Robert Celt
New Member
The House of Representatives has voted to protect state medical marijuana and hemp laws from federal interference, to cut the Drug Enforcement Administration's budget and to halt bulk collection of American communications in drug investigations.
In a near-sweep for reformers, the Republican-led chamber accepted seven of eight amendments to a large multi-agency spending bill that sought either to restrict federal enforcement of marijuana laws or restrain the anti-drug agency.
The one narrowly defeated measure in the string of late Tuesday and Wednesday votes would have prevented federal prosecutors and anti-drug agents from blocking implementation of state recreational marijuana laws.
That measure, introduced by Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., failed 206-222, with 45 Republicans voting in favor and 24 Democrats, including Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, voting against it.
Though reformers had held their breath hoping for a win, Dan Riffle, director of federal policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, called the vote "the most significant step Congress has ever taken toward ending federal marijuana prohibition."
"This is the first time this amendment has been offered, and it received an impressive amount of support," Riffle said in a statement. "It's not really a question of whether this measure will pass; it's a question of when it will pass."
Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., told U.S. News earlier in the day he believes Congress will soon align itself with the majority of Americans who tell pollsters they support marijuana legalization.
"It's time for the federal government to no longer make marijuana use and possession criminal," Lieu said. "It's clear the public is already there, and it takes Congress sometimes a little bit of time to catch up. But with the votes you've already seen and I believe you will see there's growing bipartisan support to no longer have marijuana as a federal crime.
Kevin Sabet, leader of the anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, took a different view, saying in a statement the vote was "a victory for our Nation's kids" and "a crushing blow" for legalization supporters. "Legalization is not inevitable," he said.
Possession of marijuana for any reason outside limited research is a federal crime, and spending amendments would not change that. Despite federal prohibition, four states and the nation's capital allow recreational marijuana use and many others allow marijuana as medicine.
The Obama administration generally tolerates state-level regulation of marijuana for medical or recreational use, but government agents and prosecutors — in the absence of spending prohibitions — retain the right to shut down regulated state markets and prosecute pot growers, sellers and users.
The medical marijuana-protecting amendment, which in a major breakthrough for reformers passed the House 219-189 and became law last year, was accepted by a larger 242-186 majority Wednesday, even with more Republican members this year.
The underlying spending bill allocates funds for fiscal year 2016. Without re-passing, the medical marijuana-protecting amendment would not have continued in effect.
Federal law allows prosecutions that predate spending prohibitions to continue and the amendment's primary sponsors, Reps. Sam Farr, D-Calif., and Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., told U.S. News in February they were disappointed that federal prosecutors in Washington state ignored the spirit of the measure by taking to trial a family of medical marijuana patients who roughly followed state rules.
"The federal government should never come between patients and their medicine," Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said Wednesday, celebrating the reincorporation of the amendment she co-sponsored. "Passage of this amendment brings us one step closer to providing relief for those suffering from multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, cancer, HIV/AIDS and other medical conditions."
Another amendment passed Wednesday, from Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., prevents enforcement actions against state laws allowing use of cannabidiol (CBD), a compound from marijuana plants that appears to be an effective treatment for severe treatment-resistant forms of epilepsy. It passed 297-130.
Yet another amendment protects state laws allowing farmers to grow hemp, marijuana's nonintoxicating cousin, which is grown in many other countries for food, fiber and oil. It passed 282-146. A similar amendment passed last year and became law, following the DEA's high-profile seizure of hemp seeds destined for pilot programs run by Kentucky's government and universities. Hemp products can legally be imported to the U.S., but until recently domestic production was impossible.
The votes cannot necessarily be read as an endorsement of various state policies. Polls generally show, for example, higher support for states' ability to legalize marijuana than for legalization itself. But reformers see the successes as yet another high-water mark for the movement.
"Congress clearly wants to stop the the Justice Department from spending money to impose failed marijuana prohibition policies onto states, so there's absolutely no reason those policies themselves should remain on the lawbooks any longer," says Tom Angell, chairman of the group Marijuana Majority.
In addition to cannabis-specific votes, House members passed three amendments by voice vote reducing funding for the DEA and another that aims to ban dragnet collection of Americans' records in drug investigations.
Lieu, a freshman congressman, sponsored an amendment taking $9 million from the DEA's cannabis eradication program, halving the appropriation while adding $7 million to youth- and children-focused domestic violence programs and the remainder to deficit reduction.
"The fact it was accepted by a voice vote means the Congress didn't even think it was that controversial, which is terrific," he says, adding he plans legislation to de-authorize the eradication program. "To spend even one cent on prosecuting marijuana cases is a total waste of resources."
An amendment from Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, reappropriated another $9 million from the DEA, putting it toward police body cameras. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., redirected a further $4 million to testing rape kits.
The mass surveillance-limiting amendment, drafted by Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., also was approved by a voice vote. It prohibits the DEA from using administrative subpoenas for the dragnet collection of records.
The DEA pioneered the bulk collection of U.S. call records, harvesting Americans' international call records from companies using subpoenas for nearly two decades before whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed the more famous National Security Agency dragnet. Authorities reportedly decided to end the agency's dragnet in response to Snowden's disclosures.
"I thought it was pretty outrageous, the scope and indiscriminate nature of the collection," former DEA intelligence specialist Sean Dunagan told U.S. News of the database. He said he searched the records nearly every day while he worked at the DEA office in Miami in late '90s and early 2000s.
The votes are more evidence of Capitol Hill discomfort with the DEA, whose longtime leader Michele Leonhart recently was forced to resign amid a sex party scandal. She previously riled congressmen by refusing to say if marijuana is less harmful than heroin. Her successor, Chuck Rosenberg, has made few public comments about marijuana policy.
"The DEA built the modern surveillance state," said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. "From spying on Americans to busting into people's homes the DEA doesn't fit in well in a free society and the time is now to reverse these harms."
The amendments must survive Senate votes to become law.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: House Votes to Ban Some Pot Law Enforcement & Cuts DEA Budget
Author: Steven Nelson
Contact: U.S.News Contact
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: U.S.News
In a near-sweep for reformers, the Republican-led chamber accepted seven of eight amendments to a large multi-agency spending bill that sought either to restrict federal enforcement of marijuana laws or restrain the anti-drug agency.
The one narrowly defeated measure in the string of late Tuesday and Wednesday votes would have prevented federal prosecutors and anti-drug agents from blocking implementation of state recreational marijuana laws.
That measure, introduced by Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., failed 206-222, with 45 Republicans voting in favor and 24 Democrats, including Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, voting against it.
Though reformers had held their breath hoping for a win, Dan Riffle, director of federal policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, called the vote "the most significant step Congress has ever taken toward ending federal marijuana prohibition."
"This is the first time this amendment has been offered, and it received an impressive amount of support," Riffle said in a statement. "It's not really a question of whether this measure will pass; it's a question of when it will pass."
Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., told U.S. News earlier in the day he believes Congress will soon align itself with the majority of Americans who tell pollsters they support marijuana legalization.
"It's time for the federal government to no longer make marijuana use and possession criminal," Lieu said. "It's clear the public is already there, and it takes Congress sometimes a little bit of time to catch up. But with the votes you've already seen and I believe you will see there's growing bipartisan support to no longer have marijuana as a federal crime.
Kevin Sabet, leader of the anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, took a different view, saying in a statement the vote was "a victory for our Nation's kids" and "a crushing blow" for legalization supporters. "Legalization is not inevitable," he said.
Possession of marijuana for any reason outside limited research is a federal crime, and spending amendments would not change that. Despite federal prohibition, four states and the nation's capital allow recreational marijuana use and many others allow marijuana as medicine.
The Obama administration generally tolerates state-level regulation of marijuana for medical or recreational use, but government agents and prosecutors — in the absence of spending prohibitions — retain the right to shut down regulated state markets and prosecute pot growers, sellers and users.
The medical marijuana-protecting amendment, which in a major breakthrough for reformers passed the House 219-189 and became law last year, was accepted by a larger 242-186 majority Wednesday, even with more Republican members this year.
The underlying spending bill allocates funds for fiscal year 2016. Without re-passing, the medical marijuana-protecting amendment would not have continued in effect.
Federal law allows prosecutions that predate spending prohibitions to continue and the amendment's primary sponsors, Reps. Sam Farr, D-Calif., and Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., told U.S. News in February they were disappointed that federal prosecutors in Washington state ignored the spirit of the measure by taking to trial a family of medical marijuana patients who roughly followed state rules.
"The federal government should never come between patients and their medicine," Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said Wednesday, celebrating the reincorporation of the amendment she co-sponsored. "Passage of this amendment brings us one step closer to providing relief for those suffering from multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, cancer, HIV/AIDS and other medical conditions."
Another amendment passed Wednesday, from Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., prevents enforcement actions against state laws allowing use of cannabidiol (CBD), a compound from marijuana plants that appears to be an effective treatment for severe treatment-resistant forms of epilepsy. It passed 297-130.
Yet another amendment protects state laws allowing farmers to grow hemp, marijuana's nonintoxicating cousin, which is grown in many other countries for food, fiber and oil. It passed 282-146. A similar amendment passed last year and became law, following the DEA's high-profile seizure of hemp seeds destined for pilot programs run by Kentucky's government and universities. Hemp products can legally be imported to the U.S., but until recently domestic production was impossible.
The votes cannot necessarily be read as an endorsement of various state policies. Polls generally show, for example, higher support for states' ability to legalize marijuana than for legalization itself. But reformers see the successes as yet another high-water mark for the movement.
"Congress clearly wants to stop the the Justice Department from spending money to impose failed marijuana prohibition policies onto states, so there's absolutely no reason those policies themselves should remain on the lawbooks any longer," says Tom Angell, chairman of the group Marijuana Majority.
In addition to cannabis-specific votes, House members passed three amendments by voice vote reducing funding for the DEA and another that aims to ban dragnet collection of Americans' records in drug investigations.
Lieu, a freshman congressman, sponsored an amendment taking $9 million from the DEA's cannabis eradication program, halving the appropriation while adding $7 million to youth- and children-focused domestic violence programs and the remainder to deficit reduction.
"The fact it was accepted by a voice vote means the Congress didn't even think it was that controversial, which is terrific," he says, adding he plans legislation to de-authorize the eradication program. "To spend even one cent on prosecuting marijuana cases is a total waste of resources."
An amendment from Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, reappropriated another $9 million from the DEA, putting it toward police body cameras. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., redirected a further $4 million to testing rape kits.
The mass surveillance-limiting amendment, drafted by Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., also was approved by a voice vote. It prohibits the DEA from using administrative subpoenas for the dragnet collection of records.
The DEA pioneered the bulk collection of U.S. call records, harvesting Americans' international call records from companies using subpoenas for nearly two decades before whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed the more famous National Security Agency dragnet. Authorities reportedly decided to end the agency's dragnet in response to Snowden's disclosures.
"I thought it was pretty outrageous, the scope and indiscriminate nature of the collection," former DEA intelligence specialist Sean Dunagan told U.S. News of the database. He said he searched the records nearly every day while he worked at the DEA office in Miami in late '90s and early 2000s.
The votes are more evidence of Capitol Hill discomfort with the DEA, whose longtime leader Michele Leonhart recently was forced to resign amid a sex party scandal. She previously riled congressmen by refusing to say if marijuana is less harmful than heroin. Her successor, Chuck Rosenberg, has made few public comments about marijuana policy.
"The DEA built the modern surveillance state," said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. "From spying on Americans to busting into people's homes the DEA doesn't fit in well in a free society and the time is now to reverse these harms."
The amendments must survive Senate votes to become law.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: House Votes to Ban Some Pot Law Enforcement & Cuts DEA Budget
Author: Steven Nelson
Contact: U.S.News Contact
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: U.S.News
