The Congressional Cannabis Caucus officially launched Thursday in Washington DC, with four bipartisan lawmakers asserting that their agenda includes protecting state cannabis laws from federal interference as well as reforming 280E of the tax code and cannabis banking laws.
They even hope to remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances.
The caucus, announced in December, currently is composed of just four House members: Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Don Young (R-AK) and Jared Polis (D-CO). But the group said in a statement it has invited all House representatives to join them.
“The results of this last election have put it on the radar of a lot of members of Congress who frankly hadn’t focused on this issue before,” Polis said, referring to the landmark November ballot in which eight states approved pro-cannabis initiatives.
The four representatives touched on several legislative priorities they plan to push – including extending the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment – but didn’t dive into much detail. They also said there’s still no clear signal from the Trump administration or the Department of Justice regarding whether a federal crackdown on marijuana businesses may be on the way.
A video of the half-hour news conference is available on Blumenauer’s website.
