Thread: US Senate Votes to Prohibit DOJ from Interfering in State Medical Marijuana Laws

US Senate Committee Votes to Prohibit DOJ from Interfering in State Medical Marijuana Laws

By Marijuana Policy Project
June 11, 2015 1:40 PM


The Senate Appropriations Committee approved an amendment Thursday that mirrors one approved last week in the House; the measures are intended to prevent the Justice Department and DEA from arresting or prosecuting patients, caregivers, and businesses that are complying with state medical marijuana laws


WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved a measure 20-10 on Thursday that is intended to prevent the federal government from interfering in state medical marijuana laws.

The amendment, offered by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) to the Senate version of the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, prohibits the Justice Department, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, from using funds to interfere in the implementation of state laws that allow the cultivation, distribution, and use of marijuana for medical purposes.

It mirrors the amendment sponsored by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) that was approved last week in the House of Representatives.

Passage of identical amendments in the House and Senate typically indicates it will be included in the final spending bill Congress sends to President Obama.

This was the first time the amendment had been offered in the Senate. The House has passed it in each of the last two years, and it was codified in the so-called “CRomnibus” funding measure that became law last year. The amendment is similar to the operative provisions of the CARERS Act, introduced in March by Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Kirstin Gillibrand (D-NY).

This is the second time in as many months that the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a marijuana policy reform measure. On May 21, the committee voted to allow doctors within the Veterans Affairs system to formally recommend medical marijuana to veterans.

“This is another resounding victory for medical marijuana patients, their families, and their care providers,” said Dan Riffle, director of federal policies for the Marijuana Policy Project. “Congress is making it clear that the Department of Justice and the DEA have no business interfering in state medical marijuana laws.”

“The goal of this amendment is to provide deference to the states, making it strikingly similar to the operative provisions of the CARERS Act,” added Riffle. “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.”

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2015/...arijuana-laws/

More good news! I hope the Senate concurs and sends the bill to Obama.

Yeesh. What a way to make things complicated. By keeping Marijuana illegal and forbidding the government from enforcing the law a mockery is made of the law. We have a law for classification of all drugs and mechanisms to set the levels of restriction according to their danger. Why not just change the classification under this law?

Originally Posted by artclam

Yeesh. What a way to make things complicated. By keeping Marijuana illegal and forbidding the government from enforcing the law a mockery is made of the law. We have a law for classification of all drugs and mechanisms to set the levels of restriction according to their danger. Why not just change the classification under this law?

Exactly. And it will happen. I think this is their way of freeing the states from at least the medical marijuana portion without a big fight. As more states pass laws to legalize all marijuana, then Congress will do that. And maybe in 2016, we'll elect a normal, intelligent, common sense person with an unwavering loyalty to the American People and he or she will support and agree to sign into law a bill that at least ends the War on Pot and potentially End the War on Drugs altogether with a simple plan that legalizes, regulates, educates and taxes recreational drugs, one that creates a legal, domestic only, US Citizen Only, run and operated drug trade, free of criminalization, imprisonment and violence, one that taxes the trade under the FairTax and uses a portion of the taxes only drug users pay to cover the cost of regulation enforcement, better education on the real risks and consequences of using drugs, and free rehab on demand without stigma for anyone who wants or needs it.

At which point, everyone stops worrying about it and goes back to minding their own business.