The House of Representatives approved a far-reaching measure on Thursday to prevent the Department of Justice from interfering with state marijuana laws, including those allowing recreational use, cultivation and sales.
The amendment, which also shields cannabis laws in Washington, D.C. and U.S. territories, is now attached to a large-scale appropriations bill to fund parts of the federal government for Fiscal Year 2020.
The inclusion of adult-use programs represents a significant expansion of an existing policy that protects only local medical cannabis laws from federal intervention which was first enacted in 2014 and has since been extended through annual spending bills.
The broader rider was approved in a floor vote of 267 to 165, a tally that is considered by legalization supporters to be an indication of how much support there is in Congress for more comprehensive and permanent changes to federal marijuana policies.
“This is the most significant vote on marijuana reform policy that the House of Representatives has ever taken,” said NORML Political Director Justin Strekal. “Today’s action by Congress highlights the growing power of the marijuana law reform movement and the increasing awareness by political leaders that the policy of prohibition and criminalization has failed.”
Cannabis Trade Federation CEO Neal Levine agreed with the importance of the legislative victory.
“The historic nature of this vote cannot be overstated," he said. "For the first time, a chamber of Congress has declared that the federal government should defer to state cannabis laws."
Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, called the vote "without a doubt the biggest victory for federal cannabis policy reform to date, and a hopeful sign that the harmful policies of marijuana prohibition will soon be a relic of the past."
The measure, sponsored by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Tom McClintock (R-CA), would bar the Department of Justice from spending money to prevent states and territories from "implementing their own laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of marijuana."
In 2015, a nearly identical measure came just nine flipped votes short of passage on the House floor. Since then, the number of states with full legalization laws has more than doubled, meaning that far more lawmakers now represent constituents who stand to benefit from its protections.
“The end of marijuana prohibition has never been closer. When Drug Policy Alliance and a small band of allies first worked on this amendment in 2015, we were told that we didn’t stand a chance," DPA Director of National Affairs Michael Collins said. "But we convinced members this was the right thing to do, and four years on, victory is sweet."
"Now is the time for Democrats to pivot to passing legislation that will end prohibition through a racial justice lens, making sure that the communities most impacted by our racist marijuana laws have a stake in the future of legalization," he said. "To do anything less would be to repeat an injustice.”
On Wednesday, the House approved a similar amendment protecting the marijuana laws of Indian tribes by a voice vote, and no member requested a roll call vote, so that language is also now attached to the spending bill.
“We’re watching the growth of this industry, a multibillion-dollar industry. We’re watching state after state move forward,” Blumenauer said in a floor debate on the state protection amendment on Wednesday evening. “Every one of us on the floor of the House who are here now represent areas that have taken action. We have had embedded in our legislation protections for medical marijuana. And this would simply extend that same protection to prevent the Department of Justice interfering with adult use. I strongly, strongly urge that we build on the legacy that we’ve had in the past, that we move this forward to allow the federal government to start catching up to where the rest of the states are.”
Eleanor Holmes Norton
✔
@EleanorNorton
Tonight, my amendment with @repblumenauer to prohibit the DOJ from using its funds to prevent jurisdictions from implementing their own medical and recreational marijuana laws passed in the House. Thank you to @repblumenauer for working with me to include D.C.
130
4:33 PM - Jun 20, 2019
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In a letter circulated to colleagues prior to the vote, McClintock wrote that "the issue at hand is whether the federal government has the constitutional authority to dictate policy to states on an issue which occurs strictly within their own borders."
"I do not believe the federal government has that authority, but even if it did, states should determine their own criminal justice policies," he wrote. "This is how our constitutional system was designed to function."
Don Murphy, director of federal policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, said that Blumenauer and McClintock "deserve credit for their early leadership on marijuana policy reform, which dates back to the days when it was just good policy, not good politics too."
The fate of the cannabis measures in the Senate is unknown for now. Historically that chamber's Appropriations Committee has been relatively open to attaching marijuana riders to spending bills, and has consistently approved the medical cannabis protections. But the body's Republican leadership may be reluctant to take the further step of also tying the Justice Department's hands when it comes to enforcing federal prohibition against licensed businesses and consumers in states that allow recreational marijuana use and sales.
Dina Titus
✔
@repdinatitus
The House just made history! I’m so proud to have voted with my colleagues to puff, puff, pass an amendment to prevent the @DOJ from interfering with state cannabis programs. This progress is outstanding news for Nevada and so many states across the country.
63
2:44 PM - Jun 20, 2019
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House Democratic leadership urged their conference to support the measure in a whip email on Thursday, and only eight members of the party voted against it.
While the majority of Republicans voted against the rider, 41 GOP members supported it.
The passage of the state protection amendment comes despite congressional offices receiving an 11th-hour email saying Greenwich Biosciences, maker of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved CBD-based medication Epidiolex, wanted lawmakers to defeat it.
The message to congressional staff claimed that the measure is "overly broad and could be interpreted as impacting the ability of the DOJ to assist the FDA with any enforcement action that may need to be taken to ensure the public safety."
But Collins, of DPA, pointed out that if that were true, it would also apply to the current medical cannabis rider that's been part of federal law for nearly five years.
It "doesn’t pass the laugh test,” he said. "Who are Dems going to side with: Big Pharma or people trying to end the drug war?”
A company media representative didn't respond to a phone message seeking comment.
Earlier on Thursday, the House approved an amendment from Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA) that directs the Food and Drug Administration to establish a process for regulating CBD in foods and dietary supplements.
Another measure passed in a voice vote, from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), shifts $5 million away from the Drug Enforcement Administration toward an opioid treatment program.
An additional Ocasio-Cortez amendment aimed at removing barriers to research on psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin and MDMA was soundly defeated on the House floor last week.
The House is set to consider another amendment on the spending legislation in the coming days that would allow military veterans to receive medical marijuana recommendations from Department of Veterans Affairs doctors.
A separate spending bill moving through the House already contains language to protect banks from being punished for working with state-legal cannabis businesses and removes a longstanding rider that has prevented Washington, D.C. from spending its own local tax dollars to legalize and regulate marijuana sales.
Meanwhile, standalone cannabis legislation is also advancing.
A comprehensive marijuana banking bill was cleared by the Financial Services Committee in March and is expected to receive a floor vote next month. The Veterans' Affairs Committee held a hearing on four separate pieces of legislation concerning cannabis and military veterans on Thursday. And the Small Business Committee hosted a Wednesday hearing on issues facing cannabis firms, with the panel's chairwoman announcing she would soon file a bill on the issue.
Source
This is huge. Never before in history has this ever happened before. We've come a long way. Now we lobby the Senate. If it passes the Senate we lobby Trump for his signature thus making these reforms the laws of the land.
Friday, June 21, 2019
Victor Davis Hanson: Mueller Probe Could Backfire on Those Who Fabricated Russia-Collusion Narrative
Victor Davis Hanson pieces together the conspiracy between James Clapper of the National Security Agency,James Comey of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and John Brennan of the Central Intelligence Agency and how they formed a coup to try to topple a voter-approved President.
Tuesday, June 11, 2019
With Joe Biden it's all about the power-Stalin style
In a 1974 interview for the Washingtonian magazine, Biden explained to interviewer Kitty Kelley that “politics is power.”
“And, whether you like it or not, young lady,” Biden told Kelley, “us cruddy politicians can take away that First Amendment of yours if we want to.”
He went on to say that he loved being a politician because it has so much power, and is better for “mankind” than doctors and “Indian chiefs.”
“I am proud to be a politician,” Biden said. “There is no other walk of life which can do more good for mankind than politics. It influences everything that happens to the American people.”
Politics should be the most honorable of professions,” he continued. “Those of you who are doctors and lawyers and Indian chiefs in the audience, how can any of you possibly do as much good, if you are very good at what you do, as I can do if I am very good at what I can do?”
‘You can’t,” Biden added. “So the point is, this is where the action is.”
Fast forward 45 years, and ask: what has Joe Biden done in government since then that’s done “good for mankind”?
Interestingly, after the interview was re-published in 2015, Biden’s team pushed back on his somewhat pro-life stance on abortion rather than his egregious and authoritarian comments over the First Amendment.
Source
Meet the new boss same as the old boss
A powerful House Committee cleared a drug policy reform amendment for consideration on the House floor on Monday. But at the same time, it blocked a separate marijuana reform proposal from advancing.
The measure moving to a full House vote, introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), would eliminate a long-standing rider on a spending bill that prohibits federal agencies from using funds for “any activity that promotes the legalization of any drug or other substance in Schedule I” of the Controlled Substances Act.
The congresswoman argued in a summary of her proposal that the current provision impedes valuable research into substances that have therapeutic potentials such as psilocybin and MDMA. Cannabis is also listed among those substances as a Schedule I drug.
The amendment blocked from advancing to the floor, filed by Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA), would have prevented the Department of Education from denying or limiting “any funding or assistance to institutions of higher education” that allow the use or possession of medical cannabis on campus in states where it is legal.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), chair of the House Rules Committee, said last year that he was “not going to block marijuana amendments like my predecessor has done.”
“I’m not going to block marijuana amendments,” he said last year shortly after Democrats took back control of the House in the midterm elections. “People ought to bring them to the floor, they should be debated and people ought to vote the way they feel appropriate.”
The rider that Ocasio-Cortez’s amendment would remove has been attached to spending legislation for the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education since at least 1996.
The congresswoman’s effort comes at an especially relevant time, as jurisdictions across the U.S. are pursuing psilocybin reform with a focus on the fungi’s medical potential. Voters in Denver approved a local measure to decriminalize the substance in May, and last week the Oakland City Council unanimously passed a similar measure that also applies to other psychedelics including ayahuasca, mescaline and ibogaine.
Just before the Rules Committee meeting on Monday, Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) signed on as cosponsors of the amendment.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
✔
@AOC
We now have *bipartisan support* for our amendment allowing expanded research into psychedelics.
This is important, as several studies have shown promise in treatment-resistant PTSD, severe depression, & more.
The War on Drugs has caused so much harm. It’s time to reverse it.
Tom Angell 🌳📰
✔
@tomangell
NEW: Reps. @mattgaetz and @RoKhanna have just been added as cosponsors of @AOC’s amendment to expand research on psilocybin, MDMA and other psychedelic drugs.
The Rules Committee decides tonight whether this can go to the House floor...
BACKGROUND:https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2019/06/08/aoc-pushes-to-make-it-easier-to-study-shrooms-and-other-psychedelic-drugs/ …
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Correa’s amendment on medical marijuana at colleges and universities would have helped undercut a major reason some administrators say they won’t allow even approved patients to bring cannabis on campus: the threatened loss of federal funds over a failure to bar federally illegal drug use and possession.
“It is frustrating that patients who are seeking to improve their position in life by attending college would be forced to choose between their education and their medication,” University of Utah NORML Director Pedro Padilla told Marijuana Moment.
While the Democratic-controlled House has produced several wide-ranging marijuana bills this congressional session, including a cannabis banking bill expected to hit the floor in the coming weeks, it’s apparent that there’s strong interest in advancing reform through the appropriations process.
House Appropriations Committee reports released so far this year call for the expansion of research into medical cannabis, funding the implementation of hemp regulations, tackling the challenges associated with impaired driving, creating an alternative regulatory framework for CBD and ensuring that military veterans don’t lose their benefits due to their involvement in state-legal cannabis markets.
A committee report published on Monday also implored the federal government to reevaluate its employment polices as it pertains to workers who use cannabis in accordance with state law.
McGovern did not say during Monday’s Rules Committee meeting why he chose to block the medical marijuana amendment from advancing despite his previous pledges to allow such proposals to advance for consideration by the full House.
He had joined marijuana policy reform advocates in criticizing his predecessor, then-Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), for consistently impeding cannabis proposals from advancing.
The overall spending bill and amendments made in order will be debated on the floor this week.
This is bullshit. We voted these people into office to represent us not undermine us. I am really pissed off over this one. If you are too and you live in his district you can contact him and ask why he pulled this stunt.
The measure moving to a full House vote, introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), would eliminate a long-standing rider on a spending bill that prohibits federal agencies from using funds for “any activity that promotes the legalization of any drug or other substance in Schedule I” of the Controlled Substances Act.
The congresswoman argued in a summary of her proposal that the current provision impedes valuable research into substances that have therapeutic potentials such as psilocybin and MDMA. Cannabis is also listed among those substances as a Schedule I drug.
The amendment blocked from advancing to the floor, filed by Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA), would have prevented the Department of Education from denying or limiting “any funding or assistance to institutions of higher education” that allow the use or possession of medical cannabis on campus in states where it is legal.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), chair of the House Rules Committee, said last year that he was “not going to block marijuana amendments like my predecessor has done.”
“I’m not going to block marijuana amendments,” he said last year shortly after Democrats took back control of the House in the midterm elections. “People ought to bring them to the floor, they should be debated and people ought to vote the way they feel appropriate.”
The rider that Ocasio-Cortez’s amendment would remove has been attached to spending legislation for the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education since at least 1996.
The congresswoman’s effort comes at an especially relevant time, as jurisdictions across the U.S. are pursuing psilocybin reform with a focus on the fungi’s medical potential. Voters in Denver approved a local measure to decriminalize the substance in May, and last week the Oakland City Council unanimously passed a similar measure that also applies to other psychedelics including ayahuasca, mescaline and ibogaine.
Just before the Rules Committee meeting on Monday, Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) signed on as cosponsors of the amendment.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
✔
@AOC
We now have *bipartisan support* for our amendment allowing expanded research into psychedelics.
This is important, as several studies have shown promise in treatment-resistant PTSD, severe depression, & more.
The War on Drugs has caused so much harm. It’s time to reverse it.
Tom Angell 🌳📰
✔
@tomangell
NEW: Reps. @mattgaetz and @RoKhanna have just been added as cosponsors of @AOC’s amendment to expand research on psilocybin, MDMA and other psychedelic drugs.
The Rules Committee decides tonight whether this can go to the House floor...
BACKGROUND:https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2019/06/08/aoc-pushes-to-make-it-easier-to-study-shrooms-and-other-psychedelic-drugs/ …
View image on Twitter
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Correa’s amendment on medical marijuana at colleges and universities would have helped undercut a major reason some administrators say they won’t allow even approved patients to bring cannabis on campus: the threatened loss of federal funds over a failure to bar federally illegal drug use and possession.
“It is frustrating that patients who are seeking to improve their position in life by attending college would be forced to choose between their education and their medication,” University of Utah NORML Director Pedro Padilla told Marijuana Moment.
While the Democratic-controlled House has produced several wide-ranging marijuana bills this congressional session, including a cannabis banking bill expected to hit the floor in the coming weeks, it’s apparent that there’s strong interest in advancing reform through the appropriations process.
House Appropriations Committee reports released so far this year call for the expansion of research into medical cannabis, funding the implementation of hemp regulations, tackling the challenges associated with impaired driving, creating an alternative regulatory framework for CBD and ensuring that military veterans don’t lose their benefits due to their involvement in state-legal cannabis markets.
A committee report published on Monday also implored the federal government to reevaluate its employment polices as it pertains to workers who use cannabis in accordance with state law.
McGovern did not say during Monday’s Rules Committee meeting why he chose to block the medical marijuana amendment from advancing despite his previous pledges to allow such proposals to advance for consideration by the full House.
He had joined marijuana policy reform advocates in criticizing his predecessor, then-Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), for consistently impeding cannabis proposals from advancing.
The overall spending bill and amendments made in order will be debated on the floor this week.
This is bullshit. We voted these people into office to represent us not undermine us. I am really pissed off over this one. If you are too and you live in his district you can contact him and ask why he pulled this stunt.
Sunday, June 9, 2019
Long line at a Trump rally
Ever wonder why the mainstream non-Fox media never shows the audience at Trump rallies? Now you know.
Friday, June 7, 2019
Trump Tweets of ‘Signed Deal’ With Mexico to Control Migration, Lifts Threat of Tariffs
President Donald Trump on Friday evening took to Twitter to announce that a “signed agreement” has been reached that will see Mexico take additional actions to control migration through Mexico into the U.S. in exchange for a suspension of tariffs on goods from Mexico that were set to take effect on Monday.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
· 2h
I am pleased to inform you that The United States of America has reached a signed agreement with Mexico. The Tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the U.S. on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended. Mexico, in turn, has agreed to take strong measures to...
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
....stem the tide of Migration through Mexico, and to our Southern Border. This is being done to greatly reduce, or eliminate, Illegal Immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States. Details of the agreement will be released shortly by the State Department. Thank you!
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5:31 PM - Jun 7, 2019
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The State Dept. released a joint declaration made by the U.S. and Mexico with this overview of both parties' commitments:
Mexican Enforcement Surge
Mexico will take unprecedented steps to increase enforcement to curb irregular migration, to include the deployment of its National Guard throughout Mexico, giving priority to its southern border. Mexico is also taking decisive action to dismantle human smuggling and trafficking organizations as well as their illicit financial and transportation networks. Additionally, the United States and Mexico commit to strengthening bilateral cooperation, including information sharing and coordinated actions to better protect and secure our common border.
Migrant Protection Protocols
The United States will immediately expand the implementation of the existing Migrant Protection Protocols across its entire Southern Border. This means that those crossing the U.S. Southern Border to seek asylum will be rapidly returned to Mexico where they may await the adjudication of their asylum claims.
In response, Mexico will authorize the entrance of all of those individuals for humanitarian reasons, in compliance with its international obligations, while they await the adjudication of their asylum claims. Mexico will also offer jobs, healthcare, and education according to its principles.
The United States commits to work to accelerate the adjudication of asylum claims and to conclude removal proceedings as expeditiously as possible.
Further Actions
Both parties also agree that in the event the measures adopted do not have the expected results, they will take further actions. Therefore, the United States and Mexico will continue their discussions on the terms of additional understandings to address irregular migrant flows and asylum issues, to be completed and announced within 90 days, if necessary.
Ongoing Regional Strategy
The United States and Mexico reiterate their previous statement of December 18, 2018, that both countries recognize the strong links between promoting the development and economic growth in southern Mexico and the success of promoting prosperity, good governance and security in Central America. The United States and Mexico welcome the Comprehensive Development Plan launched by the Government of Mexico in concert with the Governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to promote these goals. The United States and Mexico will lead in working with regional and international partners to build a more prosperous and secure Central America to address the underlying causes of migration so that citizens of the region can build better lives for themselves and their families at home.
Source
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
· 2h
I am pleased to inform you that The United States of America has reached a signed agreement with Mexico. The Tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the U.S. on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended. Mexico, in turn, has agreed to take strong measures to...
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
....stem the tide of Migration through Mexico, and to our Southern Border. This is being done to greatly reduce, or eliminate, Illegal Immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States. Details of the agreement will be released shortly by the State Department. Thank you!
83.5K
5:31 PM - Jun 7, 2019
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30.5K people are talking about this
The State Dept. released a joint declaration made by the U.S. and Mexico with this overview of both parties' commitments:
Mexican Enforcement Surge
Mexico will take unprecedented steps to increase enforcement to curb irregular migration, to include the deployment of its National Guard throughout Mexico, giving priority to its southern border. Mexico is also taking decisive action to dismantle human smuggling and trafficking organizations as well as their illicit financial and transportation networks. Additionally, the United States and Mexico commit to strengthening bilateral cooperation, including information sharing and coordinated actions to better protect and secure our common border.
Migrant Protection Protocols
The United States will immediately expand the implementation of the existing Migrant Protection Protocols across its entire Southern Border. This means that those crossing the U.S. Southern Border to seek asylum will be rapidly returned to Mexico where they may await the adjudication of their asylum claims.
In response, Mexico will authorize the entrance of all of those individuals for humanitarian reasons, in compliance with its international obligations, while they await the adjudication of their asylum claims. Mexico will also offer jobs, healthcare, and education according to its principles.
The United States commits to work to accelerate the adjudication of asylum claims and to conclude removal proceedings as expeditiously as possible.
Further Actions
Both parties also agree that in the event the measures adopted do not have the expected results, they will take further actions. Therefore, the United States and Mexico will continue their discussions on the terms of additional understandings to address irregular migrant flows and asylum issues, to be completed and announced within 90 days, if necessary.
Ongoing Regional Strategy
The United States and Mexico reiterate their previous statement of December 18, 2018, that both countries recognize the strong links between promoting the development and economic growth in southern Mexico and the success of promoting prosperity, good governance and security in Central America. The United States and Mexico welcome the Comprehensive Development Plan launched by the Government of Mexico in concert with the Governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to promote these goals. The United States and Mexico will lead in working with regional and international partners to build a more prosperous and secure Central America to address the underlying causes of migration so that citizens of the region can build better lives for themselves and their families at home.
Source
Senator Cory Gardner is making marijuana reform a reality
Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) said on Wednesday that he has “pretty good confidence” that Congress will pass far-reaching marijuana reforms this year, citing conversations he’s had with key committee chairs and President Donald Trump.
Gardner, who is the lead GOP sponsor of separate bills to let cannabis businesses access banking services and to protect states that have legalized from federal interference, said bipartisan support for his legislation “sends a strong signal that it’s time to pull the federal government’s head out of the sand on marijuana and actually address” the issue.
“It’s a sign that it’s no longer acceptable for the status quo [to continue] and we need to actually fix this conflict in federal and state law,” he said.
The senator revealed that he’s had “a number of good conversations” with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, as well as “some of the others in key committees like the Banking Committee.”
“I actually have some pretty good confidence that we can move forward on a solution this year,” Gardner told Yahoo Finance. “I think the consistent drumbeat of businesses and organizations and individuals going in to share their story with Chairman Graham and others has really made a key difference in terms of how we’re going to pass legislation to actually fix this conflict.”
Yahoo Finance
✔
@YahooFinance
Highlight: "It’s time to pull Congress's head out of the sand, the federal government’s head out of the sand on marijuana…" says @SenCoryGardner on bipartisan lawmakers teaming up to reform marijuana laws. https://finance.yahoo.com/
7
11:04 AM - Jun 5, 2019
Of course, cannabis reform legislation would also have to be signed by Trump, who Gardner said he considers an ally on the issue.
“I think the president would look at it as a commonsense approach that helps him out as well,” he said in response to a question about whether passing the bill he is co-leading with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) could aid her presidential campaign as she seeks to oust the incumbent occupant of the Oval Office. “He’s been supportive of this approach from the get-go. The conversations I have had with him over the past year-plus have been very productive.”
“I think that this is something he understands needs to be done because of the number of states—47 states have now moved forward—and to use his term, we’re not going to go backwards on this. Let’s fix the problem,” he added.
While Trump has not been particularly vocal about the issue since being elected, he did say last year that he “really” supports legislation to let states set their own marijuana policies without federal intervention when asked by a reporter.
Meanwhile, a number of political observers have pointed out that bringing home a federal cannabis win of some kind or another to Colorado could go a long way toward aiding Gardner’s own bid to be reelected next year.
Source
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Key bipartisan lawmakers say they are confident Congress will move on legislation designed to free cannabis businesses from the risk of breaking federal laws.
“I actually have some pretty good confidence that we can move forward on a solution this year,” Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) told Yahoo Finance about the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States Act (“STATES Act”), a bill he co-sponsored with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and one of several bills introduced in Congress to address concerns that plant-touching transactions could run afoul of the Controlled Substances Act and U.S. banking regulations.
If passed, the STATES Act would prevent federal authorities from punishing state-compliant cannabis businesses that would otherwise face criminal prosecution for possessing and distributing marijuana, which remains designated as a schedule 1 narcotic.
“I think the consistent drumbeat of businesses and organizations and individuals going in to share their story with Chairman [Lindsey] Graham, and others, has really made a key difference in terms of how we’re going to actually pass legislation to fix this conflict,” Gardner said.
‘An invitation to money laundering’
A lead Republican sponsor for another bipartisan, and a more narrowly-tailored bill that would protect banks from cannabis-related penalties, the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act (“SAFE Act”), Gardner reintroduced the measure in the Senate in April with Democratic co-sponsor Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR).
“This broader bill, I support it,” Merkley told Yahoo Finance. “Sen. Cory Gardner from Colorado has done a good job leading that effort. But sometimes the broader the bill gets, the less support it has. So we’re trying to find both the policy path and the political path forward.”
Persuading lawmakers to vote yes on a policy that would undo decades of drug regulation takes time, Merkley said. It’s why he believes the SAFE Act may be getting more traction.
“It’s caught in the evolution of thinking about cannabis,” Merkley said. “We now have more than half of our states ... that really understand that this cash economy makes no sense. It means that you have hundreds of thousands of dollars, millions of dollars moving around in duffel bags, in backpacks. It’s an invitation to money laundering, to organized crime to petty theft, to not even paying your taxes accurately.”
Merkley said the Senate version of the SAFE Act had gained 31 sponsors and was gradually building steam. Its companion bill in the House passed out of committee in March. “We’re expecting positive action on the floor,” Merkley said.
Questions remain about whether hemp, a form of cannabis with non-psychoactive levels of THC, needs to be explicitly covered in the various bills, despite its legalization under the 2018 Farm Bill. Hemp contains another phytocannabinoid, CBD, suspected to have therapeutic benefits.
“We’re pushing the FDA to act quickly because that’s really the hang-up now,” Merkley said. “Some states are a little nervous — what is this CBD oil? And does have something to do with marijuana? And can we intercept it? And the answer is no. This is now a full, agricultural product but it needs to have the FDA put out regulations that pertain to labeling and shipping, just to give everyone, to get the message, if you will, that this is now a legal, agricultural commodity.”
Representatives Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), Denny Heck (D-WA), Steve Stivers (R-OH) and Warren Davidson (R-OH) introduced the House version of the SAFE Act. On Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee issued a report on the legislation. The bill was discharged by the House Judiciary Committee, and placed on the Union Calendar, indicating it may come to a floor vote sooner than expected.
Source
You can make a difference too by petitioning the government to pass and implement these reforms right away. To do so click on the take action banner.
Gardner, who is the lead GOP sponsor of separate bills to let cannabis businesses access banking services and to protect states that have legalized from federal interference, said bipartisan support for his legislation “sends a strong signal that it’s time to pull the federal government’s head out of the sand on marijuana and actually address” the issue.
“It’s a sign that it’s no longer acceptable for the status quo [to continue] and we need to actually fix this conflict in federal and state law,” he said.
The senator revealed that he’s had “a number of good conversations” with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, as well as “some of the others in key committees like the Banking Committee.”
“I actually have some pretty good confidence that we can move forward on a solution this year,” Gardner told Yahoo Finance. “I think the consistent drumbeat of businesses and organizations and individuals going in to share their story with Chairman Graham and others has really made a key difference in terms of how we’re going to pass legislation to actually fix this conflict.”
Yahoo Finance
✔
@YahooFinance
Highlight: "It’s time to pull Congress's head out of the sand, the federal government’s head out of the sand on marijuana…" says @SenCoryGardner on bipartisan lawmakers teaming up to reform marijuana laws. https://finance.yahoo.com/
7
11:04 AM - Jun 5, 2019
Of course, cannabis reform legislation would also have to be signed by Trump, who Gardner said he considers an ally on the issue.
“I think the president would look at it as a commonsense approach that helps him out as well,” he said in response to a question about whether passing the bill he is co-leading with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) could aid her presidential campaign as she seeks to oust the incumbent occupant of the Oval Office. “He’s been supportive of this approach from the get-go. The conversations I have had with him over the past year-plus have been very productive.”
“I think that this is something he understands needs to be done because of the number of states—47 states have now moved forward—and to use his term, we’re not going to go backwards on this. Let’s fix the problem,” he added.
While Trump has not been particularly vocal about the issue since being elected, he did say last year that he “really” supports legislation to let states set their own marijuana policies without federal intervention when asked by a reporter.
Meanwhile, a number of political observers have pointed out that bringing home a federal cannabis win of some kind or another to Colorado could go a long way toward aiding Gardner’s own bid to be reelected next year.
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Key bipartisan lawmakers say they are confident Congress will move on legislation designed to free cannabis businesses from the risk of breaking federal laws.
“I actually have some pretty good confidence that we can move forward on a solution this year,” Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) told Yahoo Finance about the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States Act (“STATES Act”), a bill he co-sponsored with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and one of several bills introduced in Congress to address concerns that plant-touching transactions could run afoul of the Controlled Substances Act and U.S. banking regulations.
If passed, the STATES Act would prevent federal authorities from punishing state-compliant cannabis businesses that would otherwise face criminal prosecution for possessing and distributing marijuana, which remains designated as a schedule 1 narcotic.
“I think the consistent drumbeat of businesses and organizations and individuals going in to share their story with Chairman [Lindsey] Graham, and others, has really made a key difference in terms of how we’re going to actually pass legislation to fix this conflict,” Gardner said.
‘An invitation to money laundering’
A lead Republican sponsor for another bipartisan, and a more narrowly-tailored bill that would protect banks from cannabis-related penalties, the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act (“SAFE Act”), Gardner reintroduced the measure in the Senate in April with Democratic co-sponsor Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR).
“This broader bill, I support it,” Merkley told Yahoo Finance. “Sen. Cory Gardner from Colorado has done a good job leading that effort. But sometimes the broader the bill gets, the less support it has. So we’re trying to find both the policy path and the political path forward.”
Persuading lawmakers to vote yes on a policy that would undo decades of drug regulation takes time, Merkley said. It’s why he believes the SAFE Act may be getting more traction.
“It’s caught in the evolution of thinking about cannabis,” Merkley said. “We now have more than half of our states ... that really understand that this cash economy makes no sense. It means that you have hundreds of thousands of dollars, millions of dollars moving around in duffel bags, in backpacks. It’s an invitation to money laundering, to organized crime to petty theft, to not even paying your taxes accurately.”
Merkley said the Senate version of the SAFE Act had gained 31 sponsors and was gradually building steam. Its companion bill in the House passed out of committee in March. “We’re expecting positive action on the floor,” Merkley said.
Questions remain about whether hemp, a form of cannabis with non-psychoactive levels of THC, needs to be explicitly covered in the various bills, despite its legalization under the 2018 Farm Bill. Hemp contains another phytocannabinoid, CBD, suspected to have therapeutic benefits.
“We’re pushing the FDA to act quickly because that’s really the hang-up now,” Merkley said. “Some states are a little nervous — what is this CBD oil? And does have something to do with marijuana? And can we intercept it? And the answer is no. This is now a full, agricultural product but it needs to have the FDA put out regulations that pertain to labeling and shipping, just to give everyone, to get the message, if you will, that this is now a legal, agricultural commodity.”
Representatives Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), Denny Heck (D-WA), Steve Stivers (R-OH) and Warren Davidson (R-OH) introduced the House version of the SAFE Act. On Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee issued a report on the legislation. The bill was discharged by the House Judiciary Committee, and placed on the Union Calendar, indicating it may come to a floor vote sooner than expected.
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