Today, the House of Representatives voted on an amendment that stops the DEA and other federal prosecutors from arresting or charging, otherwise holding anyone federally legally liable for breaking the law in states where medical marijuana is already legalized. Generally and interestingly, no one expected the House to pass this amendment, making this quite the welcome surprise, even for supporters of this kind of legislation. Basically, the House voted to stop the feds from poking their noses into the affairs of states regarding their own medical marijuana laws- so if you use or sell medical marijuana in states where it’s legal, federal prosecution doesn’t concern you anymore. The bill still has to pass through the Senate, but with a current senate filled with supportive democratic votes, it sounds like this bill will be signed by the president in due time.
Federal prosecution has held back a lot of people looking to open a medical marijuana business in states where it’s been legalized. The reason being, even if you live in a state like California where medical marijuana is legal, if the Federal Government decides to do so they can arrest you and charge you for breaking federal law- even if you live in a state where its legal- and the state of California could do nothing about it. This sort of legal system flies in the face of many who value the idea of sovereignty among states, where laws made by states are withheld and uphold in those states and the Federal Government has no jurisdiction as to what happens in that state. Ideally, as long as medically grown marijuana isn’t passing over state lines, the federal government has no right to arrest and charge anyone.
With the passing of this bill, business owners and people who use and rely on medical marijuana will be able to sleep easier at night knowing that the DEA won’t be giving them trouble. With this amendment, starting a medical marijuana business will be easier and less of a risk. More medical marijuana businesses will help to make medical marijuana easier to get, increase businesslike competition that will make it cheaper for users, and offer more revenue for states where it’s legalized in taxes from small business operation and from the sales of more medical marijuana. This can also benefit the federal government- with no risk of being arrested for having a medical marijuana business, it would go to assume that businesses would be less afraid to claim taxes (and pay them).
And this makes sense. Conservative politics ideally would say that states should be allowed to make their own laws and govern themselves without the federal government oversight that states have been plagued with, especially since they began to legalize medical use of marijuana. And liberal politics encourage the use of alternative medicines like marijuana if the people want it- so the passing of this bill through the House of Representatives is encouraging and certainly a step in the right direction. More people would wish for harder, more freeing legislation such as taking marijuana off of the schedule 1 drug list, but as with all radical law changes and amendments, sometimes change takes place one small step at a time.