Action Needed: Marijuana Vote This Week In Congress

Originally published at blog.NORML.org

This week, there will be a crucial vote on an amendment and it could be our biggest federal victory yet. We need your help to make sure we win.

Known as the Blumenauer-McClintock amendment after Representatives Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Tom McClintock (R-CA), this bipartisan language would restrict the Department of Justice from interfering in the 11 states that have legalized and regulate adult-use marijuana.

TELL YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS TO VOTE YES!

Today, more than one in five Americans reside in a jurisdiction where the adult use of marijuana is legal under state statute. These programs are now wide open to DOJ raids and arrests since former Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded guidance known as the Cole Memo last year.

However, since 2014, members of Congress have passed annual spending bills that included a provision protecting those who engage in the state-sanctioned use and dispensing of medical cannabis from undue prosecution by the Department of Justice. The existing language maintains that federal funds cannot be used to prevent states from “implementing their own state laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana.”

It is time to expand similar protections to states that have also legalized the use and sale of marijuana to all adults.

This marks our first full vote by the House of Representatives on adult-use marijuana in this Congress, and it is critical that we make our voices heard. Send a message to your lawmaker in less than 20 seconds right now.

Never in modern history has there existed greater public support for ending the nation’s nearly century-long failed experiment with marijuana prohibition. Now is our time to make our voices heard in the halls of Congress.