Changes in Washington

Groups that favor the legalization of marijuana say they are seeing positive developments at the federal level in Washington. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told lawmakers during a House Appropriations Committee hearing in April that the Obama administration is open to working with Congress to reschedule marijuana, which is currently on the list of the federal government’s Schedule I drugs.

“Marijuana is currently, according to the federal government, one of the most dangerous drugs in the country and has no medical value. That’s Schedule I, alongside heroin and LSD,” said Kris Hermes, a spokesman for Americans for Safe Access, the country’s largest medical marijuana advocacy organization.

The federal government needs to reclassify that, said Hermes, and defer to state governments to adopt laws that protect patients and encourage research. “Even though the therapeutic efficacy is well established, there is far more that we can learn and understand about cannabis and its effect on the human body,” he said.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment to the Financial Services appropriations bill in July that prohibits the Treasury Department from appropriating funds to penalize financial institutions that provide banking services to legitimate medical marijuana businesses in states that have enacted medical marijuana laws.

The House also passed the Hinchey-Rohrabacher medical marijuana amendment, which prohibits the U.S. Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration from appropriating funds to raid, arrest or prosecute medical marijuana patients and providers in states that have enacted medical marijuana laws. Both measures are pending in the U.S. Senate.

While there has been a big shift in the House, “on the Senate side, I think there still needs to be a champion or two who is willing to take this issue on,” said Tamar Todd, senior staff attorney at the pro-legalization advocacy group, Drug Policy Alliance.