California lawmaker spearheads bipartisan effort to keep Feds from stifling state marijuana programs

A California lawmaker is heading up a bipartisan collection of nearly four-dozen U.S. House members who want the feds to maintain their hands-off enforcement position toward states that have legalized medical marijuana.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from Orange County, has spearheaded spending bill amendments that prevent the Justice Department from meddling in medical marijuana states. On Monday, he announced that he is urging the Commerce, Justice and Science committee chiefs to continue that path.

In a letter co-signed by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, and 42 other House of Representatives members, Rohrabacher asked the chair and ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies to include the following language in the fiscal year 2018 spending bill:

None of the funds made available in this Act to the Department of Justice may be used to enforce federal prohibitions involving the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes that are permitted by the laws of the state, the District of Columbia, or U.S. territory where the act was committed, or to prevent states, the District of Columbia, or U.S. territories from implementing their own laws that permit the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes.

The language has been included in House appropriations bills since 2014, with a 219-189 vote, and again in 2015, by a 242-186 vote. The Senate Committee on Appropriations adopted similar language in 2015, by a vote of 22-8, and in 2016, by a vote of 21-8, Rohrabacher wrote.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher speaks during High Times Cannabis Cup in San Bernardino. The congressman got a cananbis-infused candle at the 2016 festival that he says has been helping his arthritis. (COURTESY OF @RAWNSTET ON TWITTER)

“We believe that the consistent, bipartisan support for such protections against federal enforcement, combined with the fact that similar language has been in place since December 2014, make a strong case for including similar language in your base FY 2018 appropriations bill,” he wrote.

This year’s amendment, previously referred to as the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, will carry the name Rohrabacher-Blumenauer, as co-sponsor Sam Farr, D-California, retired last year.

The proposed Rohrabacher-Blumenaeur amendment does not come free of contention.

Members of Smart Approaches to Marijuana Action, an organization that opposes marijuana legalization, have said they would “cross-reference every House member” who signs the letter with reports documenting campaign contributions from the marijuana industry.

Cannabis caucus plans to push Congress to leave medical marijuana states alone

“We intend to investigate the legislators who do the pot industry’s bidding,” Kevin Sabet, SAM Action’s president, told The Cannabist Monday. “The American people should know who is doing the bidding of an industry whose goal is to promote addiction for profit.”

The signatories include Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colorado, and Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who co-founded the Cannabis Caucus with Rohrabacher and Blumenauer; Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who recently introduced the Better Driving Bill to curb driver’s license suspensions for drug offenses; and Rep. Mike Coffman, the Colorado Republican who said he’d “fight the attorney general” on marijuana.

Below is a link to the full letter and a complete list of signatories:

Page 1:
Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)
Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)

Page 2:
Steve Cohen (D-TN)
Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
John Conyers (D-MI)
Mike Coffman (R-CO)
Jackie Speier (D-CA)
Thomas Massie (R-KY)
Brian Higgins (D-NY)
Don Young (R-AK)
Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
Barbara Lee (D-CA)
Jerold Nadler (D-NY)
Diana DeGette (D-CO)
Peter DeFazio (D-OR)
Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.)
Dina Titus (D-NV)
Jered Polis (D-CO)
Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ)
Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)

Page 3:
Jared Huffman (D-CA)
Michael Capuano (D-MA)
Ed Perlmutter (D-CO)
Mark Pocan (D-WI)
Darren Soto (D-FL)
Beto O’Rourke (D-TX)
Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
Scott Peters (D-CA)
Joseph Crowley (D-NY)
Ted Yoho (R-FL)
Jacky Rosen (D-NV)
Denny Heck (D-WA)
Jason Lewis (R-MN)
Jim McGovern (D-MA)
Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)
Salud Carbajal (D-CA)
Justin Amash (R-MI)
Alan Lowenthal (D-CA)