Marijuana Moment: It’s ‘About Damn Time’ The Federal Government Catches Up To Voters On Marijuana Legalization, Congresswoman Says

[Tokeativity]

Members of Congress joined activists at a press conference on Wednesday to highlight the need for further federal marijuana policy reform beyond the incremental cannabis rescheduling process that the Trump administration is undertaking.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, pointed strong public support for broader marijuana legalization.

“Millions of people across this country agree that cannabis should be legal. People understand that the old approach has failed. They understand that adults should not carry criminal records for possessing cannabis,” she said. “They understand that we should be investing in education and economic opportunity, not mass incarceration.”

“It is about damn time Congress caught up with where the American people are,” Omar said.

But she also argued that “legalization alone is not enough.”

“If we legalize cannabis and simply allow large corporations to make huge profits while the very communities destroyed by the War on Drugs are left behind, then we have failed. Cannabis reform must be about justice and repair. That means expunging the records of people arrested for nonviolent cannabis offenses. It means reinvesting in communities that were targeted for decades by discriminatory policies, and it means ensuring working class people small businesses and entrepreneurs have a real opportunity in participating in this new economy.”

It's about damn time Congress legalizes marijuana. pic.twitter.com/lWBLBly28u

— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) May 13, 2026

Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV), another Congressional Cannabis Caucus co-chair, also spoke at the press conference that is part what advocates are calling “Cannabis Week of Unity,” organized by a nationwide coalition that aims to push Congress toward comprehensive federal cannabis reform.

“States have been way ahead of the federal government the whole time,” she said. “What we’re trying to do here now is bring the federal government up to the level of the states, because dragging behind is just not realistic and just doesn’t make any sense—morally, ethically, legally, health-wise, you name it.”

“Look how many states allow the use of marijuana, whether it’s medically or recreationally. I mean, let’s catch up.”

Titus discussed several pieces of cannabis reform legislation she is sponsoring, including one that would allow federal drug officials to more fairly consider the evidence about marijuana’s effects—including why it is “so much better than other things like maybe alcohol.”

“So let’s do the research, get the facts that these folks need, so they can educate our members,” she said. “They can advocate for this, and we can puff puff, pass that bill.”

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) appeared at the event as well, saying “there’s never really been a logical path why marijuana is illegal, except for politics,” citing the Nixon administration’s use of cannabis criminalization as a way to oppress people of color, young people and the anti-war movement.

“So a lot of people went to jail,” Cohen said. “A lot of people away from their families, lost SNAP payments and other housing opportunities because of marijuana convictions.”

Omar, the Cannabis Caucus co-chair, said the U.S. is “long overdue for a rational, just and humane cannabis policy.”

“For decades, we have spent billions of dollars enforcing a war on drugs that has failed and has devastated communities, ruined lives and disproportionately targeted Black, Brown and low-income Americans,” she said. “Right now, we have a completely unjust and ridiculous system in America, where most states have now legalized cannabis for medical and recreational use, but federal law has continued to lag behind.”

“That contradiction makes no sense. It hurts consumers, it hurts workers, it hurts small businesses and it only creates more chaos and inequity across this country. So let me be clear about what cannabis reform needed. What cannabis reforms are needed immediately. We must fully deschedule cannabis now. We must stop the federal hemp ban. We must fix the outrageous barriers facing legal legal cannabis businesses that cannot access banking services, and we must ensure that the millions of Americans living in legal cannabis states—from our veterans who use medical marijuana to deal with pain and PTSD, to our public housing residents who are threatened with eviction for using legal product—can finally do that without fear of federal punishment or government overreach.”

Cohen, for his part, said the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) resisted marijuana rescheduling during the Biden administration.

“It’s hard to get the DEA to get something done. My history and experience has been that the DEA is the Strait of Hormuz for marijuana legislation,” he said, comparing the agency to the waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman through which much of the world’s oil trade passes but which has been blocked amid recent hostilities between Iran and the U.S. and Israel. “You have to go through it, but you can’t do it.”

Under an order signed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche last month, marijuana regulated by a state medical cannabis license immediately moved to Schedule III. Marijuana products such as those in state-legal recreational markets remain in Schedule I for now, however, subject to a hearing process this summer to consider broader rescheduling of cannabis.

While rescheduling eases barriers to research and gives state-licensed businesses access to tax benefits, it does not broadly legalize marijuana.

Representatives of several drug policy reform organizations also spoke at Wednesday’s event, including Students for Sensible Drug Policy, NORML, Marijuana Policy Project, Last Prisoner Project, Drug Policy Alliance, Latino Cannabis Alliance, Law Enforcement Action Partnership, Cannabis Regulators of Color Coalition and other groups.

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Meanwhile in Congress, the House is expected to consider an amendment this week to let military veterans receive recommendations for medical marijuana through their doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies approved a bill last month containing provisions that would block federal officials from taking further steps to reschedule cannabis.

Separately, the House Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill and an attached report that expresses concerns about health risks from cannabis-derived products, while also encouraging research into the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics.

The full House also recently passed a Farm Bill with provisions aimed at aiding industrial hemp producers—but without any language to delay or alter the federal recriminalization of hemp THC products that’s scheduled to take effect later this year.

A new report from the Congressional Research Service details the scope and limitations of the federal marijuana rescheduling move.

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