The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday passed a bill that, if voted through the rest of Congress and signed by the president, would essentially legalize marijuana in the United States.
The bill, called the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, would legalize marijuana across the country by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act, a law which regulates the legality and distribution of drugs in the U.S.
The bill would also establish the Cannabis Justice Office, which would in turn levy a five percent tax on marijuana sales across the country. It would also expunge all marijuana-related convictions from the federal record.