Two diametrically opposite amendments to a bill affecting funding for the Department of Justice have been filed: one bipartisan measure that protects all state marijuana programs against federal intervention, and another by a long-time GOP prohibitionist who wants to stop the Biden administration rescheduling Cannabis.
There are also proposals to prevent federal agencies from screening job applicants for marijuana, and to protect states which legalize psilocybin as a therapeutic drug.
As the House gets back to work on fiscal year 2024 appropriations legislation, the proposed amendments to the bill covering Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) will now be taken into consideration by the Republican-controlled House Rules Committee, which will determine whether they can be taken up on the floor.
Earl Blumenauer, Tom McClintock, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Barbara Lee are the sponsors of the state cannabis protection amendment. The measure has been passed on the House Floor in the past, but it is yet to become law.
The measure would prohibit the Justice Department from using federal funds to prevent any state, district of Columbia or territory of the United States “from implementing any laws of that jurisdiction which authorize the use, distribution or possession of marijuana.” This protection would also be extended to Indian tribes according to the text of the proposal, which was shared by Marijuana Moment, but has not yet been posted on the Rules Committee website.
CJS bill includes a limited rider, which has been renewed annually since 2014. This prevents federal funds from interfering with the implementation of medical cannabis programs in states and territories. This rider lists specific jurisdictions, which has been used historically for the amendment to protect all state cannabis laws. However, the latest version of this broader measure does not list any specific jurisdictions.
A Blumenauer staffer explained to Marijuana Moment that the reason for its intentionally less prescriptive nature was to allow for possible state policy changes as Congress finishes up their appropriations work. Ohio voters, for example, will decide on a marijuana-legalization initiative at the ballot this Tuesday.
The other side of this spectrum is an amendment by Rep. Pete Session, a loudly anti-marijuana Congressman who himself prevented numerous cannabis reform measures from reaching the Floor while he was the Rules Committee Chairman until he lost his reelection bid in 2018. In 2020, he won a new district and returned to the House.
Sessions’s Amendment would prohibit federal funds being used to “deschedule or reschedule marihuana”, under the Controlled Substances Act.
The proposal, if made to allow for a vote on the floor and passed, could undermine a current administrative review of marijuana scheduling which was ordered by President Joe Biden in 2013. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has recommended to the Drug Enforcement Administration that cannabis be moved from Schedule I under the CSA to Schedule III. And the law enforcement agency impacted by Sessions’ amendment is currently conducting its own review.
Sessions led a recent letter urging DEA to “reject” top federal health agency’s recommendation to reschedule cannabis, and instead keep it under the most restrictive category of the CSA.
The Rules Committee will also consider two other measures to reform drug policy as part of CJS legislation. Robert Garcia (D-CA), a member of the Rules Committee, has proposed a measure that would prevent federal funding from being used to test job applicants for marijuana. The congressman has tried to reform various spending bills in this year without success.
Garcia, in an interview with Marijuana Moment, said that federal legalization has been long overdue. In the meantime , he is using his experience as mayor of Long Beach reforming workplace cannabis policies to guide his congressional efforts.
The congressman also backed another CJS Amendment to Protect jurisdictions that legalize psilocybin therapeutic use, which was filed along with Blumenauer. Blumenauer is a founding member of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus and recently announced he will not be running for re-election in next year .
This measure is a trimmed-down version of a separate bill he sponsors with Blumenauer, which would prohibit federal funds from being used to interfere in local and state laws that legalize the psychedelic regardless of their intended use.
The psychedelics measure is aimed at states that have medical psilocybin. Its practical impact, if it were to be passed, may be limited, as no state has explicitly approved psilocybin for therapeutic purposes, like they did with marijuana.
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The GOP-controlled Rules Committee is uncertain about the measure, but the panel allowed separate GOP-led psychedelics bills to be considered in another appropriations package that eventually passed the House.
The House passed two amendments that would allow VA doctors the ability to recommend medical cannabis to veterans. Another would encourage the research of the therapeutic potential of psychedelics such as psilocybin or MDMA.
Last week, the Senate passed a bill that included a similar provision to allow VA medical marijuana recommendations for veterans who live in states where it is legal. This set the stage for a conference with the House.
The House also approved in September a pair of measures for psychedelics, as well an amendment to create federal labeling requirements relating to marijuana interactions with prescribed drugs, as part of the Department of Defense funding bill.
In July, the Senate passed a defense bill that included provisions prohibiting intelligence agencies such as the CIA or NSA from denying security clearances solely based on past marijuana usage. Other cannabis proposals such as that of Sen. Brian Schatz, D-HI, to allow medical marijuana use by vets , did not make it into the National Defense Authorization Act.
The Rules Committee blocked more than a dozen amendments on marijuana and psychedelics in the House version of NDAA. This happened in July. This includes a measure that was introduced by Garcia which would have prevented denials of security clearances to federal workers due to prior cannabis use.
In September, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee approved a bipartisan standalone bill that would prohibit the denial or refusal of federal employment and security clearances because a candidate has used marijuana in the past.
Below, you can read the text that protects all states with legal marijuana:
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Photo by Mike Latimer.
The article Congress considers opposing amendments to protect legal marijuana states and block Biden from reclassifying cannabis first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
