On June 15, 2017, congress took the first step towards lessening its attitude on medical cannabis.
Senators Corey Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Rand Paul disclosed a new bill which will end the federal prohibition of medical cannabis. All three vowed to take the necessary steps to improve research done on medicinal cannabis.
As a result, the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect States Act are required to change the Controlled Substances Act immediately. The Controlled Substance Act will now state that individuals are allowed to possess, produce, and distribute medical cannabis in states with established marijuana laws.
Though 29 states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis, the Respect States Act (sometimes referred to as the CARERS Act) will forbid the government from trying companies and individuals in states where medical cannabis is legal, as federally cannabis is still considered to be an illegal substance under the Controlled Substance Act.
Don Murphy, the director of the Marijuana Policy Project, explained that “the reintroduction of the CARERS Act is the first step of many steps we hope this Congress will take to end the federal prohibition of medical marijuana.” He added, “polls show overwhelmingly strong support for medical marijuana, and it spans the political spectrum.”
When asked about the federal government’s interference, Murphy stated, “the federal government should not be meddling in state laws that allow it or obstructing research into its many medical benefits.”
To no surprise, the new bill was disclosed a few days after Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General, wrote a letter to the leaders of Congress and pleaded them to undo protections for the medical cannabis industry under the Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment. Linked to the federal appropriations bill, the Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment prohibits the Justice Department from using federal funds to carry out federal prohibition in states that have legal cannabis laws.
Initially introduced in 2015, the act grants doctors permission to recommend medicinal cannabis to veterans in states where cannabis is legal. Additionally, under the terms of the act, researchers are able to have more access to cannabis in order to carry out studies. This has been a major issue in the cannabis sector and many speculate that this is the reason that there is a lot of misinformation circulating the topic of medical cannabis.
Cannabis is made of multiple cannabinoids, but tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) are the most prominent. When an individual consumes cannabis, the “high” comes from THC as it is the psychoactive component of the substance, but researchers believe that cannabidiol (CBD) is the part of cannabis that can be used for medical purposes. As a result, according to Leafly, the Respect States Act, or CARERS Act, will abolish CBD from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s list of class 1 drugs, thus allowing states to import it without the fear of being prosecuted.
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