“Members of Congress have proposed a spending bill amendment that would ensure protections for states that have legalized marijuana.
Nearly 70 US representatives signed onto a letter sent to House of Representatives leadership asking for the inclusion of the provision, known as the McClintock-Polis Amendment, that ensures U.S. Department of Justice funds cannot be used to interfere with states that have authorized some form of marijuana legalization.
The McClintock-Polis Amendment has taken on a new level of urgency in the wake of US Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ Jan. 4 memo rescinding Obama-era guidance on marijuana enforcement, Rep. Jared Polis, D-CO, told The Cannabist.
‘In the last week there’s been a groundswell of support to include this amendment in appropriations legislation,’ he said.
The representatives said the proposed provision respects constitutional authority for states to regulate commerce within their own borders.
‘Specifically, we are concerned with several attempts to apply federal law upon commerce related to cannabis that is conducted entirely within the boundaries of states that have legalized such commerce,’ the representatives wrote. “While the federal government is legitimately empowered to regulate interstate commerce, the measures adopted by states such as California, Oregon and Colorado are aimed solely at intrastate commerce and as such should not be interfered with.
‘Indeed, this is exactly the mechanism (former U.S. Supreme Court Justice) Louis Brandeis referred to when he wrote of the states as laboratories for innovation and experimentation’.”
More in the linked article… …come on Congress, you can do this without upsetting your “bases” – cannabis law reform is the most bipartisan issue in the country at this point…!
#MMJ #USpol #Congress #UTpol #UtahNext #TRUCE
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See full article – Nearly 70 Congress members push spending bill amendment to protect state-legal marijuana
