The U. S. Senate has been waiting for Schumer's marijuana legalization bill

The Marijuana Administration and Opportunity Act (Caoa) , the marijuana legalization Bill of U. S. Senate Majority Leader Schumer, finally came out on Thursday! Although most marijuana lobbyists believe the CAOA bill is highly unlikely to make it through the Senate and into law, the marijuana industry remains elated by this landmark event.

The CAOA bill would have to win 60 votes in the Senate to pass, which is highly unlikely. But even if it stops in the Senate again, it will give new momentum to other marijuana reform bills, most notably the Safe Banking Act.

Randal Meyer, Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Cannabis Commerce (GACC) , said the CAOA bill may have a“Cap-opening effect” on marijuana legislation, increasing the chances of a successful reform.

At the beginning of the 2021, Shurmer and his colleagues, including New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, had been working on the marijuana legalization bill and released it last fall. “The question is no longer whether marijuana should be legalized -- many states have made their own decisions -- but whether it should be subject to the same high regulatory standards as tobacco and alcohol,” Schumer, Booker and Wyden said in a joint statement on Thursday.

According to Schumer's office, the marijuana legalization bill will

Take marijuana off the federal list of controlled substances.

Allowing states to continue to take the lead in regulating the marijuana industry, but maintaining a ban on marijuana in the illegal Huazhou.

Establish a federal regulatory regime similar to that for alcohol and tobacco.

Since the draft law was published last fall for comment, various industry groups have provided their own feedback and are now reflected in the new law. For example, a national sales tax of 10 per cent on cannabis products (gradually rising to 25 per cent over the next five years in the first two years after federal legalisation) would apply only to larger cannabis businesses. The tax rate for small and medium-sized cannabis producers will be halved to a starting rate of 5 per cent and raised to 12.5 per cent over the next five years.

The AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF (Msos) , an exchange-traded fund that tracks state-to-state marijuana operators, edged lower on Thursday, but closed up 3.6 percent at $12.65.