On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) became the latest cosponsor of far-reaching marijuana law reform legislation introduced by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ).

Among other things, the bill would remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and withhold federal funding from states with discriminatory enforcement of marijuana criminalization.

Merkley and Booker are hosting a Facebook Live chat about the bill, which you can learn more about here.

Watch Merkley and Booker discuss marijuana law reform below:

Last year, I introduced the Marijuana Justice Act—a bill that aims to end the federal prohibition of marijuana in the United States and incentivize states to legalize it at the state level if they disproportionately arrest or incarcerate poor people or people of color.Since introducing the Marijuana Justice Act I’ve been working to build support in Congress, and today I’m excited to announce our 5th co-sponsor, my friend and colleague Senator Jeff Merkley.Watch below as we discuss the bill in more detail. Please leave any questions you may have about the bill in the comments, and we’ll answer some of them live on camera. Posted by Cory Booker on Wednesday, May 23, 2018

“More than half of the United States has enacted legislation allowing for either medical or adult-use of cannabis, yet federal law remains in conflict,” Merkley said in a press release. “This creates significant problems, not only with the prosecution of nonviolent cannabis crimes — which disproportionately hurts people of color — but also with lack of banking services for legally operating businesses. As long as financial institutions aren’t able to service cannabis enterprises, these businesses are forced to operate in an all-cash environment that’s unsafe and lacks accountability. This bill would place cannabis legalization in the hands of states — exactly where it should be.”

Several other Democratic senators have already signed onto the Marijuana Justice Act, most recently Kamala Harris of California.

See the original article published on Marijuana Moment below:

Watch Cory Booker And Jeff Merkley Discuss Marijuana Legalization