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Attempts to decriminalize cannabis
In recent history, there have been multiple unsuccessful attempts to decriminalize cannabis:

In 1974 Dr Robert DuPont began to publicly support decriminalization of cannabis, seeing cannabis as a health problem. But when DuPont left government he changed his mind and declared that "decriminalization is a bad idea". Robert DuPont is still an active opponent of decriminalization of cannabis.

In 2005, Gonzales v. Raich, ruled in a 6-3 decision that the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution allowed the federal government to ban the use of cannabis, including medical use, federal law strike state law.

In 2017, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker introduced the Marijuana Justice Act, a "far-reaching" bill seeking to formally end marijuana prohibition on the federal level. The status of the bill is currently pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Federal
The Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008 was introduced in the 110th United States Congress and represents the first attempt to decriminalize possession of small amounts of cannabis at the federal level to be introduced in many decades. The bill was reintroduced in the 111th United States Congress as the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2009. In the 112th United States Congress, Rep. Barney Frank proposed H.R. 2306 Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011. As of June 2011, this bill has been referred to committee pending vote in the House.

In 2014, the Rohrabacher–Farr or CJS Protections was an amendment introduced by U.S. Reps. Maurice Hinchey, Dana Rohrabacher, and Sam Farr and passed after President Obama signed it into law on December 14th. The new measure is considered a huge win for marijuana reforms on the federal level. In effect, the measure prevented the Department of Justice from using federal funds to prevent states from implementing their own policies that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana. There have been instances in federal court rulings where this legislation has been upheld, these include U.S. v Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, Harborside Case and U.S. vs. McIntosh (9th Circuit).

In 2016, Gov. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island, Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington and New Mexico nurse-practitioner Bryan Krumm wrote a petition to the Drug Enforcement Administration to reconsider the scheduling of marijuana as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act. The petition was formally denied by DEA Chief Chuck Rosenberg in a letter stating that: "marijuana has a high potential for abuse, has no accepted medical use in the United States, and lacks an acceptable level of safety for use even under medical supervision. Therefore, the Department of Health and Human Services recommended that marijuana remain in schedule I." Rosenberg comments that, "This decision isn't based on danger. This decision is based on whether marijuana, as determined by the FDA, is a safe and effective medicine," he said, "and it's not."

In 2017, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker introduced the Marijuana Justice Act, a "far-reaching" bill seeking to formally end marijuana prohibition on the federal level. The Marijuana Justice Act would effectively remove marijuana from the DEA's list of controlled substances, allow for judicial review of anybody serving prison sentence for marijuana possession (currently and retroactively) and the bill would use federal expenditures to give states incentives to legalize the drug. The status of S.1689 or Marijuana Justice Act of 2017 is currently pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

New York
In 1977, the Marijuana Reform Act was introduced in New York in which formally decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Specifically, the law made possession of less than seven-eighths of an ounce of marijuana a violation punishable by fines instead of being arrested and taken to jail. The law further found that arresting people for possession of small amounts of marijuana "needlessly scars thousands of lives while detracting from the prosecution of serious crimes".

Despite this law being set in place, arrests related to marijuana possession initially seen a decline but has seen a drastic increase in recent decades. The New York City Police Department has made 430,000 arrests since the law's passage in 1977, effectively making New York "marijuana arrest capital of the world." In recent years, civil rights lawyers have criticized the unlawful conduct of these arrests, citing the misuse of Stop-and-frisk practices by the NYPD in contribution to the high volume of arrests and relating to the racial disparities of arrest data. In 2012, an article published by the New York Times provided state data showing that the NYPD made over 50,000 arrests for low-level possession in the prior year, where "more than 11,700 of those arrested were 16 to 19 years old; nearly half had never been arrested before and 94 percent had no prior convictions."

In recent years, there has been several attempts made by state lawmakers of all levels in efforts of mending the inefficiencies of the 1977 Marijuana Reform Act of New York:

In 2011, Senate Bill 5187 was introduced to the New York State Senate and Assembly Bill A7620 was introduced to the New York State Assembly, both bills addressed the inequalities of marijuana possession arrests but only made it to their respectively committee hearings. The bills would have "standardized penalties" associated with marijuana arrests by making "public possession" of a small amount a violation instead of a misdemeanor.

In 2012, the New York City Council, spearheaded by Council Members Melissa Mark-Viverito and Oliver Koppell, passed Resolution 986-A, in which was passed to provide a formal expression for the need to reform marijuana arrest legislation and condemning unlawful police practices relating to these arrests.

In 2013, the New York State Assembly passed reform bill A.6716-A. The reform bill had identical provisions as previously failed bills that was to "make possession of small amounts marijuana in public view a violation punishable by a fine, instead of a criminal arrest." The bill went to Senate for review but was never approved. However, in 2014, New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton announced that "city cops on Nov. 19 will stop arresting people on low-level marijuana charges and issue them tickets instead."

In 2017, Sen. Liz Krueger, D-New York made a push for the legalization of recreational marijuana use with the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act. The bill currently sits in the Senate Finance Committee for review and has a comprehensive list of provisions to make a legal marijuana market, of which include:
 * 1) "An act to amend the public health law, in relation to the description of marijuana, and the growing of and use of marijuana by persons twenty-one years of age or older."
 * 2) "To amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to removing certain references to marijuana relating to forfeiture actions."
 * 3) "To amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to making technical changes regarding the definition of marijuana."
 * 4) "To amend the penal law, in relation to the qualification of certain offenses involving marijuana and to exempt certain persons from prosecution for the use, consumption, display, production or distribution of marijuana."
 * 5) "To amend the alcoholic beverage control law, in relation to providing for the licensure of persons authorized to produce, process and sell marijuana; to amend the state finance law, in relation to establishing the marijuana control fund and the marijuana revenue fund."
 * 6) "To amend the tax law, in relation to providing for the levying of an excise tax on certain sales of marijuana."
 * 7) "To amend the criminal procedure law, the civil practice law and rules, the general business law, the state finance law, the executive law, the penal law and the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to making conforming changes."