Marijuana shares figuratively flew higher late Thursday after a federal bill to decriminalize the substance was accepted by a US House committee.
Aurora Cannabis, Canopy Growth, Cronos and Tilray have benefited in the midst of anticipation that the decision is a solid step towards growing a sector that now depends on a patchwork of local and state laws authorizing marijuana sales that have been prohibited for decades under federal law.
After more than two hours of debate, the House Judiciary Committee approved the proposal to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act by a 24-10 vote.
The vote "marks a turning point in federal drug reform and is really a symbol that the days of legalization are counted," said in a statement by Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Association for Cannabis Industry.
Neal Levine, chief executive officer of the Cannabis Trade Federation, called the vote "a landmark step forward for cannabis policy reform."
The vote comes at a time when most Americans live in states where marijuana is legal in some way and committee members from both parties acknowledged that federal drug legislation lagged far behind state-level changes.
That divide has created a host of problems- for example, loans and other banking services, due to the federal mandate, are hard to obtain for many marijuana companies.
But the future of the bill is uncertain. Whether the proposal would be reviewed by other committees and when, or whether a vote would take place in the full House was not immediately clear. In the Democratic-controlled House, the bill has a better chance of passing than in the Republican-held Senate.
A measure granting legal access to banking services to marijuana businesses passed the House earlier this year, but in the Senate, it has not advanced.
Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee complained that there had never been a hearing on the proposal to decriminalize cannabis and lacked the bipartisan support needed to become a law. "It's not going anywhere," said Rep. Doug Collins, a Republican from Georgia.
The legislation would allow a 5 percent sales tax on marijuana products to fund programs such as job training and legal aid to help people and communities harmed by the so-called drug war. It would also require federal courts to expel prior convictions of marijuana.
Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Jerrold Nadler, said that the nation has for too long "treated marijuana as a criminal justice issue, rather than a matter of personal choice and public health."
"It is unwise and unfair to detain, charge and jail people at the federal level," the New York Senator added.
