The initial draft of a long-awaited U.S. Senate proposal led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to federally legalize cannabis has been introduced, called the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act.

The bill’s principal characteristics are much in line with what activists had hoped for. It would deschedule cannabis on a federal level, expunge previous convictions, permit individuals to request resentencing, keep states’ ability to make their own cannabis regulations, further social equity, and erase collateral consequences such as immigration consequences for those who have been charged with cannabis possession.

But, one provision of the current proposal that activists have criticized and that has been added in past reformation bills would allow authorities to “continue to include cannabis for the purposes of drug testing of Federal employees.”

Furthermore, the bill would allow doctors working for the Department of Veterans Affairs to prescribe medical cannabis to veterans.

This is not the final version of the proposal. The public feedback session is underway through September 1.

source