Sponsors (17)
The bill ends federal criminal penalties for cannabis and creates a federal regulatory, research, and investment framework to expand market access and community reinvestment, but it does so at substantial taxpayer cost while imposing new regulatory compliance, administrative burdens, and lingering legal and privacy trade‑offs that may continue to complicate commerce and equity goals.
People with prior federal cannabis convictions (including many low-income and minority individuals) will have convictions vacated/expunged and no longer face federal punishment for decriminalized acts, reducing incarceration, employment/housing barriers, and immigration penalties.
State-legal cannabis markets, workers, and communities stand to gain expanded legal economic opportunities, jobs, and tax revenue—plus targeted grants and loan programs to help small, minority, and tribal businesses enter and grow the legal market.
Patients and clinicians will get greater research, FDA review pathways, and regulatory mechanisms (including expedited review for small disadvantaged makers) that improve evidence on safety/effectiveness and speed access to regulated cannabis medicines.
Taxpayers will fund substantial new federal spending (research, grants, CDFI/HUD, DOJ/SBA programs, FDA/implementation costs, advisory bodies), increasing the federal budgetary burden over multiple years.
Courts, prisons, and state administrative systems face large, time‑sensitive workloads and costs to process mass vacaturs, releases, record updates, and expungements—creating operational strain and transitional expenses for jurisdictions.
New federal regulatory, tracking, labeling, tax, and reporting requirements create significant compliance costs and short‑term uncertainty for small businesses and state-licensed operators, risking higher operating costs and market consolidation.
Based on analysis of 11 sections of legislative text.
Official title: Decriminalize and deschedule cannabis, to provide for reinvestment in certain persons adversely impacted by the War on Drugs, to provide for expungement of certain cannabis offenses, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 16, 2026 by Cory Anthony Booker · Last progress July 16, 2026
Removes cannabis from the federal Schedule I controlled substances list, creates new regulatory definitions for cannabis and cannabis products, and directs wide-ranging federal action to support research, public safety, workplace protections, financial access, tax collection, and restorative-justice programs tied to past cannabis enforcement. The bill funds multi-year research, sets up grant programs and a Justice Office for reinvestment and business assistance, establishes per-unit federal cannabis taxes with an Opportunity Trust Fund, updates FDA and Treasury rules, and directs agencies to issue guidance and studies to support regulatory transition and worker/roadway safety. The legislation affects federal criminal enforcement retroactively, funds research and state grant programs, requires agency rulemakings and reports, authorizes SBA loans and DOJ/OJP grant activity aimed at communities harmed by cannabis prohibition, and changes tax and banking rules to integrate a federally legal cannabis industry into existing regulatory frameworks.
De-schedules cannabis federally, creates federal definitions/regulation and taxes, funds research and restorative-justice programs, updates banking and workplace rules.