substances Act, should be amended to explicitly allow states to set their own marijuana and hemp policies without federal interference.”
