New ACLU-backed coalition lobbies for marijuana reform

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The group will work with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to seek changes to marijuana laws

An important new organization has been formed to help shape public marijuana policy on Capitol Hill. The group is comprised of ten civil rights and criminal justice reform organizations, all of which will be working together to advocate for changes to marijuana laws that would include wide-ranging social equity concessions. The new coalition feels that Washington is ready to make changes to marijuana laws and simply needs some help deciding how to make it happen.

The new Marijuana Justice Coalition (MJC) includes members of the ACLU, Center for American Progress, Center for Law and Social Policy, Drug Policy Alliance, Human Rights Watch, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights, NORML and Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

The organization said in a statement, “Ending prohibition on the federal level presents a unique and desperately needed opportunity to rightfully frame legalization as an issue of criminal justice reform, equity, racial justice, economic justice, and empowerment, particularly for communities most targeted by over-enforcement of marijuana laws.”

It also wants to see an elimination to “barriers to access to public benefits (e.g. nutrition assistance, public housing, etc.) and other collateral consequences related to an individual’s marijuana use or previous arrest or conviction” and “eliminating unnecessarily discriminatory elements for marijuana use, arrests and convictions, including drug testing for public benefits or marijuana use as a reason for separating children from their biological families in the child welfare system.”

The majority of the group’s efforts will center on legislation that has social impact in order to further equitable treatment across the board. Now that it appears Capitol Hill isn’t considering “if” it should enact marijuana reform, but “when” and “how” to do it, the MJC could prove to be a strong force in pushing the issue along.