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| Under a provision in the spending bill passed by Congress over the weekend, states where medical marijuana is legal would no longer need to worry about federal drug agents raiding retail operations. Agents would be prohibited from doing so. (Robert F. Bukaty / Associated Press) |
Tucked deep
inside the 1,603-page federal spending measure is a provision that effectively
ends the federal government's prohibition on medical marijuana and signals a
major shift in drug policy.
The bill's
passage over the weekend marks the first time Congress has approved nationally
significant legislation backed by legalization advocates. It brings almost to a
close two decades of tension between the states and Washington over medical use
of marijuana.
Under the
provision, states where medical pot is legal would no longer need to worry
about federal drug agents raiding retail operations. Agents would be prohibited
from doing so.
The Obama
administration has largely followed that rule since last year as a matter of
policy. But the measure approved as part of the spending bill, which President
Obama plans to sign this week, will codify it as a matter of law.
Pot
advocates had lobbied Congress to embrace the administration's policy, which
they warned was vulnerable to revision under a less tolerant future administration.
More
important, from the standpoint of activists, Congress' action marked the
emergence of a new alliance in marijuana politics: Republicans are taking a
prominent role in backing states' right to allow use of a drug the federal
government still officially classifies as more dangerous than cocaine.
"This
is a victory for so many," said the measure's coauthor, Republican Rep.
Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa. The measure's approval, he said, represents
"the first time in decades that the federal government has curtailed its
oppressive prohibition of marijuana."
By now, 32 states
and the District of Columbia have legalized pot or its ingredients to treat
ailments, a movement that began in the 1990s. Even back then, some states had
been approving broader decriminalization measures for two decades.
The medical
marijuana movement has picked up considerable momentum in recent years. The
Drug Enforcement Administration, however, continues to place marijuana in the
most dangerous category of narcotics, with no accepted medical use.
Congress
for years had resisted calls to allow states to chart their own path on pot.
The marijuana measure, which forbids the federal government from using any of
its resources to impede state medical marijuana laws, was previously rejected
half a dozen times. When Washington, D.C., voters approved medical marijuana in
1998, Congress used its authority over the city's affairs to block the law from
taking effect for 11 years.
Even as
Congress has shifted ground on medical marijuana, lawmakers remain uneasy about
full legalization. A separate amendment to the spending package, tacked on at
the behest of anti-marijuana crusader Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), will jeopardize
the legalization of recreational pot in Washington, D.C., which voters approved
last month.
Marijuana
proponents nonetheless said they felt more confident than ever that Congress
was drifting toward their point of view.
"The
war on medical marijuana is over," said Bill Piper, a lobbyist with the
Drug Policy Alliance, who called the move historic.
"Now
the fight moves on to legalization of all marijuana," he said. "This
is the strongest signal we have received from Congress [that] the politics have
really shifted. ... Congress has been slow to catch up with the states and
American people, but it is catching up."
The
measure, which Rohrabacher championed with Rep. Sam Farr, a Democrat from
Carmel, had the support of large numbers of Democrats for years. Enough
Republicans joined them this year to put it over the top. When the House first
passed the measure earlier this year, 49 Republicans voted aye.
Some
Republicans are pivoting off their traditional anti-drug platform at a time
when most voters live in states where medical marijuana is legal, in many cases
as a result of ballot measures.
Polls show
that while Republican voters are far less likely than the broader public to
support outright legalization, they favor allowing marijuana for medical use by
a commanding majority. Legalization also has great appeal to millennials, a
demographic group with which Republicans are aggressively trying to make
inroads.
Approval of
the pot measure comes after the Obama administration directed federal
prosecutors last year to stop enforcing drug laws that contradict state
marijuana policies. Since then, federal raids of marijuana merchants and
growers who are operating legally in their states have been limited to those
accused of other violations, such as money laundering.
"The
federal government should never get in between patients and their
medicine," said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland).
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