In a move that should ease anxiety among those in the cannabis industry, the new federal spending bill includes medical marijuana protections. The move taken Wednesday extends a policy of the federal government that has been in effect since 2014 until September of this year.
Under it, U.S. law enforcement agents and prosecutors are barred from spending federal money to hinder state medical marijuana programs. The rider, as the piece of legislation, is known, also protects medicinal cannabis programs in Washington, D.C., Guam, and Puerto Rico.
The Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment
The policy has previously been known as the Rohrabacher-Farr and Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendments, named for its main supporters in Congress. As part of the annual budget, Congress must reauthorize the amendment each year.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions had asked Congress not to further extend the rule. After that, House leaders stopped a vote that would have continued it.
But the Senate was more favorable to the restriction and included it in a bill to fund the government. Both houses of Congress must pass the funding deal and Pres. Trump must sign it before midnight on Friday to avoid a government shutdown.
Last week, 59 members, led by Rep. Jared Polis of Colorado and Tom McClintock of California, wrote to House leadership to support the plan, as reported in Forbes.
“We are concerned about the Department of Justice enforcing federal marijuana law in a way that blocks implementation of marijuana reform laws in those states that have passed such reforms,” they wrote.
“The issue at hand is whether the federal government’s marijuana policy violates the principles of federalism and the Tenth Amendment.
Consistent with those principles, we believe that states ought to retain jurisdiction over most criminal justice