Just this past week, in a series of successful amendments to the Justice Department appropriations bill, the House sent a clear message to the DEA and DOJ to eliminate intervening in states where medical marijuana is allowed. This week a similar message came from the Senate.
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted two to one this week with a majority in favor of an amendment from Sen. Barbra Mikulski (D-MD) that forbids the Justice Department, including the DEA, from utilizing federal money to intervene in the implementation of state medical cannabis laws.
While the appropriations bill must still be approved by the Senate as a whole, both houses of Congress are now on record as telling the DEA to keep away from states that have legal medical marijuana programs. The passage of identical amendments in both houses is an efficient indicator that they will be added to the spending bill when it eventually makes its way to the Presidents desk.
While the House has passed similar amendments for the past two years, this is the first time it was offered in the Senate. It duplicated the provisions of the CARERS Act (HR 1538/S.683), that was revealed this year, yet because a ban in an appropriations bill will be over by the end of the fiscal year, supporters are still calling for the CARERS Act to move.
The Vote was a remarkable 21-9, with only Democrat voting in opposition of it being Sen Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). Republicans split down the center, with eight opposing and eight in favor.
Drug reform supporters were pleased.
“This is another resounding victory for medical marijuana patients, their families, and their care providers. Congress is making it clear that the Department of Justice and the DEA have no business interfering in state medical marijuana laws,” stated Dan Riffle, director of federal policy for the Marijuana Policy Project.
“The goal of this amendment is to provide deference to the states, making it strikingly similar to the operative provisions of the CARERS Act. Unfortunately, that bipartisan bill has languished for months in the Senate Judiciary Committee because Chairman Chuck Grassley has refused to hold hearings on it. The Senate spoke loudly and clearly today. Hopefully, Sen. Grassley was listening,” Riffle added.
“With so many votes going our way these days, each new one gets less and less exciting. But that’s a good problem to have,” stated Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority. “We’re entering an era where marijuana reform is accepted as mainstream and not seen as controversial, and that’s exactly where we want to be. With this vote, it’s now clear that a growing bipartisan group of lawmakers in both chambers are ready to get the federal government out of the way of the effective implementation of state marijuana laws. These temporary funding restrictions certainly help us to demonstrate political momentum, but the next step should be passing legislation to permanently change federal law.”
MAPH Enterprises, LLC | (305) 414-0128 | 1501 Venera Ave, Coral Gables, FL 33146 | new@marijuanastocks.com
