Members of the House Appropriations Committee defeated an amendment Tuesday that sought to prohibit Justice Department officials from interfering in states that have endorsed the medical use of marijuana. The amendment, introduced by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), was part of a $15.2 billion dollar foreign aid package that provides $676 million dollars of additional funding for U.S. military-backed drug interdiction in Columbia.
Hinchey’s amendment, which the Republican-led committee defeated by a voice vote, said, “None of the funds made available to the Department of Justice in this act shall be used to prevent a state from implementing a law, referendum, or constitutional amendment authorizing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.”
Separate medical marijuana legislation, Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-MA) “States’ Rights to Medical Marijuana Act,” is currently pending before the House Commerce Committee. The measure would reschedule marijuana under federal law to allow physicians in states that have approved its use to prescribe the drug without federal interference. Seventeen members of Congress have co-sponsored the bill.
Additional information on Frank’s bill, H.R. 1344, is available on NORML’s website. For more information, please contact Keith Stroup, NORML Executive Director at (202) 483-5500.
