Congress Members Want Feds to Stop Messing With Legal Weed
This past election cycle saw big wins for cannabis. Voters in eight states approved measures to legalize marijuana in some form, joining more than a dozen other states and the District of Columbia.
At the same time, the federal government has threatened to enforce federal drug laws against states where marijuana use is legal. In response, nearly four dozen Congress members sent a letter last week to the chair and ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, urging them to include an amendment in the 2018 spending bill that would prevent the Department of Justice from obstructing state marijuana programs.
"The people have been pretty clear that this is something they don't want the federal government to interfere with," said Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, one of the signees and sponsor of the amendment, during a press call Wednesday.
The cannabis industry is a multibillion-dollar business that's expected to grow exponentially over the coming decade. Marijuana sales in North America last year grew by 30 percent, earning the industry $6.7 billion in revenue, according to a recent report by Arcview Market Research. The cannabis market research firm also projects North American sales to reach $20.2 billion by 2021 – a record amount for a fledgling industry.
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