For the second time this year, congress has offered the Justice Department no money at all to combat state medical cannabis laws.
In a move set to frustrate cannabis 'sceptic' Jeff Sessions, Congress created a new provision in their budget bill, which will permit states to continue creating their own medical cannabis policies without concern of federal intervention.
The Rohrabacher-Farr amendment states;
None of the funds made available in this Act to the Department of Justice may be used, with respect to any of the States of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, or with respect to the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico, to prevent any of them from implementing their own laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.Congress have been praised widely by cannabis advocates for this move, who believe that Jeff Sessions has a long-term plan to reverse many state laws regarding medical and recreational cannabis. Since entering his role as Attorney General, Sessions has widely condemned marijuana use, exclaiming that "good people do not smoke cannabis" and "cannabis is only slightly ess awful than heroin". With new surveys revealing that nearly 60% of American support the full-scale legalization of cannabis, Sessions will likely continue to have a hard time accessing funding from congress to crack down on marijuana in the USA.
