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A wide-ranging spending bill released by House and Senate leaders late Tuesday to fund the government for the next fiscal year includes some good news and bad news for marijuana reformers.
On the positive side, the legislation contains language preventing the Department of Justice from spending money to interfere with state medical marijuana laws. It also allows hemp cultivation for agricultural and research purposes to go forward without DEA obstruction.
But the bill also includes a provision that could block Washington, D.C. from implementing the marijuana legalization initiative that voters there approved last month by a margin of 70 percent to 30 percent.
Regarding the good news, Mike Liszewski, government affairs director for Americans for Safe Access, told Maijuana.com that Congress moving to stop federal medical marijuana raids is “nothing short of a landmark event.”
“When passed and signed into law, it will mark the first time that Congress has affirmatively taken action against the federal crackdown on state-legal medical marijuana patients, caregivers, providers and the state employees administering these programs,” Liszewski said. “It demonstrates a sharp and meaningful rebuke of the DEA’s senseless waste of taxpayer money going after state-legal patients and providers.”
Bill Piper of the Drug Policy Alliance agreed. “For the first time, Congress is letting states set their own medical marijuana and hemp policies, a huge step forward for sensible drug policy,” he said in a statement. “States will continue to reform their marijuana laws and Congress will be forced to accommodate them. It’s not a question of if, but when, federal marijuana prohibition will be repealed.”
Those medical marijuana and hemp provisions passed the House this summer by a wide bipartisan votes as amendments to a narrower spending bill. The language restricting the District of Columbia’s ability to reform its own marijuana laws is very similar but not identical to an amendment that was previously adopted by the House following a party-line committee vote as part of a separate spending bill. Neither bill made it through the Senate, and after negotiations on these and other pieces of appropriations legislation covering various federal departments broke down amidst broader partisan disagreements, the threat of a looming shutdown forced Congressional leaders to the bargaining table, resulting in the new omnibus spending measure.
The 289,861-word, $1.013 trillion bill is considered by many to be must-pass legislation, as current funding for the government runs out on Thursday.
It is unclear, however, whether the bill does have the votes to pass, or whether President Obama will sign it into law. In addition to disagreements that are likely to arise about other provisions related to immigration, environmental regulations and abortion, the news about the D.C. marijuana reform block being included could be a sticking point for some.
In July, following the passage of House legislation containing the D.C. block, the administration threatened a veto, saying the president “strongly opposes the language in the bill preventing the District from using its own local funds to carry out locally-passed marijuana policies, which again undermines the principles of States’ rights and of District home rule.”
While the new language concerning D.C. prevents the city from spending money to “enact any law, rule, or regulation to legalize or otherwise reduce penalties associated with the possession, use, or distribution of any schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act,” some advocates, including Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents the District in Congress, are questioning whether it blocks the voter initiative approved in November or only stops future reforms from being enacted.
On the positive side, the legislation contains language preventing the Department of Justice from spending money to interfere with state medical marijuana laws. It also allows hemp cultivation for agricultural and research purposes to go forward without DEA obstruction.
But the bill also includes a provision that could block Washington, D.C. from implementing the marijuana legalization initiative that voters there approved last month by a margin of 70 percent to 30 percent.
Regarding the good news, Mike Liszewski, government affairs director for Americans for Safe Access, told Maijuana.com that Congress moving to stop federal medical marijuana raids is “nothing short of a landmark event.”
“When passed and signed into law, it will mark the first time that Congress has affirmatively taken action against the federal crackdown on state-legal medical marijuana patients, caregivers, providers and the state employees administering these programs,” Liszewski said. “It demonstrates a sharp and meaningful rebuke of the DEA’s senseless waste of taxpayer money going after state-legal patients and providers.”
Bill Piper of the Drug Policy Alliance agreed. “For the first time, Congress is letting states set their own medical marijuana and hemp policies, a huge step forward for sensible drug policy,” he said in a statement. “States will continue to reform their marijuana laws and Congress will be forced to accommodate them. It’s not a question of if, but when, federal marijuana prohibition will be repealed.”
Those medical marijuana and hemp provisions passed the House this summer by a wide bipartisan votes as amendments to a narrower spending bill. The language restricting the District of Columbia’s ability to reform its own marijuana laws is very similar but not identical to an amendment that was previously adopted by the House following a party-line committee vote as part of a separate spending bill. Neither bill made it through the Senate, and after negotiations on these and other pieces of appropriations legislation covering various federal departments broke down amidst broader partisan disagreements, the threat of a looming shutdown forced Congressional leaders to the bargaining table, resulting in the new omnibus spending measure.
The 289,861-word, $1.013 trillion bill is considered by many to be must-pass legislation, as current funding for the government runs out on Thursday.
It is unclear, however, whether the bill does have the votes to pass, or whether President Obama will sign it into law. In addition to disagreements that are likely to arise about other provisions related to immigration, environmental regulations and abortion, the news about the D.C. marijuana reform block being included could be a sticking point for some.
In July, following the passage of House legislation containing the D.C. block, the administration threatened a veto, saying the president “strongly opposes the language in the bill preventing the District from using its own local funds to carry out locally-passed marijuana policies, which again undermines the principles of States’ rights and of District home rule.”
While the new language concerning D.C. prevents the city from spending money to “enact any law, rule, or regulation to legalize or otherwise reduce penalties associated with the possession, use, or distribution of any schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act,” some advocates, including Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents the District in Congress, are questioning whether it blocks the voter initiative approved in November or only stops future reforms from being enacted.