Justice Department won’t offer state marijuana protections in new Congressional spending bill

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Legal cannabis states won’t be protected from the Justice Department’s wrath

Although there were pleas from dozens of lawmakers from both parties, a highly anticipated congressional spending bill does not include provisions that would help protect all state, tribal and territorial marijuana programs from interference by the Department of Justice (DOJ). While hopes were quite high, it appears that the drafters of the legislation did not meet these demands.

The parties involved had hoped that such language would be part of the FY 2023 appropriations measure for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) as introduced by Congressional leaders. However, none of the pleas appear to have come to fruition.

As a result, lawmakers must now make their case for the inclusion of the protections by amendment either on the House floor or in committee. Similar situations have happened in previous years, so the news also comes as no surprise to many.

Leading Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Barbara Lee, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Tom McClintock, along with their 44 other colleagues, recently sent a letter to the chairman and ranking member of an appropriations subcommittee. The idea behind the document was to ask him to address the problem through mandatory legislation.

However, while many believed that the pressure would be enough to make a change, the text released two days ago lacked broad protections. The only thing related to the issue was an existing clause that prevented the DOJ from using federal funds to interfere with the implementation of state medical cannabis programs. This clearly does not extend those protections to all other programs, such as the growing recreational cannabis market.