Two leading cannabis industry organizations — the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) and the National Cannabis Industry Association — (NCIA) are criticizing Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) for holding what they say is an anti-marijuana hearing, while continuing to block hearings on the CARERS Act — the most comprehensive medical marijuana bill ever introduced in Congress.
Grassley leads the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control and has scheduled the contentious hearing for April 5 at 10 a.m. “to examine the Obama administration’s efforts to monitor the impact of state laws that regulate the cultivation and sale of marijuana for adult use,” states the MPP in a press release. “The four-person witness list includes a federal prosecutor from California, an advisory board member for a national anti-marijuana organization, and the Nebraska attorney general who sought to overturn Colorado’s marijuana regulation laws by filing a lawsuit with the Supreme Court.”
The MPP and NCIA criticize Grassley for refusing to call a hearing on
The Compassionate Access Research Expansion, and Respect States Act, introduced in March 2015. The CARERS Act would authorize states to legalize and regulate the production, distribution and possession of medical marijuana; recognize the medical value of marijuana and remove barriers to researching its medical benefits by reclassifying the substance from Schedule I to Schedule II. It would also allow banks to provide financial services to state-legal medical marijuana businesses.
“It’s shocking that Sen. Grassley would choose to direct the Senate’s time, energy, and resources toward a dubious anti-marijuana hearing instead of giving the CARERS Act the hearing it deserves,” said Robert Capecchi, director of federal policies at the MPP, in a statement. “The CARERS Act is bipartisan legislation that has broad public support. His decision is tone deaf, to say the least.”
An NCIA statement noted, “While he continues to obstruct any action to help critically ill patients and the providers who care for them, Senator Grassley is holding a hearing today designed to conjure up outdated prohibitionist fear-mongering.”
"More than 80% of Americans believe patients should have legal access to medical marijuana. Sen. Grassley could be helping patients in need, supporting legitimate small businesses, and respecting the overwhelming will of the voters," said Aaron Smith, executive director of NCIA, in the statement. "Instead, he plays obstructionist again, refusing to even have a conversation about a bill that has the support of Republicans and Democrats alike. Sen. Grassley may be stuck in the past, but the rest of us are not. It's time for him to do his job and hold real hearings on real legislation that could make a real difference for patients and providers across the country."
The CARERS Act (
S.683) was introduced in the Senate by Senators Cory Booker, Rand Paul and Kirsten Gillibrand. A companion bill (H.R. 1538, the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States - CARERS Act)
was introduced in the House just weeks after the Senate bill by Rep. Steve Cohen and Rep. Don Young.
Upon the bill's introduction, Congressman Steve Cohen commented, "The science has been in for a long time, and keeping marijuana on Schedule I – with heroin and LSD – is ludicrous.”
Presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders also, in November 2015,
introduced legislation —
s.2237, the “Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2015” — that would end federal marijuana prohibition, and would repeal all federal penalties for possessing and growing marijuana, allowing states to set their own marijuana laws.
Sanders’ bill also sits bottled up in Sen. Grassley's Judiciary Committee, despite a recent national AP poll showing that 61% of Americans support the legalization of cannabis, stated the NCIA.
