The bill earned plaudits from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a pro-legalization group. "This bill is a welcomed shift of policy from Democratic party leadership. At a time when 68 percent of Americans support marijuana legalization, including outright majorities of Democrats (77 percent), Independents (62 percent), and Republicans (57 percent), it is time for ending federal prohibition to become a truly bipartisan issue," NORML political director Justin Strekal said.

On the federal level, marijuana remains prohibited. It is a Schedule I drug. Crossing a state border with marijuana is a federal crime. "You've created a crime for yourself the moment you cross the border," says Rick Naya, with N.H.'s chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. But that does not mean thousands of Bay Staters--let alone returning Granite Staters--will visit or vacation with a small amount of weed packed among their swim trunks, smores, and bug spray.

“Public support for medical marijuana access is nonpartisan,” Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said in a statement. “Even in a predominantly ‘red’ state like Oklahoma, it is the will of the voters to enact commonsense yet significant marijuana law reforms.” After such a conservative state passed such progressive legislation, Republicans will likely come under renewed pressure “to take action to end this existing state/federal conflict,” according to Armentano. “It is time for members to move forward with legislation like The States Act or The Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act, which would allow states the flexibility and autonomy to regulate cannabis as best they see fit — free from the looming threat of undue federal intervention,” he added.

Cannabis activists including the leadership of NORML were disappointed, to say the least.  “The Senate Appropriations Committee chose to bury its head in the sand rather than make it easier for licensed and regulated marijuana businesses to operate safely, transparently or effectively,” Justin Strekal, political director for NORML, told Forbes. “It’s absurd.”

"Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, a group supporting reform of marijuana laws, said the study findings are "consistent with prior data."

"It is hardly surprising that the habitual inhalation of combustive smoke may be associated with specific, though generally mild respiratory symptoms, like cough," he said. "However, unlike the inhalation of tobacco smoke, cannabis smoke exposure -- even long-term -- is not associated with the kind of serious respiratory effects that are often identified with long-term tobacco use, such as COPD, emphysema or lung cancer," Armentano said.

The majority of Vermonters, like the majority of the American public, desire to live in a community where responsible adults who choose to consume cannabis are no longer criminalized or stigmatized,” Norml Deputy Director Paul Armentano explained “Vermont lawmakers and Gov. Scott are to be recognized for responding to the will of the voters, rather than choosing to ignore them.”

Some believe that marijuana users are just seeking a high and there is no medicinal value. "That's an insult to each and every Hoosier patient that so desperately needs this. That's an insult to the 30 states that have legalized this medication plus Washington, D.C. Those leaders are implementing this for a reason. Let's not insult those leaders. Let's assume they know something that our leaders don't know," David Phipps, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said.

Some believe that marijuana users are just seeking a high and there is no medicinal value. "That's an insult to each and every Hoosier patient that so desperately needs this. That's an insult to the 30 states that have legalized this medication plus Washington, D.C. Those leaders are implementing this for a reason. Let's not insult those leaders. Let's assume they know something that our leaders don't know," David Phipps, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law’s political action committee, NORML PAC, has endorsed Polis, as Denver’s alternative news site Westword reports.

Donte Townsend started the Chicago chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws last August, enlisting fellow black cannabis professionals to serve as the board of directors. NORML was founded in 1970 with funding from Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Foundation. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, which includes 150 chapters nationwide, has been a driving force in the push to legalize cannabis.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws praised the vote on Tuesday in a statement to Forbes, stating that the issue was growing in popularity even in deep-red states like Oklahoma. ""Public support for medical marijuana access is non-partisan,"" NORML deputy director Paul Armentano told the magazine. ""Even in a predominantly 'red' state like Oklahoma, it is the will of the voters to enact common sense, yet significant marijuana law reforms."

“Public support for medical marijuana access is non-partisan,” NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said in a statement. “Even in a predominantly ‘red’ state like Oklahoma, it is the will of the voters to enact common sense, yet significant marijuana law reforms.”

"While rapid advancements seem the norm today, it would seem that some of our laws lag far behind society's opinions. Marijuana decriminalization has garnered a few local headlines, as cities across the Lehigh Valley discuss local ordinances to lessen the harmful penalties for simple possession. Allentown and Bethlehem passed such ordinances, though the value of their enforcement is yet to be determined. You might be asking, ""why do we need local decriminalization ordinances, and what exactly is decriminalization?""

"At this time, it's ""unclear whether the scheduling of Epidiolex per se will have any tangible impact on the scheduling of CBD,"" Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, tells SELF. But, ""if the DEA is compelled to revisit the issue of CBD scheduling,"" he predicts that CBD present in a standardized, FDA-approved compound like Epidiolex may move into Schedule III, which indicates that the DEA believes they have a moderate to low potential for dependence and some medical use.

More than 25 states and the District of Columbia currently have laws broadly legalizing or decriminalizing some form of marijuana, though only nine of those, including Washington D.C., have adopted laws that allow for use of legal recreational marijuana, according to NORML, a nonprofit focused on changing public opinion around cannabis law.

Canadian lawmakers codified legislation, C-45, so that those over the age of 18 may legally possess, purchase, and grow personal use quantities of cannabis. The new national policy takes effect nationwide on October 17, 2018.

Virginia NORML executive director, Jenn Michelle Pedini, is the Commonwealth's brain trust regarding all marijuana legislation in the state, to the painfully frustrating to the optimistically hopeful. Let's start with the frustrating first. Unlike states such as Colorado and California, which have pass marijuana legislation through voter initiatives, Virginians will have to pass marijuana legislation through the legislature. "It's not the governor, it's not the bill sponsor themselves," Pedini said. "It really comes down to the Senate Courts of Justice Committee, and the House Courts of Justice Committee. And in the House there's a subcommittee called House Courts of Justice Subcommittee One, which most know as the House Criminal Law Subcommittee. That's the sticking point. That's where marijuana reform goes to die."

"The Senate Appropriations Committee chose to bury its head in the sand rather than make it easier for licensed and regulated marijuana businesses to operate safely, transparently or effectively," Justin Strekal, political director for NORML, said in an interview. "It's absurd."

"In the convention hall, others see issues helping the Democratic cause. Jax Finkel, executive director of the Texas chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, hopes Democrats will get behind the legalization of medical marijuana."

“Those wanting to see what a rational federal marijuana policy looks like need look no further than to our north," Paul Armentano, the deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), told Newsweek in a statement. "America’s leaders would be wise to learn from our neighbors, who are replacing their archaic and failed marijuana prohibition laws with a regulatory scheme that is largely evidence-based and that reflects cannabis's rapidly changing cultural status.”

"The overwhelming majority of marijuana charges are administered at the state and local level, not by federal agents. While the legislation ends the federal criminal penalties, it doesn't trigger an automatic change of state policies," NORML Political Director Justin Strekal tells Rolling Stone. "The bill is a federal de-scheduling, it's not a total decriminalization bill, per-se. If we de-scheduled tomorrow, there are ways to incentivize state-level decriminalization but the federal government can't change state policy, they can only influence it."

Justin See is a Bloomington resident and the newest member of the Indiana NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) board of directors.

“Currently, hundreds of state-legal, licensed and regulated businesses do not have access to the banking industry and are unable to accept credit cards, deposit revenues, or write checks to meet payroll or pay taxes,” said Justin Strekal, the political director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML.

"The numbers are low,” said Christopher Cano, executive director for the Central Florida Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.  “They're only about a quarter of what they should be, and the reason for that is because of the barriers to entry to becoming a patient."

Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) made an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe to discuss the bipartisan legislation, Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States, to remove the threat of federal intervention and prosecution in states that regulate marijuana use and sales.

Boehner said many universities shun marijuana research because it's a Schedule I drug, however National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) Deputy Director Paul Armentano told Newsweek that federal regulations do permit clinicians to apply for licensing to conduct clinical trials using cannabis. But he added that the stringent regulations on these tests require that researchers work only with marijuana grown and provided by federal government agencies.

“The Senate Appropriations Committee finally read the writing on the wall and accepted the inevitable, that allowing the Department of Justice to interfere with state-legal medical marijuana programs is bad policy and losing politics,” Justin Strekal, political director of NORML, said in an interview. “Looking at the scorecard, today it's medical freedom: 1; Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his reefer madness ways: 0.”

"Our real goal is to change the face of cannabis," particularly for West Texans, said Jax Finkel, executive director of Texas NORML, the state's chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Justin Strekal, political director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said the bill introduced this week falls within the parameters of what Trump told Gardner he would support during their discussion in April. By signaling early support for such legislation, Trump has gone “way further” toward supporting major marijuana reform than any previous president.

“Given that this bill is being co-led by Sen. Gardner, who is the head of the NRSC, it is a sign that it is time for the Republican-led Senate to address this issue and move the legislation forward,” Strekal said in an email to Truthout.