Recently, a committee in Congress decided to spend their time cracking down on the various medical cannabis businesses across the country by removing one piece of crucial protection they have at the federal level.
The House Rules Committee decided to get rid of the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment from the 2018 spending bill stating that the amendment is simply “out of order.”
The amendment is currently on the budget bill by the Senate which could hopefully be a good sign if the president decides to sign it into law.
The Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment essentially states that the cannabis industry can grow without the blockades put by the federal government and the Justice Department. The amendment helps token federal tax dollars from interfering with individual state laws regarding cannabis. The bill has fortunately been on every federal budget that has been passed since December of 2014.
One congressman state that “by blocking our amendment, Committee leadership is putting at risk the millions of patients who rely on medical marijuana for treatment, as well as the clinics and businesses that support them. This decision goes against the will of the American people, who overwhelmingly oppose federal interference with state marijuana laws. These critical protections are supported by a majority of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle. There’s no question: If a vote were allowed, our amendment would pass on the House floor, as it has several times before.”
There are many cannabis groups that are incredibly outraged by the decision from the House Rules committee. They have released several statements that have criticized the actions. Don Murphy, who is the director of conservative outreach for the advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project stated that “this vote is a slap in the face of patients, their families, their elected representatives, and the 10th Amendment.”
Time will tell what occurs with this bill and the future of marijuana on a federal and state level.
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