The U.S. House of Representatives delighted cannabis advocates by passing a Department of Justice funding bill with amendments attached requiring that none of the money can be used by the Drug Enforcement Agency to impede state regulated medical cannabis, hemp growing and industrial hemp research.
The future of the amendments is hazy since the bill still needs to be reconciled with the Senate version before it lands on President Barack Obama’s desk. Many Congressional members are not waiting around. After passage of the bill in the House on May 30, they began pushing the Obama administration to adopt the changes.
The House approved the medical marijuana amendment to H.R. 4660 with a majority of yes votes from 170 Democrats and 49 Republicans. One of those Republicans was California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who put forward the amendment.
“None of the funds made available in this Act to the Department of Justice may be used, with respect to the States of …” the amendment begins. It goes on to list each state with current MMJ laws and then adds “… to prevent such States from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.”
P. Aiden Hunt 