The House voted to decriminalize marijuana. Just one California Republican agreed
One California Republican voted to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level on Friday.
He might not be the one you would expect to do so.
But Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, has long supported decriminalizing the drug, even though he does not support marijuana use.
“Personally, I believe cannabis use in most cases is ill-advised. But many things are ill-advised that should not be illegal, but rather be left to the informed judgment of free men and women,” McClintock said in 2019.
Though legalizing marijuana has typically been viewed as a more liberal position, McClintock is certainly not considered the most moderate of California’s House Republicans. He is generally a reliable conservative vote.
McClintock was one of three Republicans in the U.S. House to support the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, or MORE Act, to decriminalize it at the federal level and cut its scheduling under the Controlled Substances Act on Friday. The other two Republicans to support it were from Florida. Four Republicans did not vote: None of them were from California.
The bill, if signed into law, would also create a process for nonviolent marijuana offenders to have their convictions cleared.
Ten Republicans represent California in the U.S. House. Former Congressman Devin Nunes would have made it 11, but he resigned to become the chief executive officer of former President Donald Trump’s social media venture.
All 42 California Democrats supported the measure.
Decriminalizing marijuana on the federal level has been viewed as the gateway for opening more states to recreational use of the drug.
California legalized recreational marijuana in 2016. In 1996, it was the first state to legalize medical marijuana.
Eighteen states and Washington D.C. have legalized recreational marijuana. Thirty-eight states and D.C. have legalized medical marijuana.
Marijuana is currently a Schedule I drug — the highest designation — alongside heroin and ecstasy, according to federal standards. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, a Schedule I drug is one that has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”
Advocates for descheduling the drug have pointed out that people of color are far more often arrested for violating marijuana possession laws than their white counterparts, even when consumption is the same across ethnicities.
The MORE Act passed the House, 220 to 204, on Friday. It faces an uphill battle to pass in the Senate. A similar bill was stalled there in 2020.
McClatchy DC’s David Lightman and Bryan Lowry contributed to this story.
This story was originally published April 2, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
