The House Rules Committee has paved the way for the Justice Department to potentially use funds to interfere with state-level medical marijuana regulations, by blocking an amendment late Wednesday night that would have prevented the practice.
The Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment has had multiple versions since 2014, all protecting users of medical marijuana in states where it has been legalized. First passed as the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment in late 2014, it was again approved in 2015. It was again extended through omnibus spending legislation that is set to expire at the end of this month.
However, a version of the amendment did make it into the Senate appropriations bill that was approved in July, which means that when the House and Senate meet in conference committee, the language in the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment could be saved.
“By blocking our amendment, committee leadership is putting at risk the millions of patients who rely on medical marijuana for treatment, as well as the clinics and businesses that support them. This decision goes against the will of the American people, who overwhelmingly oppose federal interference with state marijuana laws,” Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., and Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., said in a joint statement following the vote.
The two said the fight to protect users of medical marijuana is “far from over” and noted that “if a vote were allowed, our amendment would pass on the House floor, as it has several times before.”
Led by Chairman Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, the House Rules Committee also voted 8-5 to block consideration of a number of other marijuana-related amendments, including one proposed by Rep. Denny Heck, D-Wash., that would have protected banks that provide services to marijuana businesses in states with forms of legalization.
The committee also blocked an amendment proposed by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to protect medical marijuana research, and also blocked an amendment to allow the District of Columbia to implement regulated adult-use sales of the drug.
According to a Quinnipiac University poll released in August, 94 percent of U.S. voters support legal access to medical marijuana, and another 75 percent oppose the enforcement of federal law in states where it is legalized medicinally or recreationally.
“The committee’s decision to prevent consideration of the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment attempts to move the country backward at a time when the vast majority of voters are looking to Congress to reform our nation’s outdated marijuana laws,” said National Cannabis Industry Association Executive Director Aaron Smith. “Shutting down regulated medical cannabis businesses will result in licensed patients resorting to the criminal market to obtain their medicine.”
Smith said he hopes when the House and Senate meet in conference committee, “leaders on both sides of the aisle will work together to ensure this widely popular amendment is renewed in this year’s spending package.”
Twenty-nine states plus D.C. have legalized medical marijuana. Marijuana activists have been worried that Attorney General Jeff Sessions plans to go after those state regulations.
In 2013, then-Deputy Attorney General James Cole wrote a memo directing federal prosecutors not to enforce federal law against individuals, growers or sellers in states that have their own marijuana regulations — so long as they do not step on the toes of federal “enforcement priorities.” Sessions has said that “much of” the memo is “valid.”
But, in letters to the governors of Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, Sessions said the Justice Department “remains committed to enforcing” the federal government’s ban on marijuana.
The Justice Department has issued no new guidance on marijuana since, and declined to comment on Wednesday’s actions.
