Senate Democrats, including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, plan to reveal a draft bill Wednesday to end the federal prohibition on marijuana — a move that comes as 18 states have already legalized pot for recreational use.
“The Senate has to catch up with the American people,” Schumer said.
The Senate has the slimmest of majorities — 50-50, including the two independents who caucus with the Democrats, and 51 with the vice president breaking a tie.
A summary of the discussion draft, sponsored by Schumer, Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., says states would still be able to decide their own laws about marijuana. The text compares proposed regulations to those for alcohol, sales of which states are free to prohibit.
In 1969 just 12 percent of Americans supported legalization, Gallup polling found. Last year, it was 68 percent.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, one of the court’s most conservative members, wrote last month that federal laws against use or cultivation of marijuana may no longer make sense
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