Proposed Marijuana Laws Must Pass House First

laws

By Juliette Fairley

While the Respect State Marijuana Laws Act is expected to immunize dispensaries from federal prosecution when complying with state laws, House Bill 1523 is futile until passed by the House of Representatives.

“The Respect State Marijuana Laws Act is important legislation because right now the federal government can completely ignore state medical marijuana laws,” said Matthew Abel, a cannabis attorney in Michigan. “When someone is prosecuted in federal court they don’t even have the right to mention the fact that medical marijuana is involved or that they were in compliance with state medical marijuana law.”

Introduced by Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in California, the Respect State Marijuana Laws Act’s protection would extend both to medical marijuana businesses and individual marijuana users whether medical or recreational in nature.

“The bipartisan bill represents a common-sense approach that establishes the federal government’s respect for all state marijuana laws by keeping the federal government out of the business of criminalizing marijuana activities in states that don’t want it to be criminal,” Rohrabacher said.

Cannabis enthusiasts seeking protection from federal prosecution will just have to wait. House Bill 1523 is one of several proposed marijuana laws that are stuck in the law-making pipeline along with a bill that would remove cannabis from the list of Schedule I drugs and another that would prevent forfeiture for medical marijuana conduct.

“I don’t think much of anything is moving right now,” Abel said, including H.R. 499, the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act. This decriminalization bill would remove marijuana from the list of federally controlled substances. “H.R. 499 is the holy grail of legal reform in the marijuana movement,”Abel added. However declassification isn’t expected to happen anytime soon.

“The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration is currently Michele Leonhart and she is a drug warrior,” Abel said. “She is a career DEA person.” Leonhart reportedly criticized President Obama in 2014 at a National Sheriffs’ Association meeting in Washington for claiming that marijuana’s impact is no different than alcohol.

“Rescheduling would be awesome but incentives are on the forfeiture side and if legislation removed the forfeiture carrot, there would be no incentive to continue to meddle,” said Mara Felsen, a marijuana attorney in San Diego.

Felsen was referring to H.R. 784, States’ Medical Marijuana Property Rights Protection Act, which would exempt property from civil forfeiture due to medical marijuana-related conduct that is authorized by state law.

“Civil asset forfeiture is unconstitutional because it allows pre-judgment seizure of property without court action,” said Abel. “H.R. 784 would prevent businesses from being subject to forfeiture in spite of being in full compliance with state medical marijuana laws.”

Currently, businesses are vulnerable to losing everything, including bank accounts and real estate because marijuana is still federally illegal.

“All of these bills have not passed the House and still need to pass the Senate, which is more conservative,” Abel said. “We need citizens to stand up and contact their elected officials because politicians still generally believe that any reform of drug laws shows weakness in crime and they need to be assured that that is not the way voters are thinking.”

Guest Contributor designates a writer who is guest publishing content with MJINews.

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