A bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers is circulating a letter to build support for a spending bill amendment they’re introducing this week that would protect all state and tribal marijuana programs from federal interference—going beyond the existing measure that shields only medical cannabis states that are currently enacted into law. The amendment and its supporting Dear Colleague memo, which was shared with Marijuana Moment, is being led by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Tom McClintock (R-CA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), and Barbara Lee (D-CA). The lawmakers explained that the proposed amendment to spending legislation would add “language preventing the Department of Justice from using any funds appropriated by Congress to enforce federal laws regarding activities that are legal under state, territorial, or tribal law with regard to marijuana, regardless of whether the marijuana laws are recreational or medicinal.” This language has been proposed in past sessions as well, passing the House last year and in 2019. But it was not attached to final appropriations legislation sent to the president’s desk under GOP control of the Senate. Now that Democrats have a slim majority in the chamber, advocates are optimistic that it could finally be enacted.
Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 07/22/2021 12:36:00