AZ Marijuana Arizona Marijuana Info
The House of Representatives voted to reauthorize an amendment that would protect state-legalized medical marijuana programs – including businesses and patients – from federal interference.
The amendment would stop the Justice Department, which includes the Drug Enforcement Administration, from using funds to undermine state-legalized medical marijuana programs.
“Our founding fathers didn’t want criminal justice to be handled by the federal government,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. “This is absolutely absurd that the federal government is going to mandate all these things even though the people of the states and many doctors would like to have the right to prescribe to their patients what they think will alleviate their suffering. This is states’ rights issue. Our founding fathers didn’t want a police force that can bust down people’s doors. They wanted individual freedom.”
The same amendment passed in the U.S. House last year, and it ultimately made it into the final federal spending bill signed into law by President Obama in 2014.
The Senate will likely consider its own appropriations bill for the DEA, and the House amendment would have to survive a joint conference before it could go into effect.
