STATES Act Reintroduced to Protect States with Legal Cannabis

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]O[/dropcap]n April 4, The Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act was reintroduced to the House and Senate in an effort to protect states with legal cannabis programs. The bill was introduced last congress under the reign of former Attorney General

The bill was introduced by Sen. Cory Gardner, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Earl Blumenauer and Rep. David Joyce, and so far, the bill has attracted 26 cosponsors in the House and another ten in the Senate. It would amend the Controlled Substances Act to acknowledge state cannabis laws. The latest version dropped a provision exempting hemp from the definition of cannabis and added a provision to promote traffic safety.

According to Warren, 47 states now allow cannabis or cannabis products in one form or another. “Our federal marijuana laws are outdated and pose a threat to our public health and safety. Marijuana should be legalized, and we must reverse the harm of these failed policies by wiping clean the records of those unjustly jailed for minor marijuana crimes,” Warren said in a press release. “Congress should take immediate action on these important issues by passing the bipartisan STATES Act and protecting states, territories, and tribal nations as they implement their own marijuana laws without federal interference,”

The STATES Act is supported by the American Bankers Association, ACLU, American Council of Independent Laboratories, Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Safe Access and dozens of other cannabis-related organizations.

Today, I introduced the STATES Act w/ @RepDaveJoyce @SenCoryGardner @SenWarren. Our outdated cannabis laws have ruined lives, devastated communities and wasted resources. This is the next logical step for Congress to catch up w/ the rest of America & fix a badly broken system. pic.twitter.com/YUW3iqwu25

— Earl Blumenauer (@repblumenauer) April 4, 2019

The bill quickly gained the support of The National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) .“Regulating cannabis is successfully replacing illicit markets with licensed businesses in a growing number of states across the country. This legislation will simply allow those state regulatory programs to succeed without federal interference,” Aaron Smith, executive director of NCIA, said in a press release.