Democratic Party Endorses “A Pathway to Future Legalization”

Saturday the Democratic Party endorsed an amendment which would remove cannabis from Schedule 1 in the Controlled Substances Act. Both downgrading cannabis and removing cannabis from Schedule completely were discussed by committee members in a climactic drafting committee meeting. The Democratic Party platform now calls for cannabis legalization on both federal and state levels.

The amendment was introduced by David King, a Tennessee-based Bernie Sanders delegate and lawyer. King slammed historical cannabis prohibition, calling it merely a “craze” to hurt “hippies and blacks.”

81 out of 187 committee members voted for downgrading cannabis and only 80 opposed, resulting in an audible round of applause. A more moderate version was dropped earlier this week. The final language of the amendment reads“Because of conflicting laws concerning marijuana, both on the federal and state levels, we encourage the federal government to remove marijuana from its list as a Class 1 Federal Controlled Substance, providing a reasoned pathway for future legalization.”

It it the most progressive stance on cannabis that the Democratic Party has taken yet.

The unexpected popularity of the Bernie Sanders campaign was no doubt fueled by his call to legalize cannabis. Bernie’s influence on the 2016 Democratic platform is undeniable. “We got 80 percent of what we wanted in this platform,” Sanders foreign policy adviser Warren Gunnels told CNN.

The Marijuana Majority’s Tom Angell applauded support coming from the Democratic Party this election. “It’s going to be very, very hard for prohibitionists to reverse our gains, especially after we more than double the number of states with legalization by the end of this year,” Angel told Attn:.

Clinton delegate Mark Pryor (Arkansas) said the amendment opponents were unhappy with the language, but had no plans to fight the amendment. In earlier debates, Hillary Clinton has only agreed to downgrading cannabis to Schedule II.