Pubdate: Wed, 05 Aug 2015
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2015 Star Advertiser
Contact: 
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154
Author: Matthew Fleming, CQ-Roll Call

LACK OF GOP BACKING STALLS MEDICAL POT BILL

WASHINGTON - Even though Senate support for a medical marijuana bill 
is building, it's not likely to get a vote soon.

Two influential Democratic senators, Charles E. Schumer of New York 
and Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland, announced their support for a 
bill that would reschedule marijuana and let states set medical 
marijuana policy. But it needs more Republicans.

There are only a few more workdays until the August recess, so any 
consideration in the Senate Judiciary Committee would be deferred 
until at least September. But when pressed on whether the bill was a 
priority, chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, said, "I'm going to 
wait until I talk to other Republican members."

THE BILL has two Republican co-sponsors, Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, 
an original co-sponsor, and Dean Heller of Nevada. Getting a third 
has been difficult.

"It's a slow process and we're trying," Paul said last week, adding 
that there's "several" other Republicans they're talking to, but none 
are officially on board yet.

The bill is supported by 16 senators, including Sen. Cory Booker, 
D-N.J., the original sponsor, and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., an 
original co-sponsor. The remaining co-sponsors are Hawaii Democrats 
Brian Schatz and Mazie K. Hirono; Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.; Michael 
Bennet, D-Colo.; Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; Tammy 
Baldwin, D-Wis.; Tom Udall, D-N.M.; Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.; and 
Angus King, I-Maine.

The slow growth of support does not reflect national trends. A 
majority of states (including the District of Columbia and Guam) 
allow medical marijuana or its derivatives, while a few have approved 
recreational use. And national polling shows overwhelming support for 
medical marijuana.

SOME SENATORS have applauded recent decisions by the Obama 
administration to slightly deregulate medical marijuana research, 
with calls for more research. But even some of the supporters have 
not signed on as co-sponsors, including Sen. Patrick J. Toomey, 
R-Pa., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Warren is a co-sponsor of another bill, sponsored by Merkley, that 
would allow legitimate marijuana businesses to use banks. But just 
like the medical marijuana bill, the banking bill is stuck in 
committee. Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman 
Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala., said last week he did not expect this bill 
to be a post-recess priority for the committee.

However, a version of the bill did advance as a rider to an 
appropriations bill last month, much to Merkley's delight.

"We had a 16-14 vote in appropriations in favor of blocking any 
federal funds being used to enforce the federal rules, thereby giving 
banks the ability to provide checking accounts and services to 
marijuana businesses that are legal under their own state laws," 
Merkley said. Shelby, also an appropriator, was one of the 14 "no" votes.

The Appropriations Committee is proving to be the most progressive on 
the issue, approving in the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs 
funding bill an amendment allowing access to medical marijuana for 
veterans - although the same amendment died on the House floor.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom