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Marijuana legalization bill expected to pass the House, face roadblocks in the Senate

Yahoo Finance's Dani Romero joins the Live show to discuss the debate to legalize cannabis as the marijuana legalization bill faces roadblocks in the Senate.

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- Weed stocks on the move this morning. Take a look at shares of Tilray. Down 7%. Although, the stock is up 30% over the last month. A lot of movement in that space among other weed stocks as well. All of this as the House takes on a bill this week that would legalize marijuana federally. Let's bring in Yahoo Finance's Dani Romero, who's been following this story. Now, the caveat here is that many Wall Street firms like Piper Sandler are saying, you shouldn't hold your breath on full legalization, though. Why is that?

DANI ROMERO: Yeah. That's right. The debate to legalize cannabis is once again before lawmakers. This would be the second time that a federal marijuana bill is on the table. The bill, known as the MORE Act, would remove cannabis from a federal controlled substance list and eliminate criminal penalties associated with the drug. It would also impose a federal tax on marijuana sales and to help fund programs and to help communities that have been impacted negatively on the war on drugs. The bill is to be set to take to the House Rules Committee on Wednesday. And then it would get a vote on the floor by the end of the week.

Now, the House passed this bill last year in September. But it was never taken up to the Senate. Last time, six Democrats voted against it, while five Republicans voted in favor of it. Senator Schumer has made it very clear that he is trying to legalize marijuana and make that a top priority. He's even asked senators for their input on this legislation. But there's a long way to go. And the marijuana bill is actually expected-- some are speculating that it'll hit a wall on the Senate floor.

Like you said, Wall Street analyst Piper and Sandler wrote in a note to clients saying, we believe a passage again in the House is likely. But we continue to believe it is unlikely to pass in the Senate in its current form. The bill would need 60 votes. And that would also include the support of 10 GOP senators. That's if every Democrat votes in favor of this to really advance. So, Brian, it's really unclear how the votes will really turn out.

- And, Dani, you mentioned the federal tax that's included in this legislation. What's the impact likely to be on tax revenue?

DANI ROMERO: Yeah. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the MORE Act would provide that additional tax revenue if cannabis is legalized. But on the other hand, cannabis businesses pay really high taxes. And that's all because they do not get to write off business expenses because of a tax code known as 280E that really prevents businesses that traffic controlled substances, which include cannabis, as an example.

The federal government has already been getting a lot of taxes from these legal cannabis businesses. And those continue to be legalized on a state by state level. So already 18 states have been legalized marijuana recreationally. And there are 36 states that permit medical marijuana. So states can really do this without the federal government. So taxation is really not the motivation here. But I will leave you with this, that there is a really high polling for cannabis, even among Republicans. Nearly 50% of Republicans support the removal of the federal prohibition on cannabis. Akiko, Bryan.

- Yeah. Federal legalization. Something advocates have been waiting a very long time for. So that vote will be watched, no question, very closely. Dani Romero, thanks so much for bringing us that story.