Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment Survives in Omnibus

Several cannabis news sources have noticed the sparkling diamond in the roughly 2,232 page 2018 Omnibus Spending Bill: The Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment (thank you to whomever called it "RBA").

The RBA has become a target of the US Attorney General who has expressed strong desire to roll back cannabis legalization because of conflict with federal regulations, specifically cannabis' inclusion on Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act.

In doing so, millions of Americans who have also expressed their strong desires to allow legalization, are being ignored. For example, Alexis Bortell, shown here, a now 12- year old Texas girl who has survived a severe form of epilepsy thanks to whole cannabis oil

Ninety-four percent of Americans are estimated to approve of medicinal cannabis, according to Quinnipiac University polls, a dramatically high approval rating which stands up even to the President's own pollsters, who found this week that "Less than 1-in-5 Trump voters believe that marijuana should be illegal (18%)"

Furthermore, the voters in 30 states and the District of Columbia have approved some combination of decriminalization and/or legalization of medicinal and recreational cannabis, with a total of 46 states allowing medical use with low-THC content (in many cases this is taken to mean "hemp", which is naturally high in CBD and has almost no THC - along with a multitude of other uses).

NORML's blog quotes Rep. Earl Blumenauer, namesake on the amendment and the co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus,

“While I’m glad that our medical marijuana protections are included, there is nothing to celebrate since Congress only maintained the status quo. These protections have been law since 2014. This matter should be settled once and for all. Poll after poll shows that the majority of Americans, across every party, strongly favor the right to use medical marijuana.”

He continued, “Instead, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is doubling down on the failed War on Drugs and Republican leadership in Congress—led by Chairman Pete Sessions—is stonewalling. They’re ignoring the will of the American people by blocking protections for state adult-use laws and cannabis banking. They even refused our veterans access to lifesaving medicine.

It should be noted that the RBA only protects the rights of certain voters: those who have approved the use of medicinal cannabis. Recreational users and the hundreds of businesses and thousands of workers who serve them were hung out to dry.

Image source: North Texas Daily