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WASHINGTON — Legislation to remove the federal ban on cannabis and to expand research into its potential medical benefits gets a hearing Wednesday before a subcommittee of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Among the bills up for discussion is the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement, or MORE Act, which passed the House Judiciary Committee in November and awaits a floor vote. Five other bills to discussed would increase research, while some also would address marijuana’s federal classification as a Schedule I drug alongside heroin.

The hearing will be held by the health subcommittee.

“This hearing is one more sign that Congress is moving toward more sensible cannabis policy at the federal level, said Neal Levine, chief executive of the Cannabis Trade Federation. “It cannot come soon enough.”

The Energy and Commerce Committee is getting involved because it has jurisdiction over the Controlled Substances Act. But dozens of states have ignored the federal ban and allowed cannabis use within their own borders.

“It’s a changing landscape and we want to look at what’s going on and see whether we would move some of the bills,” the full committee chairman, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-6th Dist., told NJ Advance Media.

Some of those changes are occurring in Pallone’s home state of New Jersey, where the Legislature will ask the voters in November whether to allow marijuana for recreational use.

Another change occurred in January when Democrats took control of the House and Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., became House Rules Committee chairman. McGovern comes from a state that has legalized cannabis for both medical and recreational purposes, and said he wanted to bring marijuana-related bills to the House floor.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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