Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s long-awaited comprehensive marijuana reform bill is delayed again.
Schumer now plans to introduce his Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act before the Senate recess in early August instead of later this month, according to The Hill and other media outlets.
Fellow Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Ron Wyden of Oregon also have been heading the effort.
Industry experts say Schumer so far is well short of the support he needs to get his marijuana reform package passed in the Senate.
The latest delay comes as marijuana reform in the Senate essentially has stalled.
That’s not been the case in the U.S. House of Representatives.
There, lawmakers recently passed for the second time in the chamber’s history the comprehensive marijuana reform measure known as the MORE Act.
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House Democrats also are trying to push through cannabis banking reform as part of an American competitiveness bill that will be hammered out by a congressional conference committee.
And, earlier this week, three House lawmakers – including a Republican leader on the Congressional Cannabis Caucus – introduced a bipartisan bill to direct the federal government to develop a regulatory framework that would be enacted if and when the 85-year federal prohibition on marijuana ends.