In wake of the government shutdown as Congress attempts to wrap up a two-year legislative session, the 2014 Continuing Resolution Omnibus bill was passed on Saturday.
With 1603 pages, this $1.1 trillion dollar bill, one long line has received little fanfare – It states that the Department of Justice (and, therefore, the FBI) cannot spend money to investigate, raid or prosecute cannabis businesses that are accredited as legal within their parent states. It is important to note that this does not restrict spending from previous budgets.
To be specific, the bill says:
“None of the funds made available in this Act to the Department of Justice may be used, with respect to the States of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, to prevent such States from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.”
“Congressional leaders seem to have finally gotten the message that a supermajority of Americans wants states to be able to implement sensible marijuana reforms without federal interference,” said Tom Angell, head of the pro-legalization Marijuana Majority. “This legislation greatly reduces the chances that costly and senseless DEA raids will come between seriously ill patients and the doctor-recommended medicine they need for relief.
This does not mean that the DOJ will stop monitoring the cannabis industry, or that there is a sudden change in legalization. It will also not affect any on going investigations or persecutions, and only applies to the states mentioned – any state who changes their cannabis laws will have to wait till the next budget to be recognized.
The spending bill also “prohibits both federal and local funds from being used to implement a referendum legalizing recreational marijuana use in the District of Columbia,” according to a summary from the House Appropriations Committee.
DC’s initative would actually cost them nothing – it would save district money to not enforce laws against marijuana possession. Essentially, it prevents DC Council from spending its time and resources to approve the legalization initiative and send it to Congress. Under federal law, this is a required step in order to legalize.
Congress previously used this authority to block DC from implementing a medical marijuana law for nearly 12 years. Federal lawmakers have also prevented DC from using local tax dollars to fund abortion services and life-saving clean needle exchange programs. They can experiement with medical marijuana… but not legalization.
While not all encompassing, this does show that the American federal government is moving away from persecution, and is willing to update its archaic views on cannabis sativa.