H.Res. 926 — RESPECT Resolution

This section encourages states and localities to adopt best practices and steps to advance equity in cannabis policy, address disparities in cannabis marketplace participation, and repair effects of the War on Drugs on communities of color (particularly those with cannabis-related criminal records). The specified practices include (1) eliminating state and local criminal penalties for cannabis possession and use and ensuring public benefits are not denied due to cannabis convictions; (2) setting reasonable licensing fees limited to program costs; (3) basing licensing at the city or county level on local regulations meeting state minimums, without arbitrary caps; (4) where license caps exist, prioritizing local residents impacted by the War on Drugs (e.g., long-term residents, those with incomes below 80% of county median household income, formerly incarcerated individuals, those with prior drug violations, and residents of heavily policed areas) and restricting large companies from dominating; (5) supporting small cultivators; (6) eliminating broad felony bans on licensing, restricting denials to case-by-case relevant convictions, and barring prior cannabis convictions from consideration; (7) providing automatic, no-cost expungement or sealing of cannabis records (including for those on parole or probation) with notification; (8) enabling resentencing and penalty redesignation for cannabis convictions; (9) ending suspicionless drug testing for non-safety-sensitive jobs; (10) considering interstate commerce impacts on disparities; (11) promoting fair labor standards; (12) eliminating penalties for supervised individuals engaging in state-allowed cannabis activities and permitting medical use for incarcerated persons if physician-recommended; (13) reinvesting a percentage of cannabis tax revenue in disproportionately affected communities (e.g., for job training, reentry, expungement, libraries, youth programs, and health education); (14) using tax revenue for a fund supporting people of color entering the industry; (15) ensuring regulatory bodies reflect community demographics; (16) requiring employment and subcontracting for people of color; (17) designating public consumption spaces; and (18) launching education campaigns on legal, public health, consumer, youth access, and impaired driving issues.

This section expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the President should direct the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Vienna to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs to (1) seek to deschedule cannabis from the international drug control treaties; (2) expunge and forgive penalties relating to cannabis for prior offenses; (3) acknowledge and study the impacts of controlling cannabis through international treaties; and (4) treat cannabis as a legal commodity.