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JUDY WOODRUFF: Tomorrow, 
New Jersey will become 
the latest state to allow 
the sale of recreational

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marijuana to people over 
21. It's one of 19 states 
where such sales are 
legal or about to begin.

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But, as William Brangham 
reports, these states 
are legalizing cannabis,

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a substance that remains 
illegal under federal law.

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WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Roughly 40 
percent of Americans now live in 
states where marijuana is legal,

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but because of the drug's 
federal status, cannabis 
businesses struggle with banking

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and pay extremely 
high tax rates.

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So, will lawmakers here in 
Washington address this divide?

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Joining me now is Natalie 
Fertig. She covers marijuana 
policy for Politico.

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Welcome.

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NATALIE FERTIG, 
Politico: Thanks.

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WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, New Jersey 
is making this move, joining 
all of these other states.

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NATALIE FERTIG: Yes.

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WILLIAM BRANGHAM: We know that 
the House has passed a bill that 
would legalize is marijuana.

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What is its status, 
and what would it do?

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NATALIE FERTIG: So, the bill 
technically would decriminalize 
marijuana. It would make it

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federally legal or 
decriminalized to possess 
and to use cannabis,

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but then it would leave 
it up to the states 
whether they then want to

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legalize cannabis and 
allow people to produce 
it and sell it and tax it.

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That's kind of similar to how 
America's alcohol laws work. 
The bill would also expunge some

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cannabis-related records, and 
it would create some social 
equity programs, which would

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give funding to people who want 
to get into the industry who've 
been disproportionately hurt

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by the nation's marijuana 
laws up to this point.

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WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Does that 
have any chance of passage? Is 
the Senate going to take it up?

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NATALIE FERTIG: It's a really 
complex question. I mean,

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we're sitting here in April of 
2021 -- '22. What year is it?

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WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Twenty-two.

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NATALIE FERTIG: Twenty-two. 
Twenty-two. (LAUGHTER)

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WILLIAM BRANGHAM: 
It's hard to keep up.

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NATALIE FERTIG: It's 
hard to keep up.

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And this was something 
that Democrats talked about 
when they ran in 2020. 
And we don't have a lot of

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Congress left in this -- in this 
time period for the Senate to 
take this up and work on it.

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Senator Schumer has said that 
this is a priority for him.

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But he has also said that 
he's not going to have 
a bill until about just 
before the August recess.

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That really leaves an even 
smaller amount of time

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for the Senate to deal with 
something that is an incredibly 
complex problem or -- to solve.

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WILLIAM BRANGHAM: There's 
this other issue and a piece 
of legislation about banking,

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which I mentioned before, 
that does seem to have 
more bipartisan support.

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Again, what would that do, and 
how likely is that to pass?

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NATALIE FERTIG: Yes, so 
where decriminalization 
doesn't even have

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all Democrats on board, 
the banking bill has 
Republicans on board.

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The problem with the banking 
bill, which would let 
cannabis businesses access

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small business loans and 
get banking accounts, 
which, currently,

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because it's a federally illegal 
substance, they can't do, that 
bill has more support from

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Republicans, but it doesn't 
have support from all of 
the progressive Democrats.

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So, Senator Schumer 
specifically and Senator 
Cory Booker have said,

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we don't want this bill 
to pass unless there are 
other elements incorporated

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into it or passed alongside it 
that would help people who have 
been hurt by the war on drugs.

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So there's this growing 
sort of concept within 
the Democratic Party,

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especially progressive 
Democrats, that definitely

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came out of everything that 
happened in the summer of 2020 
with George Floyd and this

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increased focus on criminal 
justice reform that you 
can't allow people to 
make money off cannabis

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without helping people who have 
been put in jail previously 
for making money off cannabis.

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So that's really kind 
of where this divide 
has come down to now,

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and that's holding 
up the banking bill.

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WILLIAM BRANGHAM: If 
the federal government 
were to act cohesively 
on this and give states

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the green light, is there a 
sense that more states would

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suddenly become like New 
Jersey and jump on board?

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NATALIE FERTIG: It's possible.

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There's definitely states 
that use federal illegality 
as an excuse to not legalize.

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It's unclear whether or not

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they would just find another 
excuse after that happened, or 
if there are truly lawmakers in

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those states that are 
just waiting for the 
federal government to 
give them the green light.

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I think that states will 
still have to deal with 
the same issues that the

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federal government is dealing 
with. And those issues tend to 
hold up cannabis legalization,

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even in states that really, 
really want it. We saw this 
happen in New York, which tried

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multiple times to legalize 
cannabis, but the details 
really held them back.

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So I don't think that we would 
suddenly see 15 states legalize

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weed the minute that the federal 
government's laws changed.

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WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Before 
these states started to 
legalize, there was a 
lot of concern raised

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by critics that teenagers 
are going to suddenly be 
using a lot of marijuana, 
that there's going to be

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motor accidents because 
everyone's going to 
be stoned and driving.

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With this national 
experiment happening,

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is there evidence that any of 
those fears have come to pass?

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NATALIE FERTIG: So, that's a 
really complex question, mostly 
because there is not great data.

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We have small data points 
on each of those things 
from different states. But

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in almost every circumstance, 
there's another data 
point to either caveat or

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to compare against that sort of 
conflicts with the data. A lot 
of that is because cannabis is

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not federally legal. A 
lot of the data we would 
need to really understand 
the impact of cannabis

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on a national level would take 
the resources of the federal 
government to understand.

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So, while the sky hasn't fallen 
in, there are not thousands 
of or tens of thousands

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of new teenagers, there's 
not 6-year-olds smoking 
joints on the street 
corner, we don't really know

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the full extent of impact 
on all of the things 
that you just mentioned,

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which is rather 
unfortunate, given that 
it's been almost 10 years.

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WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Natalie 
Fertig of Politico, thank 
you so much for being here.

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NATALIE FERTIG: 
Thanks for having me.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: And very 
helpful to have that update.