Indopedia All Things Marijuana
The Rohrabacher-Farr amendment was first successfully added to the budget bill in 2014, and it’s been successfully added every year since.
Now, as yet another budget shutdown looms, legislators seem to be drawing near to a final version of the bill. Thanks to a strong push from pro-cannabis legislators, the protections for medical cannabis, now known as the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment, are firmly in place.
The spending bill does have negative consequences for the cannabis industry in Washington, D.C., however. In 2014, the nation’s capital legalized the possession, but not the sale, of cannabis. Many of the city’s residents and politicians support a fully regulated recreational cannabis market, but recent federal budget bills have included a rider that prevents D.C. from using its own money to establish a regulated cannabis market. This year’s budget bill unfortunately extends that rider.
Republican leaders in Congress also removed the Veterans Equal Access amendment from the bill, which would have allowed veterans to receive medical cannabis recommendations from their VA doctors.
Congress must still vote in favor of the bill for it to pass, and President Trump must also sign it into law. Norml.org/2018/03/21/new-federal-spending-bill-includes-medical-marijuana-protections/”>on March 23rd at midnight.
