Tagged With: Congress
WATCH: Marijuana in the Halls of Congress
Yesterday, NORML moderated a Facebook Congressional Conversation on marijuana law reform with Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Tom Garrett, Beto O’Rourke, and Justin Amash. We discussed a wide range of issues including the needless burden of the federal driver’s license suspension mandate, access to medical marijuana, racial injustice, and pending bipartisan legislation to remove cannabis from the … Continue reading
Congress’ 2017 Budget Plan Reauthorizes Protections For State Medical Cannabis Programs
Spending legislation approved in the past 24 hours by members of the US House and Senate reauthorizes language protecting state-sanctioned medical marijuana and industrial hemp programs. The President is expected to sign the budget bill into law imminently. Specifically, Section 537 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017, states that no federal funds may be … Continue reading
Michigan NORML: Presidents’ Day Letter To Congress From The Front Lines
Read the letter here: MI Federal Legislator Letter 2017 By: Matthew Abel Executive Director Michigan NORML Today, on the occasion of President’s Day, and in the spirit of the President’s heralded as “leaders of the free world”, the Michigan Affiliate of NORML participated in a national campaign to contact our members of Congress by mailing them each … Continue reading
Federal: Members Of Congress Move To Exclude Hemp From the Controlled Substances Act
Members of Congress have reintroduced legislation to amend the federal Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp. House Bill 525 has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The measure has 49 co-sponsors. The measure has 49 co-sponsors. Senate companion legislation, S. 134, is also pending. If … Continue reading
Federal: Industrial Hemp Farming Act Pending in Congress
Federal legislation to amend the federal Controlled Substances Act to allow for the commercial cultivation of industrial hemp is pending in the United States House and Senate. The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2013 amends the Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana. The measure grants state legislatures the authority … Continue reading
Federal: Congress to Consider Respect States’ and Citizens’ Rights Act of 2015
Congresswoman Diana Degette (D-CO) has reintroduced legislation, H.R. 3629, the Respect States’ and Citizens’ Rights Act of 2015, to amend the Controlled Substances Act in a manner that allows marijuana-related businesses and consumers in states that have legalized marijuana to be safe from federal interference. According to a 2015 nationwide Pew Research poll, 59 percent … Continue reading
Federal: Urge Congress To Reauthorize Provisions Protecting Lawful Medical Marijuana Programs
For the past two years, Congress has passed annual spending bills which included a provision protecting those who engage in the state-sanctioned use and dispensing of medical cannabis from undue prosecution by the Department of Justice. However, members of Congress have yet to taken action to reauthorize this provision and therefore the law is set … Continue reading
Congress Votes To Permit Military Veterans Access To Medical Cannabis
Members of the US House of Representatives voted today for the first time to expand military veterans’ access to medicinal cannabis in states that allow it. Members voted 233 to 189 in favor of the Veterans Equal Access Amendment, offered by Rep. Blumenauer (D-OR) to the Fiscal Year 2017 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related … Continue reading
Why We Should Demand That Congress Reschedule Marijuana
Like most Americans who follow the debate over marijuana legalization in this country, I was disappointed that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration this week once again determined that marijuana has no medical use and left it in Schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances Act. Disappointed, but not surprised. NORML first petitioned the DEA to … Continue reading
