Whereas persons and communities continue to be negatively impacted by cannabis policies and marijuana’s status as a scheduled substance under the Controlled Substances Act; Whereas the persons and communities that have been most harmed by marijuana prohibition are benefitting the least from the legal cannabis marketplace and other cannabis policy reforms; Whereas a legacy of racial and ethnic injustices, compounded by the disproportionate collateral consequences of 80 years of marijuana prohibition and enforcement, now limits access to public benefits, such as nutritional assistance, housing, education and economic opportunities, including participation in the cannabis industry; Whereas 24 States as well as the District of Columbia and the territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands have legalized cannabis use for adults and 38 now allow some form of medical cannabis; Whereas the United States cannabis market currently stands at around $65 billion in annual revenue, and by 2030, this number is expected to balloon to $100 billion if cannabis is federally legalized; Whereas the failed war on drugs has cost the United States roughly $1 trillion, with economists estimating that criminal justice expenditures related to the marijuana prohibition costs States roughly $6 billion and the Federal Government $4 billion per year; Whereas people of color have been historically victimized by discriminatory sentencing practices, resulting in Black men receiving drug sentences that are 13.4 times greater than sentences imposed for White men, and non-White persons accounted for 86.5 percent of cannabis convictions; Whereas, according to the ACLU, Black people are 3.64 times more likely than White people to be arrested for cannabis possession, even though usage rates are comparable