Virginia Republican rep introduces bill to end federal marijuana prohibition

A freshman Republican representative from Virginia introduced legislation this week that would end the federal prohibition on marijuana use and allow states to fully set their own course on marijuana policy.

The bill seeks to remove marijuana from the federal Controlled Substances Act and resolve the existing conflict between federal and state laws over medical or recreational use of the drug. It would not legalize the sale and use of marijuana in all 50 states it would simply allow states to make their own decisions on marijuana policy without the threat of federal interference.

Virginia is more than capable of handling its own marijuana policy, as are states such as Colorado or California, Rep. Thomas Garrett, R, said in a statement. Currently neither the recreational or medical uses of marijuana are allowed in Virginia.

The bill does specify that transporting marijuana into states where it is not legal would remain a federal crime.

Marijuana is currently a Schedule 1 controlled substance at the federal level, meaning the federal government considers the drug to have a high potential for abuse and no medically accepted use. But more than half the states have set their own policies allowing either medical or recreational use of marijuana.

Garretts bill is identical to legislation introduced in 2015 by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). That bill didnt receive any co-sponsors, nor did it get a Senate hearing. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) has already signed on to Garretts bill, as have Rep. Scott W. Taylor (R-Va.) and Rep. Jared Polis (D.-Colo.).

Law enforcement groups and conservatives have traditionally been among the biggest skeptics of loosening marijuana laws. As a Republican and a former prosecutor, Garrett might seem like an unlikely champion for marijuana reform.

But the freshman lawmaker frames the issue as both about states rights, and creating jobs: This step allows states to determine appropriate medicinal use and allows for industrial hemp growth, something that will provide a major economic boost to agricultural development in Southside Virginia, he said in a statement.

One group that provides data services to the marijuana industry estimates that the legal pot industry could be worth $24 billion by 2020 and create 280,000 jobs. In Colorado alone, marijuana sales topped $1.3 billion last year.

In 2016, the Drug Enforcement Administration reviewed the federal classification of marijuana and declined to loosen restrictions on the plant.

Congress has shown increasing interest in tackling marijuana policy issues in recent years, to the extent that there is now an official Congressional Cannabis Caucus. But the most significant piece of marijuana legislation coming out of Congress in recent years was a budget rider preventing the Department ...