Marijuana is having a very good month in Congress.
At the beginning of June, the House made a number of weed-friendly votes, including upholding a ban on the Justice Department meddling with state medical marijuana laws. It passed by a significantly wider margin than when it first passed last year.
On Thursday, Senate Appropriations Committee passed its version of that amendment, 21-9. It came in the form of an amendment by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) to the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) was the lone Democrat to oppose the amendment. Tom Angell, the chairman of Marijuana Majority, told the San Francisco Chronicle her vote was “way behind the times, approximately 19 years behind California’s voters.”
Eight Republicans voted for the bill, and eight against, according to Reason’s count.
In a statement, the Marijuana Policy Project called the vote “another resounding victory for medical marijuana patients, their families, and their care providers. Congress is making it clear that the Department of Justice and the DEA have no business interfering in state medical marijuana laws.”
Not everyone is optimistic about the actual effects of this legislation, however. In a press release from Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Sam Farr (D-CA), who sponsored the House amendment, they noted that the Justice Department ignored the amendment when it passed last year.
Senators Rand Paul, (R-Ky), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Cory Booker (D-N.Y.) are still promoting their CARERS Act, which would would grant medical marijuana states a safe haven from federal law, reschedule marijuana to a Schedule II substance, and free up medical research.
