Congress votes on the protection of government cannabis programs

Congress will vote on a proposal that would protect the current cannabis programs in the United States

A proposed bipartisan change to the House Rules Committee was tabled on July 28th. If passed, it would protect existing government cannabis programs as well as all tribal medical cannabis programs. It also specifically prohibits the Justice Department from interfering in any medical cannabis-related matter. Currently, there is only the annual renewal of the limited protection for cannabis programs (it was originally passed in 2014 as part of the Omnibus Spending Act). The exact timeframe for this discussion is currently unknown.

The proposal is led by representatives Earl Blumenauer, Tom McClintock, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Barbara Lee. A week ago they published a joint memo “Dear Colleague” in relation to their proposed budget revision. In the memo, they summarized their hopes “to add language that will prevent the Justice Department from using Congressional-approved funds to enforce federal laws regarding activities that are legal under state, territorial, or tribal law relating to marijuana.” regardless of whether the marijuana laws are recreational or medicinal. “

Blumenauer, a longtime and staunch supporter of cannabis reform, spoke on July 26 about the changing cannabis landscape and the increase in public support. “Let us continue to protect constitutional activities as we move towards full legalization,” he said. “The longer you hesitate, the worse it gets. In the meantime, I urge that we pass this amendment in order to provide some stability. “

This proposed amendment was last voted and approved in the House of Representatives with 267-165 votes in June 2019. However, it was not included in the final law that was sent to the president’s desk at the time. Since the last vote, eight more states have legalized recreational cannabis, which only strengthens the cause.

The change in federal protection is just one of many cannabis-related proposals that are currently being discussed.

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Congress with a focus on cannabis

In addition, an amendment by MP Doug LaMalfa has been submitted for consideration by the House Rules Committee. His amendment removes the safeguards that currently apply to medical cannabis. Although, according to Marijuana Moment, the majority of Democrats are unlikely to get around it. LaMalfa also made two other cannabis-related proposals that were not discussed.

Rep. Jay Obernolte has tabled an amendment to help eradicate illegal cannabis cultivation in Southern California with $ 25 million in funding that was cleared in a plenary vote. “This is a disaster for everyone involved, including people trying to obey the law and grow marijuana legally,” he told the House Rules Committee.

Other movements include additional proposals to finance trade, justice, science and allied institutions. An expenditure report mentions that the Drug Enforcement Administration is trying to increase the number of licensed cannabis makers who can legally research cannabis (currently the University of Mississippi is the only licensed entity).

Protection is also sought from non-cannabis substances, including psychedelics. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently proposed a change to look into the effects of psychedelic substances like MDMA, psilocybin, and ibogaine as potential medical treatments. She originally proposed this in 2019 and it was rejected by the House of Representatives, but unfortunately it was also rejected again on July 27th. “We got a little closer to ending this antiquated war-on-drugs-era policy last night. At the last congress we had 83 votes. At that congress we had 139, including seven Republicans. We’ll keep going until the times catch up. We will not be put off! ”She said in a tweet on July 28th.

Cannabis is discussed more than ever today. Just a few weeks ago, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and several other Senators joined forces to propose the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, which would enforce federal legalization across the country. Whether the law will be advanced enough to land on President Joe Biden’s desk remains to be seen, but there are plenty of other proposals to help improve cannabis legislation and other substance reforms in the meantime.