{"articles":[{"reaction_config":[{"text":"Agree","color":"#624A5F","stance":"agree"},{"text":"Disagree","color":"#ECB637","stance":"disagree"}],"id":45659,"title":"House Spending Package Preserves Protection for State Marijuana Programs - Do You Agree?","html_content":"

by Causes | 8.3.20

What’s the story?

Before the House of Representatives completed its consideration of the $1.3 trillion “minibus” spending package last week, it adopted an amendment that would prohibit the Dept. of Justice from using law enforcement grants to interfere with medical and/or recreational marijuana programs administered by states, tribes, and territories.
The inclusion of the amendment in the funding package (which ultimately passed on a party-line 217-197 vote on Friday) comes as the debate over marijuana policy emerges as part of coronavirus relief negotiations.

What’s the amendment?

Introduced by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), the amendment would prohibit the use of federal law enforcement grant funding from being used to interfere with the marijuana programs of states that have legalized the substance for medical or recreational use.
A similar amendment was adopted for the spending package that is funding the federal government’s operations in the current fiscal year, so if Blumenauer’s amendment is enacted it would continue that policy for FY2021.
The amendment was adopted on a 254-163 vote that involved a degree of bipartisanship ― 222 Democrats were joined by 31 Republicans and the House’s lone Libertarian, Rep. Justin Amash (L-MI), in supporting the amendment while 157 Republicans & six Democrats were opposed.

What else is Congress doing about marijuana?

In September 2019, the House passed the SAFE Banking Act on a bipartisan 321-103 vote. The bill would allow marijuana-related businesses (in states where their industry is legal) to access the banking system, as federal law currently considers marijuana-related banking to be money laundering.
The SAFE Banking Act was later included in House Democrats’ HEROES Act, a $3 trillion coronavirus relief package that passed the House on a party-line vote but has languished in the Senate amid ongoing bipartisan negotiations about coronavirus relief.
Also in the HEROES Act is a requirement that federal agencies report to Congress about barriers to marketplace entry for potential & existing minority-owned legitimate marijuana businesses.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who successfully fought for the inclusion of language in the 2018 Farm Bill easing federal restrictions on industrial hemp farming, said that marijuana studies should be excluded from the coronavirus relief package as non-germane:

“When we get to the end of the process I would hope all non-COVID measures are out -- no matter what bills they were in at the start.”

When asked about McConnell’s comments at a Friday press conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) defended the inclusion of marijuana provisions in Democrats’ coronavirus relief package, saying she didn’t agree that “cannabis is not related to this” and that cannabis “is a therapy that has proven successful”.

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: iStock.com / gradyreese)

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Love before all.","twitter_id":"","facebook_id":"dayers55@yahoo.com","youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":"","website":null,"slug":"kodiwodi","issue_count":91,"is_following":null,"influence_score":15675,"influence_level":40,"follower_count":345,"following_count":37,"position_count":630,"id":"e9X3M3Dm","partner_id":null},{"name":"Diane ","vote_count":431,"photos":{"large":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/default-with-hat.png","small":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/default-with-hat.png","tiny":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/default-with-hat.png"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/WdBRwLo1/following","followers":"/api/users/WdBRwLo1/followers"},"about_me":null,"twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":null,"issue_count":0,"is_following":null,"influence_score":0,"influence_level":0,"follower_count":3,"following_count":1,"position_count":122,"id":"WdBRwLo1","partner_id":null},{"name":"jimK","vote_count":567,"photos":{"large":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/9odrQBnb/large_9odrqbnb-1557000969.jpg","small":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/9odrQBnb/small_9odrqbnb-1557000969.jpg","tiny":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/9odrQBnb/tiny_9odrqbnb-1557000969.jpg"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/9odrQBnb/following","followers":"/api/users/9odrQBnb/followers"},"about_me":"Retired, Politically Independent. Won’t listen to slogans, chanted mantras or generally any kind of marketing spin or “rebranding” crap. I firmly believe that everyone else is entitled to their erroneous opinions. Citizen vigilance and due diligence is price we must pay to live in a thriving, functional democracy.\nI fear that our citizens are too easily swayed by politician’s pablum about “babies”, “jobs” and now, in particular, perceived “enemies”. I fear that a citizenry focused on the “here-and-now” is easily tricked by short term benefits that have negative long-term consequences. I fear that our legislators are more concerned about buffing their constituents than looking out for the long-term welfare of our country- and are way too eager to provide those short-term benefits to the “here-and-now” crowd.\nI fear that honor is generally being sacrificed/replaced by expediency. I hear politicians eloquently argue for one side of an issue and later, when it’s to their benefit, just as eloquently argue for the opposite side. OK, so they are good at arguing- but what is that they actually believe? What is it that they actually stand for? An honorable person has values that persist even when it is not convenient or expedient. An honorable person has a moral compass that stops them from doing something wrong even if it is not illegal. A foul is a foul- even if the referee doesn’t catch you.\nI fear that each of our federal governmental branches have devised or discovered shortcuts which tend to protect them from the checks and balances our founders intended.","twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":"jimk","issue_count":4,"is_following":null,"influence_score":48180,"influence_level":40,"follower_count":1632,"following_count":88,"position_count":564,"id":"9odrQBnb","partner_id":null}],"article_comment":{"flagged":false,"id":1325488,"body":"The government at all levels needs desparately to wake up and realize that prohibitions are a cure far, far, worse than any perceived \"disease\" that they ignorantly cling to believing exists via a vis Cannabis.\nBut then, they're consummate professionals when it comes to fixing what ain't broke. ","parent_type":"Article","parent_id":45659,"created_at":"2020-08-04T01:38:26.968Z","liked":false,"like_count":4,"links":{"self":"https://www.causes.com/comments/1325488","likers":"https://www.causes.com/api/v1/likers?likeable_id=1325488&likeable_type=Comment"},"article_id":45659,"shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/comments/1325488.png","note":{"text":"Agree","color":"#624A5F","stance":"agree"},"note_text":"Agree","note_color":"#624A5F","user_id":"pWR3YvVZ","liker_ids":["Bmyny8a9","e9X3M3Dm","WdBRwLo1","9odrQBnb"]}}

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