The GOP-controlled House took a vote earlier in the week to prohibit the federal government from stopping state laws that allow the use of medicinal cannabis. However, lawmakers barely declined to direct the Justice Department not to intervene with states like Washington and Colorado that allow the use of recreational cannabis.
The 242-186 vote of medical marijuana had a bigger margin than a count from the previous year when the House initially approved it as a part of he bills funding for the coming fiscal year.
The majority of Republicans didn’t take kindly to the idea and Senate is in GOP hands this year, so the end result could still be reserved. Yet Senate enthusiast of medical cannabis were victorious in a test vote in the GOP-controlled Appropriations Committee this past month.
On Wednesday, close to 70 Republicans, as well as involving libertarian-minded lawmakers such as Thomas Massie out of Kentucky, mixed with all but a handful of Democrats that back states that permit licensed physicians to prescribe cannabis for medical use such as various cancer treatments, and appetite stimulant.
Close to half the states permit the use of medical cannabis, which is still an illegal drug under federal law. However, the federal government has taken a hands-off approach to states that have taken lax pot laws. The Justice Department has issued guidance to governors in states that involve the only four state the permit the use of recreational marijuana that will not challenge those laws just as long as cannabis regulations are kept under a microscope.
“The medical marijuana train has definitely left the station,” stated Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.
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