New Federal CARERS Bill Would Allow Greater MMJ

A very nice review of a new piece of legislation from the Penn Program on Regulation:  Congress Rethinks Policy on Medical Marijuana.  Here are some highlights:

    Newly introduced federal legislation would pave the way for easier access to medical marijuana across the country, although it falls short of fully legalizing it. Senators Cory Booker, Rand Paul, and Kirsten Gillibrand introduced the bipartisan Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect States Act of 2015 (CARERS Act) If adopted, the bill would amend the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (CSA) to exempt from the federal ban people who grow, distribute, or use the drug for medical purposes in compliance with state law.

    . . .

    As support for medical marijuana grows, federal laws are increasingly in conflict with various state laws permitting medical marijuana. To help alleviate this tension, the proposed CARERS Act includes five major federal policy changes.

    First, the bill would amend the CSA so that enforcement of federal marijuana laws no longer takes priority over state laws if they conflict. This amendment would eliminate the fear of federal prosecution for involvement with medical marijuana which is in compliance with relevant state regulations, leaving individual state legislatures free to regulate this use of the substance as they deem fit. Although federal guidance currently urges prosecutors generally to refrain from targeting state-legal marijuana operations, many continue to do so.

    . . .

    Second, the bill would reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II narcotic, declaring it to be a less dangerous substance with purported medical benefits. This reclassification would reduce the barriers to research on medical marijuana.

    Third, the CARERS Act would benefit veterans, as it would allow U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs’ (VA) doctors to prescribe medical marijuana to patients who live in states that have legalized its use. Some commentators have suggested that marijuana may be effective in treating post-traumatic stress disorders commonly suffered by veterans. Yet the VA’s doctors currently cannot prescribe medical marijuana to patients because it is a federally banned drug.

    The bill also would make banking services accessible to medical marijuana businesses allowing them to operate as traditional businesses and adding greater legitimacy to such operations. Currently, banks often shut down accounts of marijuana businesses and decline to advance loans out of fear of federal prosecution for aiding illegal drug dealers or money laundering.

    Finally, the bill addresses the need to legalize inter-state transport of medical marijuana. It suggests completely removing marijuana with less than 0.3 percent THC from the CSA’s schedules, allowing it to cross state lines legally. Twelve states do not allow the sale or cultivation of marijuana but permit the use of low-THC strains for medical purposes. Currently, residents of these states cannot purchase low-THC marijuana from a state where marijuana is legal to grow, because transporting a federally banned substance across state lines violates federal law.

All in all, this looks like a pretty good step forward -- and one that just might be able to get some steam behind it.  The bill's text and other info is here.