{"id":7989,"date":"2018-01-12T23:38:59","date_gmt":"2018-01-12T23:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com?p=2918144&amp;preview_id=2918144"},"modified":"2018-01-12T23:38:59","modified_gmt":"2018-01-12T23:38:59","slug":"nearly-70-congress-members-push-spending-bill-amendment-to-protect-state-legal-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/nearly-70-congress-members-push-spending-bill-amendment-to-protect-state-legal-marijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearly 70 Congress members push spending bill amendment to protect state-legal marijuana"},"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\/nearly-70-congress-members-push-spending-bill-amendment-to-protect-state-legal-marijuana\/\" 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: Jan 12, 2018, 3:47 pm \u2022 Updated: Jan 13, 2018, 8:14 am<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\/awallace\/\" rel=\"author\">Alicia Wallace<\/a> and <a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/alexp\/\" rel=\"author\">Alex Pasquariello<\/a><\/span><em>, The Cannabist Staff<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Members of Congress have proposed a spending bill amendment that would ensure protections for states that have legalized marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly 70 U.S. representatives signed onto a letter sent Friday to U.S. House of Representatives leadership asking for the inclusion of the provision, known as the McClintock-Polis Amendment, that ensures U.S. Department of Justice funds cannot be used to interfere with states that have authorized some form of marijuana legalization.<\/p>\n<p>The McClintock-Polis Amendment has taken on a new level of urgency in the wake of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2018\/01\/04\/jeff-sessions-rescinding-legalized-marijuana-policy\/95875\/\">U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions\u2019 Jan. 4 memo rescinding Obama-era guidance on marijuana enforcement<\/a>, Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., told The Cannabist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the last week there\u2019s been a groundswell of support to include this amendment in appropriations legislation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Last April, a letter from Reps. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., and Polis requesting inclusion of their amendment in the appropriations bill had a total of 16 signatures. The letter sent Friday had the support of 69 members.<\/p>\n<p>In it, the congressmen asked that \u201cany forthcoming appropriations or funding bill\u201d include the following language:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>None of the funds made available by this act to the Department of Justice may be used, with respect to any of the States of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, to prevent any of them from implementing their own laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of marijuana on non-Federal lands within their respective jurisdictions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The representatives said the proposed provision respects constitutional authority for states to regulate commerce within their own borders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpecifically, we are concerned with several attempts to apply federal law upon commerce related to cannabis that is conducted entirely within the boundaries of states that have legalized such commerce,\u201d the representatives wrote. \u201cWhile the federal government is legitimately empowered to regulate interstate commerce, the measures adopted by states such as California, Oregon and Colorado are aimed solely at intrastate commerce and as such should not be interfered with.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIndeed, this is exactly the mechanism (former U.S. Supreme Court Justice) Louis Brandeis referred to when he wrote of the states as laboratories for innovation and experimentation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>An amendment preventing the Justice Department from using federal funds to prosecute individuals in states where medical marijuana is legal has been included in appropriations bills since 2014. The so-called Rohrabacher-Blumenaeur amendment remains in place following the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/12\/22\/federal-budget-medical-marijuana-rohrabacher-blumenauer-extended\/95178\/\">Dec. 22 signing of a stopgap spending bill<\/a>. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., a co-sponsor of the amendment, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2018\/01\/05\/colorado-marijuana-federal-protections\/96130\/\">has said that efforts are ongoing<\/a> to include the language in upcoming appropriations legislation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2018\/01\/09\/federal-marijuana-legalization-bills-sponsors\/96316\/\">Federal marijuana bills boosted by new supporters as Congress gets back to work<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Following Sessions\u2019 move on Jan. 4, members of Congress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2018\/01\/04\/cory-gardner-jeff-sessions-marijuana-policy\/\">have pushed back<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2018\/01\/05\/colorado-marijuana-federal-protections\/96130\/\">conducted<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2018\/01\/09\/colorado-marijuana-degette-federal-protections\/96425\/\">emergency meetings<\/a> to develop a response \u2014 be it via a spending bill rider or longer-term legislation.<\/p>\n<p>Polis on Friday said he would continue to push for passage of his\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/polis.house.gov\/news\/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398343\">Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act<\/a>, which would end the federal prohibition on marijuana. However, \u201cthat could take years,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is urgent \u2014 we must get this amendment passed in any vehicle that funds the government.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Watch Colo. Rep. Polis talk about federal legislation to legalize marijuana<\/h3>\n<p><em>And <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/04\/20\/colorado-congressman-rep-jared-polis-marijuana-policy-interview\/77729\/\">read\/watch more of the interview with Polis<\/a>, who is now <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/06\/12\/jared-polis-marijuana-legalization-colorado-governor\/81330\/\">running for governor of Colorado<\/a>.<\/em><br \/><span class=\"embed-youtube\">[embedded content]<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-meta-author\">\n<div class=\"authorimage\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/awallace\/\" rel=\"author\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/nearly-70-congress-members-push-spending-bill-amendment-to-protect-state-legal-marijuana.jpg\" class=\"authormug\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p class=\"author-desc\">Alicia Wallace joined The Cannabist in July 2016, covering national marijuana policy and business. In her 14 years as a business news reporter, her coverage has spanned topics such as the economy, natural foods, airlines, biotech, retail,&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .row --> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>Members of Congress have proposed a spending bill amendment that would ensure protections for states that have legalized marijuana. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6857,854,6813,77,5667,9,6833,6855,5019,441,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[6859,3427,6818,2655,5673,6835,6856,5022,3015],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7989"}],"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=7989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7989\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}