Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) plans to introduce a bill to legalize cannabis at the federal level. This is notable because most legalization bills that have been introduced in Congress thus far have been introduced by Democrats. The bill Mace plans to introduce is significantly more narrow than the bills Democrats have proposed.

Mace’s bill would deschedule cannabis, create a 3.75 percent excise tax for cannabis sales, make cannabis an agricultural commodity, make people with certain cannabis convictions eligible for expungements and more.

It’s unclear if Democrats would get behind Mace’s bill considering they already have more expansive legalization bills ready that they would like to see passed. What is clear is that Mace’s bill doesn’t currently have a chance of passing without most Democrats voting in favor considering the fact most Republicans in Congress do not support legalizing cannabis.

If Democrats find this kind of bill is the only way they’re able to get legalization done before the midterms, there may be some motivation to get behind it. Legalizing cannabis at the federal level would be extremely popular and could help Democrats win elections in the midterms.

Carly Wolf, state policies manager at NORML, told Cannabis News Box that she’s happy to see a Republican getting behind this issue.

“Any federal reform proposal that moves forward will need bipartisan support, so it is great to see another Republican-backed measure,” Wolf said. “Poll after poll consistently shows support from majorities of both Republicans and Democrats, so I am confident that both parties can and will work together in the future to successfully deschedule marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act.”

Another Republican-led legalization bill was introduced by Reps. David Joyce (R-OH) and Don Young (R-AK) earlier this year. This shows that there are a growing number of Republicans who are ready to embrace cannabis, but it’s still far from a majority. Support for legalization has been growing in more conservative states in recent years, so Republican support for legalization will likely continue to grow.

Democrats in Congress will likely start focusing on the legalization issue more once they’ve dealt with the Build Back Better bill they’ve been
focusing on, but they’ll need significant Republican support to pass their legalization bill considering the fact some conservative Democrats are not in favor. If the margins are narrow, they may have to try to legalize cannabis through the reconciliation process to avoid it being blocked by the filibuster in the Senate.