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If this ends up becoming law, it's a step toward federal sanity, but some feel that it might delay broader cannabis law reform…
"'Mr. Perlmutter may now take his victory dance up and down the aisle,' Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said after the vote.
….Rep. Perlmutter (D-CO) first introduced similar legislation in 2013 and has offered bills in every Congress since.
'This is the first markup of any bill concerning this particular issue,' he said.
The bill, though has faced criticism from both Republicans, who worry that Congress is moving too fast, and from the left, which wants bigger steps to decriminalize marijuana.
Perlmutter noted that some of those broader cannabis reforms would require other committees to come into play, including the Judiciary, Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means and Agriculture committees.
Waters called the bill, 'a thoughtful piece of legislation that addresses the serious and growing problem across the country.'
She added that she is hopeful other committees will take up marijuana reforms and that the 'House does not take a once and done approach.'
The panel’s top Republican, Rep. Patrick McHenry (N.C.), wrote to Waters last week requesting that the markup be postponed.
'It is the single largest re-write of drug policy this Congress has undertaken,' he said. 'We’ve done that with one hearing.'
The bill is expected to pass the House but could face an uphill climb in the GOP-controlled Senate."
#TRUCE – Comprehensive reform is needed to begin to solve lots of problems still dogging the best approach to medical cannabis (and winding down the whole ineffective and simultaneously socially destructive war on drugs.
But we'll keep watching this bill….
House panel approves marijuana banking bill
The House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday approved legislation that would allow banks to work with marijuana businesses that are legal under state law.
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