The November election caused shock throughout the nation, but there was an underlying story that was not shocking at all. As expected, seven more states legalized marijuana in some form. In 2017, 60 percent of Americans will have legal access to medical marijuana, and 20 percent will also reside in areas where recreational marijuana is legal.

Given this new reality, I am renewing my call for Congress to remove its outdated and harmful federal prohibition on marijuana.

Every Congress since 2013, I have introduced legislation that removes marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and leaves the decision to legalize up to the states, where it belongs. I plan to reintroduce the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act in the next Congress.

This legislation removes marijuana oversight from the jurisdiction of the Drug Enforcement Administration and gives that authority to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

It does not require any state to change its existing policies, but rather allows states to set their own policies on recreational and medical marijuana without interference from the federal government.

It is past time for Congress to acknowledge that there has been a resounding shift in the way Americans think about marijuana, and science supports this shift.

For some, the shift is about access to medicinal marijuana, which is used by patients who suffer from everything from cancer to post-traumatic stress disorder. For others, it’s about choice and the freedom to use marijuana. Still for others, it’s an economic argument, as estimates say it will contribute more than $17 billion to the U.S. economy in 2016.

On a national security level, it’s about the need to fight crime and diminish the power of criminal cartels by decreasing underground sales.

On a human level, conflicting state and federal laws mean that in Colorado you can buy and grow marijuana with little risk, but possession of 1 or more pounds of marijuana in Utah can result in a felony conviction.

On a business level, because the DEA unscientifically and unfairly classifies marijuana as a Schedule I substance (on par with heroin), legal marijuana retailers operate in a gray area. For example, marijuana distributors and dispensary owners are ineligible for federal tax deductions, and employees in the marijuana industry lack basic workplace protections, such as health insurance.

I am hopeful that the new Congress and the new administration will support removing the federal ban on cannabis. Time and again, President-elect Donald Trump has said that marijuana legalization should be left for each state. My legislation does exactly that.

While it’s discouraging to see that the president-elect has picked an attorney general who is hostile to marijuana reforms, it is the president who sets the policies. We must hold Trump accountable to what he has said in the past about marijuana legalization.

It is time for the federal government to get out of the way of states that have voted to legalize cannabis. Law-abiding businesses and customers in the states that allow the regulated sale of marijuana should not be forced to worry constantly about federal enforcement actions.

Congress should look to states like Colorado as an example where allowing responsible adults to use marijuana generates money for classrooms, not cartels; creates jobs, not addicts; and boosts our economy, not our prison population.

Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2009. He has authored legislation to lift the federal prohibition on marijuana and advocated for amendments to prohibit the DEA from undermining state medical marijuana laws.