Framework for Federal Cannabis Regulation
Representing D4DPR on the Drug Policy Alliance’s Workgroup for Federal Cannabis Regulation, board member Dr. Rachel Knox has contributed to the development of a detailed framework to guide the development of federal cannabis regulations. This framework focuses on Ending, Repairing, and Preventing Harm when designing a law to regulate cannabis and proposes guidelines for addressing human, environmental, social and economic equity.
RECOMMENDATIONS TO LEGALIZE CANNABIS RIGHT FEDERALLY
We must end the harms of cannabis prohibition by:
- Acknowledging the history of prohibition and taking responsibility for the harms of it
- Descheduling cannabis
- Ending criminalization & punishment for cannabis
- Limiting the consequences of cannabis use or convictions
- Refocusing & reprioritizing enforcement by restricting federal law enforcement funding,
- limiting the role of police and ending racially-biased enforcement
We must repair the harms of cannabis prohibition by:
- Automatically expunging past federal cannabis arrests and convictions
- Funding and incentivizing states to expunge state cannabis arrests and convictions
- Establishing a just and equitable industry
- Limiting barriers for people with past drug convictions from participating in the industry
- Enacting a progressive federal tax to support an equitable industry
- Ensuring profits are redirected back into the communities that have been most harmed
We must prevent further harm by:
- Properly regulating cannabis to protect consumer health and privacy, the environment,
- minors, and ensure fair and safe labor practices
- Creating a federal oversight and accountability board
- Limiting and tightly regulating large corporate entities
- Encouraging and funding research
- Protecting tribal interests and respecting tribal sovereignty
- Ensuring international trade policies protect domestic producers and do not put unnecessary barriers on importation from traditional source countries
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