{"id":7918,"date":"2017-12-08T00:36:01","date_gmt":"2017-12-08T00:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com?p=2882068&amp;preview_id=2882068"},"modified":"2017-12-08T00:36:01","modified_gmt":"2017-12-08T00:36:01","slug":"federal-marijuana-protections-safe-for-now-with-stopgap-spending-bill-approval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/federal-marijuana-protections-safe-for-now-with-stopgap-spending-bill-approval\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal marijuana protections safe for now with stopgap spending bill approval"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/federal-marijuana-protections-safe-for-now-with-stopgap-spending-bill-approval\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"large-10 large-centered small-12 columns\">\n<div class=\"entry-meta-date\">Published: Dec 7, 2017, 3:31 pm \u2022 Updated: Dec 8, 2017, 3:10 pm<span class=\"single-comments-link\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"byline\">By <span class=\"author\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/alexp\/\" rel=\"author\">Alex Pasquariello<\/a> and <a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/awallace\/\" rel=\"author\">Alicia Wallace<\/a><\/span><em>, The Cannabist Staff<\/em><\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump signed a stopgap spending bill Friday to avoid a government shutdown and keep the federal government running through Dec. 22.<\/p>\n<p>Protections for state medical marijuana programs known as the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment were also continued in the legislation to fund the government, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., announced in a statement Thursday after the House passed the measure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile we are pleased that these critical protections will continue, two weeks is not enough certainty for the millions of Americans who rely on medical marijuana for treatment and the businesses who serve them,\u201d Blumenauer said. \u201cAs Congress works out a long-term funding bill, it must also include these protections. And ultimately, Congress must act to put an end to the cycle of uncertainty and permanently protect state medical marijuana programs \u2014 and adult use \u2014 from federal interference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The extension of Rohrabacher-Blumenauer comes a week after <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/11\/29\/66-congress-letter-rohrabacher-blumenauer-medical-marijuana-states\/93538\/\">a letter was made public<\/a> in which 66 members of Congress urged Senate and House leaders to extend the medical marijuana protections that have been in place since December 2014. Those protections, previously known as Rohrabacher-Farr, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/amendment\/113th-congress\/house-amendment\/748\/text\">prohibit the U.S. Department of Justice<\/a> from using federal funds to prevent certain states \u201cfrom implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The likelihood of the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment\u2019s inclusion in a new omnibus bill is \u201cpretty good,\u201d said John Hudak, a drug policy specialist and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., in an interview with The Cannabist earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve been down this road before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Although <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/09\/06\/house-rules-committee-rejects-marijuana-amendments-spending-bill-2\/87472\/\">House members stymied efforts<\/a> to include marijuana-related provisions \u2014 including Rohrabacher-Blumenauer \u2014 from the federal appropriations bill under consideration, there still exists avenues in the Senate for the insertion of Rohrabacher-Blumenauer, he added.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, stripping Rohrabacher-Blumenauer could have negative implications for Republicans\u2019 efforts in trying to round up the necessary votes on the new tax bill, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt puts Congress in a position right now that if they start meddling significantly with upcoming spending legislation, it could put at risk this very fragile coalition that\u2019s been put together on the tax bill,\u201d Hudak said. \u201cThey probably have a lot more to lose by stripping it than they do to gain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The short-term continuing resolution should give Congress a few extra weeks to negotiate a broader omnibus appropriations bill that could then last for nine or 10 months, he said.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-meta-author\">\n<div class=\"authorimage\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/alexp\/\" rel=\"author\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/federal-marijuana-protections-safe-for-now-with-stopgap-spending-bill-approval.jpg\" class=\"authormug\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p class=\"author-desc\">Alex joined The Cannabist as Editor in April 2017. He started his journalism career in Colorado as a reporter at community newspapers and national ski magazines before heading to New York to work as an editor at Cond\u00e9 Nast Traveler and digital&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .row --> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;While we are pleased that these critical protections will continue, two weeks is not enough certainty for the millions of Americans who rely on medical marijuana,&#8221; said Rep. Earl Blumenauer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[117,7422,6813,77,5667,56,9,6833,6855,5019,441,1,3,7329,7164,5125,61,1736],"tags":[2695,7423,6818,2655,5673,2636,6835,6856,5022,3015,7330,7166,5128],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7918"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7918\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}