Light up your bongs because the feds are finally on board with medical weed. Last Friday, Congress passed the first federal bill concerning federal marijuana legislature in the history of Mother America. Here's what that looks like for your bright-ish, smoke-filled future.
Light up your bongs because the feds are finally on board with medical weed. Last Friday, Congress passed the first federal bill concerning federal marijuana legislature in the history of Mother America. Here's what that looks like for your bright-ish, smoke-filled future.
The bill basically tells the Federal Justice Department not to interfere with state medical marijuana statues, aka if doctor weed is legal in a state, that legality trumps federal illegality.
And, if the bill lives through the Senate, funding for DEA raids on medical marijuana facilities in states where it's legal would go bye-bye.
That makes all the difference for medical dispensaries in states where getting sort-of-legally-high is permitted. Random DEA raids on dispensaries that are operating legally under state regulations have caused large scale job loss, increased black market marijuana sales, and made it near-impossible for patients to obtain the strains they need for adequate treatment.
Shit, even legalizing recreational pot hasn't stopped the feds from raiding medical dispensaries in Colorado; just last month, the DEA raided four medical weed facilities related to the VIP Cannabis dispensary. The reason for the raid? Well, that would be classified, according to Jeffrey Dorschner, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Colorado. Real cool, guys. Real cool.
But this bill passes, government crackdowns on dispensaries in the 22 states where medical weed is legal should become obsolete, creating a much safer environment for both businesses and patients.
The passing of the bill marks a shift in political attitudes towards favoring medical marijuana, and is one of the only issues that Congress is mostly united on today. While it was Democrats who carried the vote (170 plus 49 Republicans) it is important to note that the measure was backed overall by members of both parties, which is a lot more than we can say for other state vs. federal issues like abortion and gun control.
“This is historic,” said Rep. Rohrabacher, who introduced the bill. “It's a victory for states’ rights, for the doctor-patient relationship, for compassion, for fiscal responsibility. This vote shows that House members really can listen to the American people, form coalitions, and get things done."
Now if they'd only listen to the American people and legalize recreational pot and baby American Furniture warehouse tigers as pets, we'd really be living in the free world.
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