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An In-Depth Look at the Senate Bill to Legalize Medical Marijuana
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A new bill introduced in the United States Senate seeks to radically alter federal jurisdiction over the manufacture, distribution, sale and use of medical marijuana.
The Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States (CARERS) Act of 2015, introduced this week by Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), is a bill to “extend the principle of federalism to State drug policy, provide access to medical marijuana and enable research into the medicinal properties of marijuana.”
The most important part of the CARERS Act effectively allows states to opt out of the Controlled Substances Act with respect to medical marijuana laws – both legitimizing current state medical marijuana policy under federal law and future state action. Section 2 of this bill states that:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the provisions of [the Controlled Substances Act] relating to marihuana shall not apply to any person acting in compliance with State law relating to the production, possession, distribution, dispensation, administration, laboratory testing or delivery of medical marihuana.
It is important here to note that this bill addresses the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and not the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act – meaning, in effect, that while it eliminates the enforcement authority of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) with respect to state medical marijuana programs, it does nothing to address the jurisdiction and enforcement authority of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Nonetheless, this single provision of the CARERS Act would result in a profound and historic change in federal drug laws. It allows state law to supersede or replace federal law regarding criminal penalties and enforcement authorized by the Controlled Substances Act.
The bill makes other changes to the CSA. Marijuana would be reclassified from Schedule I to Schedule II, effectively recognizing that it has accepted medical use in the United States.
Source: http://truthisscary.com/2015/03/an-in-depth-look-at-the-senate-bill-to-legalize-medical-marijuana/
