The Senate will “move forward” in marijuana legalization, regardless of Biden’s position.

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer is ready to use the weight of his office to push for marijuana to be legalized across the country. After New York decided to legalize marijuana earlier this week, Schumer said he was hopeful that President Joe Biden would eventually agree to the issue. But, regardless of whether that happens, “at some point we are going to move forward, period,” the senator for New York told Politico. Schumer, who first introduced a marijuana legalization project in 2018, said he is working with Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Ron Wyden of Oregon in legislation.

Schumer has so far offered no details on what the legislation might include – “you will have to wait and see,” he said – but he described it as a “comprehensive project”. Once this is presented, Schumer has promised to sit down with people who are opposed to the change to see how they could embark. Schumer said that it is “personally for legalization” and specified that “the bill that we will present goes in that direction”. Schumer shared Politico’s interview on twitter and said it is working “to end the federal marijuana ban and repair the damage caused by the War on Drugs”.

Schumer seems optimistic. Biden’s thinking on the subject may evolve, considering that more than 40% of Americans live in states that have passed legalization. “I want to present my arguments to him, as many other defenders will,” said Schumer of Biden. For the majority leader, there is a good case for how the state’s efforts to legalize marijuana went. “The legalization of states worked very well,” he said. “They were a huge success. The parade of horrible things never happened and people had more freedom. “

Schumer said that his thinking on the issue began to change when he talked to “ordinary people” in Denver about the issue and saw how people felt that legalization helped the state with additional tax revenue and did not hurt anyone. “People were free to do what they wanted, as long as they didn’t harm other people,” said Schumer. “This is part of what America is.”

In the Republican-controlled Senate, the issue has never really gone anywhere, but now lawmakers would be forced to make their views clear, which could put many in an uncomfortable position, considering that more than two-thirds of Americans now support the legalization of marijuana.