IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 960 

Urging action to increase equity within cannabis policy and the legal cannabis 

marketplace. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 11, 2024 

Ms. LEE of California (for herself, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. NORTON, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. 

ADAMS, and Mr. MCGOVERN) submitted the following resolution; which 

was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition 

to the Committees on the Judiciary, Education and the Workforce, and 

Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Urging action to increase equity within cannabis policy and 

the legal cannabis marketplace. 

Whereas persons and communities continue to be negatively 

impacted by cannabis policies and marijuana’s status as 

a scheduled substance under the Controlled Substances 

Act; 

Whereas the persons and communities that have been most 

harmed by marijuana prohibition are benefitting the least 

from the legal cannabis marketplace and other cannabis 

policy reforms; 

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Whereas a legacy of racial and ethnic injustices, compounded 

by the disproportionate collateral consequences of 80 

years of marijuana prohibition and enforcement, now limits access to public benefits, such as nutritional assistance, housing, education and economic opportunities, including participation in the cannabis industry; 

Whereas 24 States as well as the District of Columbia and 

the territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands have legalized 

cannabis use for adults and 38 now allow some form of 

medical cannabis; 

Whereas the United States cannabis market currently stands 

at around $65 billion in annual revenue, and by 2030, 

this number is expected to balloon to $100 billion if cannabis is federally legalized; 

Whereas the failed war on drugs has cost the United States 

roughly $1 trillion, with economists estimating that 

criminal justice expenditures related to the marijuana 

prohibition costs States roughly $6 billion and the Federal Government $4 billion per year; 

Whereas people of color have been historically victimized by 

discriminatory sentencing practices, resulting in Black 

men receiving drug sentences that are 13.4 times greater 

than sentences imposed for White men, and non-White 

persons accounted for 86.5 percent of cannabis convictions; 

Whereas, according to the ACLU, Black people are 3.64 

times more likely than White people to be arrested for 

cannabis possession, even though usage rates are comparable; 

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Whereas hundreds of thousands of people continue to be arrested every year for cannabis violations, primarily at the 

State level, and that the Federal placement of cannabis 

in the Controlled Substances Act is often cited as a reason for States not to legalize cannabis; 

Whereas the decriminalization of cannabis possession has 

proved to reduce the disparity in arrest rates between 

Black and White men by almost 20 percent, as well as 

reducing total arrest rates by over 70 percent among 

adults; 

Whereas the criminalization of cannabis results in the detention and subsequent deportation of countless immigrants 

seeking to build better lives for themselves and their families in the United States; 

Whereas, as a noncitizen merely working for a State-licensed 

marijuana business and otherwise fully compliant with all 

Federal and State laws can still be deported due to the 

placement of marijuana in the Controlled Substances Act; 

Whereas cannabis policies continue to punish people for personal cannabis use and possession, as well as legal 

records and consequences associated with cannabis violations; 

Whereas non-White ownership of cannabis businesses shrank 

in 2022 to 15.4 percent from 20.7 percent in 2021; 

Whereas cannabis businesses are limited by numerous laws, 

regulations, taxes, and prohibitive permit applications 

and licensing fees in these States, which can total more 

than $100,000, with annual renewal fees also exceeding 

$100,000; 

Whereas historically disproportionate arrest and conviction 

rates make it particularly difficult for people of color to 

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enter the legal cannabis marketplace, as most States bar 

these individuals from participating; 

Whereas Federal law severely limits access to loans and capital for cannabis businesses, disproportionately impacting 

minority small business owners; 

Whereas the World Health Organization reported that about 

2.5 percent of the global population use cannabis, and 

disparate legal outcomes pertaining to the substance have 

been replicated in foreign states; 

Whereas cannabis and cannabis resin, including extracts and 

tinctures of cannabis, are classified by the United Nations (UN) as a Schedule I drug under UN drug control 

treaties such as the Single Convention on Narcotic 

Drugs; 

Whereas the classification of cannabis as a Schedule I drug 

is outdated and the U.S. should be leading the way on 

cannabis reform at the multilateral level; 

Whereas foreign states such as Canada, Luxembourg, Malta, 

Thailand, and Uruguay have legalized cannabis for recreational use, and multiple others including Mexico, 

Georgia, Germany, Ghana, and South Africa have taken 

steps to legalize cannabis; 

Whereas additional foreign states would reevaluate how cannabis is classified in their countries if the United Nations 

did so; and 

Whereas an increasing number of States and municipalities 

have taken proactive steps to acknowledge and address 

the harms of cannabis criminalization, advance equity in 

cannabis policy, and mitigate inequalities in the legal 

cannabis marketplace: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, 

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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Realizing Equitable 

3 & Sustainable Participation in Emerging Cannabis Trades 

4 Resolution’’ or the ‘‘RESPECT Resolution’’. 

5 SEC. 2. BEST PRACTICES AND STEPS TO ADVANCE EQUITY 

6 IN CANNABIS POLICY; ADDRESS DISPARITIES 

7 IN THE CANNABIS MARKETPLACE PARTICIPA8 TION; ADDRESS, REVERSE, AND REPAIR CER9 TAIN EFFECTS OF THE WAR ON DRUGS. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The House of Representatives en11 courages States and localities to adopt best practices and 

12 take bold steps referred to in subsection (b) to advance 

13 equity in cannabis policy and address disparities in the 

14 cannabis marketplace participation and to address, re15 verse, and repair the most egregious effects of the War 

16 on Drugs on communities of color, in particular to those 

17 who now hold criminal records for a substance that is now 

18 legal and regulated. 

19 (b) BEST PRACTICES AND STEPS.—The practices 

20 and steps referred to in this subsection include— 

21 (1) eliminating State and local criminal pen22 alties for the possession and use of cannabis and en23 suring that public benefits cannot be denied to per24 sons due to a cannabis conviction; 

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1 (2) establishing licensing and application fees 

2 that are reasonable to cover only the costs of pro3 gram implementation and necessary regulations; 

4 (3) creating a system where licensing is to be 

5 obtained at the city or county level and should be 

6 based on regulations determined by the local juris7 diction that meet the State’s minimum require8 ments, which allows the community to determine the 

9 type and number of businesses, avoids arbitrary caps 

10 on licenses, and results in an industry more rep11 resentative of the local market; 

12 (4) in States where license caps are completely 

13 unavoidable, establishing local oversight and control 

14 of cannabis licenses by allowing local cities and mu15 nicipalities to prioritize licenses for local citizens and 

16 residents, especially individuals most impacted by 

17 the War on Drugs, by taking into account and 

18 prioritizing— 

19 (A) long-term residency within the State or 

20 locality; 

21 (B) individuals whose income is less than 

22 80 percent of the median household income 

23 within a county; 

24 (C) individuals who have been formerly in25 carcerated; 

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1 (D) individuals with prior drug law viola2 tions; 

3 (E) individuals living within a jurisdiction 

4 that is heavily policed; and 

5 (F) policies and regulations that truly pre6 vent large companies and wealthy investors 

7 from obtaining significant revenue generated by 

8 license holders who have been prioritized for 

9 ownership for the reasons described in subpara10 graphs (A) through (E) above and for equity11 based prioritizations determined by the State; 

12 (5) adopting laws and implementing regulations 

13 that will allow small cultivators to thrive in the legal 

14 market; 

15 (6) creating more equitable licensing by— 

16 (A) eliminating broad felony restrictions 

17 for licensing; 

18 (B) focusing restrictions on entering the 

19 market to those, determined on a case-by-case 

20 basis for both licensees and employees, with 

21 criminal convictions that are relevant to the 

22 owning and operating of a business; and 

23 (C) prohibiting previous cannabis convic24 tions from consideration as justification for a 

25 denial of a license; 

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1 (7) creating an automatic process, at no cost 

2 for the individual, for the expungement or sealing of 

3 criminal records for cannabis offenses that is inclu4 sive of individuals currently on parole or under any 

5 probationary agreement, for cannabis offenses, and 

6 provides notification and certification of the 

7 expungement or sealing; 

8 (8) establishing a process for resentencing per9 sons serving sentences for cannabis convictions and 

10 redesignating of penalties for persons previously con11 victed of cannabis-related crimes for which the pen12 alties have been reduced or removed; 

13 (9) eliminating suspicion-less drug testing for 

14 non safety-sensitive employment positions; 

15 (10) eliminating punishment or other penaliza16 tion for persons currently under parole, probation, 

17 or other State supervision, or released on bail await18 ing trial, for conduct otherwise allowed under State 

19 cannabis laws, and allowing the medical use of can20 nabis by incarcerated person if recommended by 

21 their physician; 

22 (11) setting aside a percentage of the tax rev23 enue from cannabis sales to be reinvested in commu24 nities that have been most affected by cannabis ar25 rests and the drug war, which most frequently have 

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1 been communities of color, including programs for 

2 job training, reentry services, expungement expenses, 

3 public libraries, community centers, programs and 

4 opportunities dedicated to youth, and health edu5 cation programs; 

6 (12) using a percentage of tax revenue to estab7 lish a special fund to provide small business invest8 ments to support people of color entering into the 

9 legal cannabis industry; 

10 (13) establishing cannabis regulatory and over11 sight bodies and commissions that reflect the racial, 

12 ethnic, economic, and gender makeup of the sur13 rounding community; 

14 (14) creating employment and subcontracting 

15 requirements for cannabis licensees in order to use 

16 the ancillary business activity generated by the can17 nabis industry to employ people of color; and 

18 (15) including provisions designating spaces for 

19 public consumption, either by the licensing of social 

20 entities or by creating these spaces. 

21 SEC. 3. DESCHEDULING CANNABIS GLOBALLY. 

22 It is the sense of the House of Representatives that 

23 the President should direct the U.S. Mission to the United 

24 Nations and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs to seek 

25 to deschedule cannabis from the international drug control 

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1 treaties, expunge and forgive legal penalties relating to 

2 certain low-level marijuana offenses, and treat cannabis 

3 as a legal commodity. 

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