On June 19 the House of Representatives voted to add the Blumenauer-McClintock Amendment —which would prevent the Department of Justice from enforcing federal law in states that have legalized adult-use marijuana—to an appropriations bill. Washington, DC and overseas US colonies would also be shielded from DEA crackdowns. Reformers were jubilant, but now the bill goes to the Senate.
This is from reliable Tom Angell’s account on the Forbes website:
“The inclusion of adult-use programs represents a significant expansion of an existing policy that protects only local medical cannabis laws from federal intervention which was first enacted in 2014 and has since been extended through annual spending bills.
“The broader rider was approved in a floor vote of 267 to 165, a tally that is considered by legalization supporters to be an indication of how much support there is in Congress for more comprehensive and permanent changes to federal marijuana policies.”
On June 20 @TomAngell tweeted a copy of an “email circulated on Capitol Hill saying Greenwich Biosciences, maker of FDA-approved CBD medication Epidiolex, wants Congress to defeat House amendment to shield state marijuana laws from federal interference.”
“Greenwich Bio PR team didn’t answer phone or respond to a message,” Angell added.
They could respond: “Geoffrey W. Guy always stated that he was a pharmaceutical entrepreneur intent on building a profitable company.”
