U.S. Congress: Legislation to End Cannabis Prohibition Nationwide and Allow Expungements Has Five Times the Sponsors of Top Anti-Cannabis Bill

That figure is five times the number of sponsors on the leading anti-cannabis bill, the “No Deductions for Marijuana Businesses Act,” which has just 11. The stark gap underscores the MORE Act’s position as the most heavily supported marijuana-related legislation currently on Capitol Hill. The MORE Act would remove marijuana entirely from the Controlled Substances Act, allowing states to maintain their own approaches to legalization and regulation without federal interference. It also provides for expungement of prior federal marijuana convictions and resentencing opportunities, directly addressing decades of enforcement that disproportionately targeted certain communities.

In addition, the measure establishes a federal excise tax on marijuana sales, with revenue dedicated to job training, youth programs, and re-entry services. It would extend Small Business Administration benefits to marijuana companies for the first time and prohibit marijuana-related convictions from being used to deny federal housing, loans, or other programs.

By contrast, the “No Deductions for Marijuana Businesses Act”, filed in February, would expand the reach of Internal Revenue Code Section 280E. The bill would permanently deny marijuana businesses the ability to deduct ordinary business expenses from their federal taxes, keeping their tax burden far higher than that of other legal industries.

Although the House has passed the MORE Act twice in previous sessions, the bill has repeatedly stalled in the Senate due to limited Republican support. Still, with more than five times the sponsors of the most prominent anti-cannabis measure, the MORE Act highlights where momentum in Congress currently lies: on the side of broad reform rather than prohibition.