Congress To Vote On Marijuana, Psychedelics And CBD Amendments This Week Following Committee Action

A key House committee on Monday approved a number of amendments related to cannabis and psychedelics for plenary vote under an extensive spending bill. This ground action could take place on Tuesday.

However, the panel also blocked two home protection measures for cannabis users that proponents of legalization hoped will move forward.

One of the most notable changes the House Rules Committee was allowed to bring forward because of possible pendency on budget law would be to remove a tab that proponents say restricts federal funding for research into List I drugs, including psychedelics like psilocybin, MDMA, and ibogaine Has.

The reform move is sponsored by MP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and targets the 1990s deployment that has long been part of the Department of Health (HHS) spending legislation. The congresswoman attempted to eliminate the language through a change in 2019 only to have it defeated by Republicans as well as the majority of her party. But it is far from the only measure proposed this midseason when it comes to drug policy matters.

Some are supported by reform proponents, while others are severely criticized.

A progressive change in reform would encourage the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve rules that allow CBD as a dietary supplement and food ingredient.

On the flip side, there is a proposal from Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) on the HHS Bill to eliminate a tab currently on the Bill that “allows federal funding to go to colleges to do research.” “Marijuana.”

The reason this move resulted in a particular opposition is because cannabis research is a largely bipartisan issue and senior federal drug officials have repeatedly urged Congress to endorse guidelines that make it easier to study the plant’s risks and benefits . In addition, Lesko represents a state where adult legalization is on the books.

Activists are disappointed that two marijuana reform measures by MP Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) are blocked from consideration of the soil. Their proposals – which aimed at housing and urban development (HUD) legislation – would have meant that possession or use of marijuana could not be used as the sole basis for denying people access to public housing. One Norton amendment focused closely on medical cannabis, while a second measure would have captured all marijuana use that is legal under state law.

“It is disappointing that those who rely on public support for housing continue to be discriminated against because of their constitutional decisions,” NORML Political Director Justin Strekal told Marijuana Moment.

Proponents were surprised that the rules committee, chaired by Marijuana Reform Representative James McGovern (D-MA), tried to prevent a vote on the Norton cannabis amendments.

A spokesman for the committee told Marijuana Moment that the proposals “had rules of procedure against them and we will never make changes with rules of procedure against them.”

Here are the descriptions of the measures the Rules Committee has taken for the vote in plenary:

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY): Allows US researchers to study and study the potential effects of several Category I drugs such as MDMA, psilocybin, and / or ibogaine that have been shown to be effective in treating critical illnesses.

Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR): Increase and decrease funding for the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition by $ 5 million to highlight the need for the agency to regulate cannabidiol (or CBD ) continues until the end later than 180 days after it went into effect, out of concern that the FDA has not instituted rulebook to establish a regulatory pathway for CBD as a dietary supplement and food ingredient.

Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ): Strike a language that allows federal funding to go to colleges doing marijuana research.

Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA): Funds $ 25 million from the Environmental Program and Management Enforcement Account to the National Forest System’s Account for State Enforcement and Remediation of Illegal Marijuana Growing Areas and Toxic Waste Disposal and chemicals at these locations.

Here are the amendments that were not passed in sequence and are therefore dead:

Rep Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC): Bans HUD from enforcing a ban on using or possessing marijuana in government-sponsored homes in states where marijuana is legal.

Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC): Prohibits HUD from enforcing the ban on the use or possession of medical marijuana in government-sponsored homes in states where medical marijuana is legal.

Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA): Prohibits use of funds from this section to fund needle-distribution programs for illicit drugs.

Rep. Ted Butt (R-NC): Prohibits use of federal funds to purchase clean syringes for illicit drug use.

Rep. Ted Butt (R-NC): Prohibits use of federal funds to purchase clean syringes for illegal drug use in DC.

Rep. French Hill (R-AR): Increases funding by $ 50 million for the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program. Offsets the increase by reducing the Electric Vehicles Fund by $ 50 million.

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Overall, these changes should be included in a “minibus” bill for the 2022 budget year to fund the ministries of labor, health and social affairs, education, agriculture, rural development, energy and water development, financial services and government, home affairs, environment, Military construction, veterans affairs, transportation, and housing and urban development.

The spending package, which will also be put to the vote in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, would allow Washington, DC, to use its local tax dollars to implement a system of legal adult marijuana sales.

This is in contrast to a budget proposal by President Joe Biden, whose administration tries to use language to protect medical cannabis states from federal interference but has ruled out the provision on granting DC autonomy to legalize the marijuana trade.

Another provision added as part of the Financial Services and General Government Spending Act (FSGG) would protect banks that work with marijuana companies. In addition, the committee report accompanying this legislation encourages government agencies to reconsider policies firing employees for using marijuana in accordance with state law.

Federal health officials should explore the therapeutic potential of psychedelics for military veterans suffering from a variety of mental illnesses, said a report attached to separate spending legislation that is part of the advancing minibus package.

The reporting language also directs the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to improve communications on veterans’ eligibility for home loans and to report progress to Congress within 180 days of the law going into effect. A separate provision calls for VA to expand research into the medical benefits of cannabis for veterans.

In the Department of Agriculture funding report, lawmakers objected to the 2018 Agriculture Act’s 0.3 percent THC cap on legal hemp products and instructed the USDA to work with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the DEA on a study to determine whether this threshold is scientifically proven. Many other culture-related issues were also raised in this report.

Another reporting language included with this issue package highlights the difficulty of studying List I drugs such as marijuana, recognizes the medicinal potential of cannabinoids such as CBD, encourages federal agencies not to restrict plant kratom, and recognizes the life-saving value of syringe access programs and safe consuming locations for illegal drugs.

As part of the approval process for this meeting, numerous provisions on reforming drug policy were included in the text of the law and in the accompanying reports, which, among other things, prevent the deportation of immigrants, including for cannabis.

A bipartisan group of Congressmen recently circulated a letter seeking support for an amendment to a separate Justice Department spending bill that would protect all state and tribal marijuana programs from federal interference – and beyond the existing measure, which currently only protecting medical cannabis states implemented into law. There are now 15 co-sponsors who have signed the broader proposal, which is expected to be considered by the rules committee and then may go into action later this week.

The Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) spending report also notes that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has approved more marijuana manufacturers for research, and says the committee supports ongoing research efforts on cannabis, in particular in the aftermath of an outbreak of lung injury related to unregulated vapor products.

A provision was also added to the bill that would exclude states and municipalities from certain federal law enforcement grants if they maintained a policy allowing arrest warrants for drug cases. These policies caught national attention following the police murder of Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot by law enforcement in a botched drug raid.

The Rules of Procedure committee will deal with the CJS law and other laws on funds on Tuesday.

The White House has refused to blame marijuana sales for the rise in violent crime, despite comments from the DC Police Chief

Photo courtesy Mike Latimer.

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