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Members of a key congressional committee are holding a historic hearing on ending federal marijuana prohibition on Wednesday, setting the stage for a potential markup of legislation that could fundamentally change cannabis laws in the U.S.

The meeting of the House Judiciary Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee marks a significant development in the marijuana reform movement. Early signs indicate that members won’t be discussing whether to legalize cannabis—but how to do it.

“The hearing will provide Members with the opportunity to consider issues related to the need to reform marijuana laws in America,” a committee staffer said in a notice released on Tuesday. “This hearing will not focus exclusively on any one aspect of marijuana laws or any particular legislative proposal. Instead, the hearing will address the breadth of the issue and inform future legislative efforts.”

Those issues will likely include social equity in the legal industry, repairing the harms of prohibition and investing in communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the drug war.

Watch the hearing, titled “Marijuana Laws in America: Racial Justice and the Need for Reform” live below: 

While the meeting won’t focus on specific pieces of cannabis legislation, multiple relevant bills have been introduced this session—ranging from bipartisan legislation that would simply allow states to set their own marijuana policies to bills that would fully deschedule cannabis and include social equity provisions.

Malik Burnett, a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health physician and former Washington, D.C. policy manager at the Drug Policy Alliance’s Office of National Affairs, is one witness scheduled to testify at the hearing.

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby will also appear before the panel. Her office announced in January that her office would no longer prosecute cannabis possession cases.

David Nathan, a physician and board president of the pro-legalization group Doctors for Cannabis Regulation, will share his perspective with the committee.

Finally, Neal Levine, CEO of Cannabis Trade Federation, will be the minority party’s witness. Advocates view his inclusion as the Republican’s sole witness at the meeting to be a positive sign, as Levine supports broad marijuana reform.

Debate over the best approach to take when it comes to advancing such legislation has been a subject of strong interest among advocates, some of whom feel pursuing modest reform proposals that stand a better chance of passing in the Republican-controlled Senate for now would be more prudent, while others argue that the House should use the opportunity presented by broad support for legalization among its Democratic majority to take up more comprehensive bills.

On Tuesday, 10 leading civil rights and criminal justice reform groups including the ACLU added to that conversation by announcing that they’d formed a coalition designed to promote cannabis reform legislation that places an emphasis on social justice.

The Debate Over How, Not Whether, Congress Should Legalize Marijuana Is Heating Up

Image element courtesy of Tim Evanson.

The post Watch Live: Congress Holds Historic Hearing On Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

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Kyle Jaeger, KahliBuds, 420GrowLife