Sec. 2. Findings

421 words·~2 min read·/bill/119/hr/2934/ih/section-2

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

The Congress finds the following: States have vastly different visions for the role of legal cannabis in their cities and counties. Some wish to see a complete prohibition, while others believe cannabis should be treated like alcohol. States should be empowered to determine their own destiny for the cannabis markets. They should be able to enact time, place, and manner restrictions that help to aid small and craft businesses, impose regulations for health and safety, keep cannabis businesses away from schools, and generally fit with the character and values of the community.

While States have the power to determine what happens within their own borders, they cannot make laws permitting or restricting interstate commerce unilaterally. In the absence of Federal movement, the illicit interstate trade in cannabis has persisted even in the face of significant State policy changes. The Federal Government should be responsible for regulating and tracking this interstate trade to ensure cannabis does not end up where it does not belong. Today’s illicit marijuana market represents 75 percent of the known marijuana market.

Excessive taxation in licensed markets has caused the price of legal marijuana products to exceed that of illegal products by two to three times, contributing to the growth of the illicit market. Because of Federal restrictions on marijuana activities, marijuana is currently regulated by a punitive tax structure that harms the ability of licensed operators to sell marijuana products, discourages new business creation and growth, and perpetuates illicit markets. A Federal regulatory program for marijuana should require a framework that supports critical components such as proper administration and oversight, consumer safety protections, and enforcement.

The cost of such a program should fall on users of the program through the establishment of a Federal excise tax. Such a Federal marijuana tax should— support a legal market, not illegal sales and illicit activity; be low enough to not exacerbate the level of taxation set by States, thereby avoiding the pyramid effect of adding Federal taxes on top of high State taxes; be administrable and allow for consistent and timely collection by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau as primary regulator; and offset the costs of executing the administrative functions of a Federal regulatory framework for marijuana, including requirements for testing, enforcement and policing, youth prevention, and substance abuse prevention and education.

States that legalize cannabis utilize less public safety resources on cannabis arrests. This has allowed more police resources to be devoted to violent and property crime as well as more serious types of illicit substances.