WEBVTT 00:02.533 --> 00:05.000 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: Tomorrow, New Jersey will become the latest state to allow the sale of recreational 00:07.500 --> 00:10.200 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% marijuana to people over 21. It's one of 19 states where such sales are legal or about to begin. 00:12.933 --> 00:17.033 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% But, as William Brangham reports, these states are legalizing cannabis, 00:17.033 --> 00:20.233 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% a substance that remains illegal under federal law. 00:20.233 --> 00:25.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Roughly 40 percent of Americans now live in states where marijuana is legal, 00:27.066 --> 00:31.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% but because of the drug's federal status, cannabis businesses struggle with banking 00:31.033 --> 00:33.766 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% and pay extremely high tax rates. 00:33.766 --> 00:37.133 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% So, will lawmakers here in Washington address this divide? 00:37.133 --> 00:41.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Joining me now is Natalie Fertig. She covers marijuana policy for Politico. 00:41.866 --> 00:43.133 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% Welcome. 00:43.133 --> 00:45.133 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% NATALIE FERTIG, Politico: Thanks. 00:45.133 --> 00:47.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, New Jersey is making this move, joining all of these other states. 00:47.700 --> 00:49.766 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% NATALIE FERTIG: Yes. 00:49.766 --> 00:52.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: We know that the House has passed a bill that would legalize is marijuana. 00:54.033 --> 00:56.066 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% What is its status, and what would it do? 00:56.066 --> 00:59.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NATALIE FERTIG: So, the bill technically would decriminalize marijuana. It would make it 00:59.700 --> 01:04.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% federally legal or decriminalized to possess and to use cannabis, 01:04.400 --> 01:07.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% but then it would leave it up to the states whether they then want to 01:07.833 --> 01:12.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% legalize cannabis and allow people to produce it and sell it and tax it. 01:14.600 --> 01:18.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% That's kind of similar to how America's alcohol laws work. The bill would also expunge some 01:20.500 --> 01:23.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% cannabis-related records, and it would create some social equity programs, which would 01:23.200 --> 01:28.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% give funding to people who want to get into the industry who've been disproportionately hurt 01:29.600 --> 01:31.633 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% by the nation's marijuana laws up to this point. 01:31.633 --> 01:34.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Does that have any chance of passage? Is the Senate going to take it up? 01:34.800 --> 01:37.500 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% NATALIE FERTIG: It's a really complex question. I mean, 01:37.500 --> 01:42.500 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% we're sitting here in April of 2021 -- '22. What year is it? 01:43.400 --> 01:44.866 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Twenty-two. 01:44.866 --> 01:46.100 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% NATALIE FERTIG: Twenty-two. Twenty-two. (LAUGHTER) 01:46.100 --> 01:47.333 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It's hard to keep up. 01:47.333 --> 01:49.866 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% NATALIE FERTIG: It's hard to keep up. 01:49.866 --> 01:50.500 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% And this was something that Democrats talked about when they ran in 2020. And we don't have a lot of 01:52.500 --> 01:56.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Congress left in this -- in this time period for the Senate to take this up and work on it. 01:58.066 --> 01:59.666 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% Senator Schumer has said that this is a priority for him. 02:02.300 --> 02:05.233 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% But he has also said that he's not going to have a bill until about just before the August recess. 02:06.633 --> 02:09.500 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% That really leaves an even smaller amount of time 02:09.500 --> 02:14.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% for the Senate to deal with something that is an incredibly complex problem or -- to solve. 02:16.466 --> 02:18.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: There's this other issue and a piece of legislation about banking, 02:18.500 --> 02:22.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% which I mentioned before, that does seem to have more bipartisan support. 02:22.066 --> 02:24.800 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% Again, what would that do, and how likely is that to pass? 02:24.800 --> 02:28.933 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% NATALIE FERTIG: Yes, so where decriminalization doesn't even have 02:28.933 --> 02:33.900 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% all Democrats on board, the banking bill has Republicans on board. 02:33.900 --> 02:38.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% The problem with the banking bill, which would let cannabis businesses access 02:40.433 --> 02:43.900 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% small business loans and get banking accounts, which, currently, 02:43.900 --> 02:48.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% because it's a federally illegal substance, they can't do, that bill has more support from 02:50.900 --> 02:53.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Republicans, but it doesn't have support from all of the progressive Democrats. 02:53.066 --> 02:58.033 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% So, Senator Schumer specifically and Senator Cory Booker have said, 03:00.066 --> 03:03.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% we don't want this bill to pass unless there are other elements incorporated 03:05.400 --> 03:08.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% into it or passed alongside it that would help people who have been hurt by the war on drugs. 03:10.433 --> 03:13.733 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% So there's this growing sort of concept within the Democratic Party, 03:13.733 --> 03:16.800 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% especially progressive Democrats, that definitely 03:16.800 --> 03:21.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% came out of everything that happened in the summer of 2020 with George Floyd and this 03:23.700 --> 03:27.066 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% increased focus on criminal justice reform that you can't allow people to make money off cannabis 03:29.033 --> 03:34.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% without helping people who have been put in jail previously for making money off cannabis. 03:36.633 --> 03:39.500 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% So that's really kind of where this divide has come down to now, 03:39.500 --> 03:41.600 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% and that's holding up the banking bill. 03:41.600 --> 03:46.600 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: If the federal government were to act cohesively on this and give states 03:48.533 --> 03:52.066 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% the green light, is there a sense that more states would 03:52.066 --> 03:54.666 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% suddenly become like New Jersey and jump on board? 03:54.666 --> 03:55.900 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% NATALIE FERTIG: It's possible. 03:57.900 --> 04:01.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% There's definitely states that use federal illegality as an excuse to not legalize. 04:02.333 --> 04:03.833 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% It's unclear whether or not 04:05.800 --> 04:10.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% they would just find another excuse after that happened, or if there are truly lawmakers in 04:12.466 --> 04:14.700 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% those states that are just waiting for the federal government to give them the green light. 04:14.700 --> 04:18.066 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% I think that states will still have to deal with the same issues that the 04:18.066 --> 04:22.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% federal government is dealing with. And those issues tend to hold up cannabis legalization, 04:22.933 --> 04:27.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% even in states that really, really want it. We saw this happen in New York, which tried 04:27.833 --> 04:32.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% multiple times to legalize cannabis, but the details really held them back. 04:34.266 --> 04:37.100 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% So I don't think that we would suddenly see 15 states legalize 04:37.100 --> 04:39.600 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% weed the minute that the federal government's laws changed. 04:39.600 --> 04:43.733 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Before these states started to legalize, there was a lot of concern raised 04:43.733 --> 04:48.700 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% by critics that teenagers are going to suddenly be using a lot of marijuana, that there's going to be 04:48.700 --> 04:51.500 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% motor accidents because everyone's going to be stoned and driving. 04:52.633 --> 04:54.166 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% With this national experiment happening, 04:54.166 --> 04:56.800 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% is there evidence that any of those fears have come to pass? 04:56.800 --> 05:01.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NATALIE FERTIG: So, that's a really complex question, mostly because there is not great data. 05:03.833 --> 05:08.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% We have small data points on each of those things from different states. But 05:08.000 --> 05:12.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% in almost every circumstance, there's another data point to either caveat or 05:14.533 --> 05:18.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% to compare against that sort of conflicts with the data. A lot of that is because cannabis is 05:20.600 --> 05:23.633 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% not federally legal. A lot of the data we would need to really understand the impact of cannabis 05:25.600 --> 05:29.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% on a national level would take the resources of the federal government to understand. 05:30.866 --> 05:35.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% So, while the sky hasn't fallen in, there are not thousands of or tens of thousands 05:37.433 --> 05:42.100 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% of new teenagers, there's not 6-year-olds smoking joints on the street corner, we don't really know 05:44.033 --> 05:48.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% the full extent of impact on all of the things that you just mentioned, 05:48.800 --> 05:51.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% which is rather unfortunate, given that it's been almost 10 years. 05:51.833 --> 05:55.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Natalie Fertig of Politico, thank you so much for being here. 05:55.266 --> 05:56.733 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% NATALIE FERTIG: Thanks for having me. 05:56.733 --> 05:59.833 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: And very helpful to have that update.