Melina Mara The Washington Post | Getty Images WASHINGTON – Parliament is expected to vote Friday on legislation that would legalize marijuana nationwide, eliminating criminal penalties for anyone who manufactures, distributes or possesses the substance. The bill, called the Marijuana Reinvestment and Elimination Opportunity Act, was passed in Parliament last year but did not pass the Senate. The bill will also introduce procedures for deleting previous convictions from people’s records and impose a tax on the sale of cannabis products. The tax would start at 5 percent and eventually increase to 8 percent. Funding raised through the tax will be made available to a fund to provide vocational training, mentoring, substance abuse treatment, legal aid, re-entry services and leisure programs for young people. It will also provide loans to help small businesses in the cannabis industry “owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged people,” the bill said in a statement. “This landmark bill is one of the most important criminal justice reform bills in recent history,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said Thursday in a statement on the measure. Pelosi said the legislation would do “justice for those harmed by the brutal, unjust consequences of criminalization”, open up opportunities for people to participate in the industry and decriminalize the pot at the federal level “so that we do not repeat the serious mistakes of the past. us. “ Thirty-seven states and Washington, DC have enacted laws legalizing medical marijuana, with 18 states and DC legalizing recreational marijuana, according to the National Conference of States Legislatures. California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana in 1996. Pelosi highlighted the changes that have taken place at the state level in recent decades. “Now is the time for the federal government to follow suit.” Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., is working with Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., And Cory Booker, DN.J., to create similar legitimacy legislation in their room. The prospects for passing such a bill in the Senate appear to be slim because Democrats would need all of their members and 10 Republicans to overcome the 60-vote hurdle needed to get to a final vote.
