House Approves Amendment Shielding State-Authorized Cannabis Activities

Last week, in what has become an annual ritual, the House of Representatives voted 254-163 (222 of 228 Democrats, 31 of 188 Republicans) to approve an amendment prohibiting the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) from using appropriated funds to enforce federal laws against authorized marijuana activities that are legal under state, territorial or tribal law.  Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon), founder and co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, co-sponsored the amendment to H.R. 7617, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2021, with Representatives Tom McClintock (R-California), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-District of Columbia) and Barbara Lee (D-California).  Blumenauer explained “[a]s we work to ultimately end the senseless prohibition of cannabis and the failed war on drugs, these amendments will help ensure the protection of legal state, territory and tribal cannabis programs.”  Press Release, Offs. of Rep. Earl Blumenauer, House Approves Blumenauer Amendment to Protect Cannabis Programs (July 30, 2020).

The Blumenauer Amendment prohibits DOJ, which includes the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies, from using any funds “to prevent any … [state, territory or Indian tribe] from implementing their own laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of marijuana.”  H.R. Rep. 116-461, at 51.

In recent years, a majority of states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands have approved medical cannabis programs and over a dozen states have legalized adult use of cannabis.  But marijuana remains a schedule I controlled substance federally.  21 U.S.C. § 812(c)(10).  Schedule I substances under the federal Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”) have a high potential for abuse, have no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the U.S. and lack accepted safety under medical supervision.  21 U.S.C. § 812(b)(1).  Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota have no approved medical cannabis programs nor do they allow recreational cannabis use.  The Blumenauer Amendment therefore does not cover cannabis activities in those states and would not cover any cannabis activities that those states may authorize.

Congress has attached similar riders to appropriations bills since 2014 shielding medical cannabis activities that are legal under state law from DOJ enforcement of the federal CSA.  Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions urged congressional leaders not to renew the amendment in 2017.  Letter from Jeff Sessions, Att’y Gen., to Mitch McConnell, Sen.; Charles Schumer, Sen.; Paul Ryan, Rep.; and Nancy Pelosi, Rep. (May 1, 2017).  We are not aware if Attorney General William Barr has taken a position on the amendment.  We note that the current amendment would expand protection of medical cannabis programs to also include recreational cannabis operations.

The Blumenauer Amendment continues efforts to provide some comfort to those in the industry that federal law enforcement will not take enforcement action against them if their activities are authorized and legal under state law.  However, because the amendment now includes recreational cannabis operations, that comfort may be short-lived or abbreviated as the Defense Appropriations bill moves to the Senate and may itself be amended in whole or in part.