Kirsten Gillibrand © Laurence Agron | Dreamstime.comKirsten Gillibrand © Laurence Agron | Dreamstime.com
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand spoke Monday at the National Cannabis Industry Association’s fall business summit in Manhattan, pressing the case for her legislation that would change federal marijuana laws.
The Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect State Act would amend the federal controlled substance law to allow states to set their own policy and reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug, meaning the federal government would acknowledge it has a medical use.
“Across the country, states are catching up to science,” Gillibrand told an enthusiastic audience.
It is time for the federal government to follow suit, she said.
The law would also allow banks and credit unions to work with medical marijuana businesses which, under existing law, they cannot do without risking federal prosecution.
