Republican lawmakers are calling for a ban on benefits dispensed in pharmacies

Republican lawmakers in Washington, DC, enacted law banning cannabis dispensaries from providing state benefits. Two pending laws include wording prohibiting social benefits from marijuana retailers, including a far-reaching Senate welfare reform law and a stand-alone measure in the House of Representatives.

In the Senate, Republican Senator Steve Daines from Montana has incorporated the ban into a welfare reform law known as the Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services Act, or the JOBS Act (p.2381), which he is in the upper chamber of Congress on July 19th.

The bill includes several reforms to the federal Temporary Aid for Families in Need (TANF) program, including provisions that provide job search assistance and others that require beneficiaries to work or actively seek employment. Also included in the JOBS Act is a section entitled “Welfare for Needs, Not Weeds,” a provision that prohibits the use of TANF funds in “any establishment that offers marijuana … for sale”.

“Finding and keeping a job is the best way for Montana families to move from state dependency to self-sufficiency,” Daines said in a statement on the legislation that failed to mention the measure’s cannabis requirements. “My bill recognizes that there is dignity and hope in work. We need to do more to give Montana families a hand-up, not just a hand-out, and provide the resources they need to ensure a better future. “

Interestingly, Daines is the main Republican co-sponsor of the SAFE Banking Act of 2021, federal legislation that would allow financial institutions to offer traditional banking services to state cannabis companies. The bill was passed in the House of Representatives in April but has yet to be dealt with in the Senate.

So far, the JOBS law has not won any co-sponsors in the Senate, where the bill has been referred to the finance committee for review.

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Republican-backed bill seeks a similar ban

Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives are also seeking to ban the use of federal welfare funds in marijuana cannabis dispensaries. Last month, South Carolina MP Tom Rice tabled a standalone bill (HR 4536) that would also ban the use of TANF funds at marijuana retailers. The move has a GOP co-sponsor, Indiana MP Jackie Walorski.

In a memo on a version of the 2014 law known as the Preserving Welfare for Needs Not Weed Act, lawmakers wrote that the law prohibits federal benefit recipients from “also using benefit cards for in-store purchases that sell marijuana Selling”. forbids the withdrawal of social money at ATMs in such shops. “

The memo found that a 2014 National Review investigation found that in the first month of legal recreational marijuana sales in Colorado, federal benefit cards were used 64 times to withdraw more than $ 5,000 from cannabis retailers . The state’s Republican legislature then banned the use of TANF cards in pharmacies.

Cannabis activists criticize the legislation, saying the titles of the House Bill and the marijuana section of the JOBS Act perpetuate the stigma against cannabis and target the most vulnerable members of our society. Justin Strekal, the political director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marihuana Laws (NORML), said lawmakers should instead support broader cannabis policy reform.

“Americans shouldn’t be discriminated against under the Responsible Cannabis Use Act, period,” said Strekal. “Rich or poor, bankers or unemployed, that is the principle. Senator Daines should withdraw his support for these anti-American policies and campaign for a full civil rights effort by making cannabis unscheduled. “