Our Saving Grace?

MMJ-Friendly members of Congress are pushing new bills to protect patients nationwide

The greatest obstacle to any sort of legal reform when it comes to the issue of cannabis is that no matter how many laws states pass, to the federal government cannabis is still classified as a Schedule I drug right next to PCP, morphine and LSD. As long as this is so, the Drug Enforcement Agency can raid anyone they wish anywhere in America because federal law says they can.

In what can best be described as a refreshing blast of sanity, politicians from both sides of the aisle are sponsoring H.R. 689, the States’ Medical Marijuana Protection Act, which would reclassify cannabis for medical use and allow states to regulate the issue without federal interference. This would be a giant leap ahead for advocates who have been trying to reform the law for decades.

U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) is the author of this historic piece of legislation. Why does he believe that the time is now for a bill like this?

“We are in a situation now where the developments around the country have taken an already archaic federal framework and basically rendered it inoperable,” he says.

Widespread support for medical cannabis across the country is at record levels, and the congressman agrees with a vast majority of the country that believes the federal government should back off of the issue. “Right now at least a quarter of Americans have access to medical marijuana throughout the states and Washington, D.C. ever since California legalized cannabis for medical use in 1996,” he says. “Our federal laws have become antiquated.”

Sponsors of the bill comprise Republicans and Democrats from both sides of the aisle, including Rep. Mike Honda (D-San Jose) and Rep. Sam Farr (D-Carmel). Farr has authored another bill, H.R. 6134, the Truth in Trials Act, which would allow patients to use a medical defense for using cannabis in a federal court of law.

Without this new law to protect them, patients are fair game for federal prosecutors and a system that hands out dozens of years for possessing cannabis, medical or otherwise.

Blumenauer believes that both bills will help clear up the confusion in regards to medical cannabis and federal law. “The government is in a tough spot. Cannabis is still a Schedule I substance. Yes, many states have taken action to legalize medical marijuana, but 31 have not,” he says. “Obama has to obey the law.”

Farr’s proposed bill also includes provisions would allow doctors and scientists to research the medicinal properties of cannabis without federal government interference. “Right now because it is a Schedule I controlled substance it is extraordinarily difficult for people to get access to marijuana for research purposes,” Blumenauer says.

With the new law in effect qualified, professional medical researchers could fully explore the issue without having to deliver the same government-mandated message. “We would make sure that state doctors and private businesses would have the same legal right to research marijuana for potential medicinal purposes,” he says. “Otherwise, the federal government will continue to prevent any independent study of the therapeutic aspects of medical marijuana.”

“We currently have a situation where the federal government limits the research to just the addictive properties of marijuana,” Blumenauer says. “It has to be reclassified as a Schedule I drug because otherwise it will continue to be compared to addictive drugs that have no medicinal value.”

The Vote’s In!

Rep. Earl Blumenauer is truly optimistic about the bill’s chance to become law, and he isn’t alone. “There are a dozen bipartisan members of Congress who are all working together on some aspect of this issue. They are looking into the industrial uses of hemp, and how we can regulate it and tax it like alcohol.” The elected official believes that change is finally possible on a federal level for the first time. “I anticipate that there is a real chance that we can reform our laws on a federal level within this decade . . . More than two-thirds of Americans say the federal government shouldn’t interfere with medical marijuana. Voters across the country have spoken. Why would anyone who is conservative or liberal try to stand in the way of states’ rights over this?”