Congress Moves to Extend Protections on State Medical Cannabis Laws

Progress continues to be made to ensure medical cannabis businesses continue to be protected from interference by the federal government. The House of Representatives and Senate have voted to reauthorize the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment through September 30 in the fiscal year 2017 omnibus funding legislation. The amendment prohibits the Department of Justice from using federal funding to crack down on state-approved medical cannabis operations. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill.

The Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment, also previously known as the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment, has been included in every federal budget spending bill since 2014. The amendment is located on pages 230-231 of the 1,664-page federal budget bill.

Alongside Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, Rep. Earl Blumenauer welcomed the inclusion in the 2017 federal budget bill. “Medical marijuana patients and the businesses that support them now have a measure of certainty,” Blumenauer said in a press release. “But this annual challenge must end. We need permanent protections for state-legal medical marijuana programs, as well as adult-use.” Representatives Dana Rohrabacher, Earl Blumenauer, Don Young and Jared Polis have maintained notoriety in the cannabis industry, by launching the Congressional Cannabis Caucus to protect states from federal intrusion.

The bill outlines 44 states that have allowed medical cannabis in one form or another. However, the amendment doesn’t block federal funds from the Department of Justice toward prosecuting state-approved recreational cannabis operations. Page 230 of the FY 2017 omnibus budget bill text reads, “None of the funds made available in this Act to the Department of Justice may be used, with respect to any of the [states with medical cannabis programs] to prevent any of them from implementing their own laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.”

The bill also includes language that allows industrial hemp research under Section 7606 of the 2014 Farm Bill. Representatives Rohrabacher and Blumenauer, along with the Congressional Cannabis Caucus are working on a permanent solution to bridging the gap between state medical cannabis law and federal law with the “Pathway to Marijuana Reform.”