Federal Medical Marijuana Law Threatened By White House Veto

A spending bill amendment that will continue to prohibit the federal government from interfering with state medical marijuana laws passed the House on Wednesday. A previous version of the provision, which was passed as part of the so-called cromnibus spending bill in December, would have expired in September.

The provision limits spending by U.S. agencies, including the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration, from using funds to go after state marijuana laws that allow for medicinal use, possession and distribution of marijuana. It had been introduced eight times since 2003, but last year was the first time it made it through Congress.

“Votes in support of rolling back the federal government’s war on medical marijuana are beginning to become routine,” said Dan Riffle, director for federal policies at the Marijuana Policy Project, a group that works to reform marijuana policy, in a statement. “Last year, passing this amendment was unprecedented. This year, it was predictable. Medical marijuana has gone from ‘controversial’ to ‘conventional’ on Capitol Hill.”

The overall spending bill would provide $51 billion in funding for the Justice and Commerce departments, as well as science agencies. It has received a veto threat from the White House, which has said the Republican budget framework in motion “drastically underfunds critical investments in research and development.”

“The President's senior advisors would recommend that he veto [this spending bill] and any other legislation that implements the current Republican budget framework, which blocks the investments needed for our economy to compete in the future,” the White House said, according to the Hill.

The medical marijuana amendment would have a good chance in future budget proposals, however, since it has already passed through Congress before. Further amendments that would bar the federal government from interfering with other state marijuana laws beyond medical marijuana, such as full-on legalization in states such as Colorado and Washington, are expected to be introduced as well, according to the MPP release.

Medical marijuana has been found to help treat or manage a variety of diseases and symptoms, including multiple sclerosis, pain, glaucoma, epilepsy, and Alzheimer's disease.

Currently, there are 23 states with medicinal marijuana on the books. There are four states where marijuana is legal.