Pubdate: Tue, 22 Dec 2015
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Copyright: 2015 Alaska Dispatch Publishing
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Note: Anchorage Daily News until July '14
Author: Erica Martinson

CONGRESS SOFTENS ON MARIJUANA POLICY, BUT KEY OBSTACLES REMAIN IN ALASKA'S PATH

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department has to back off of state medical 
marijuana laws and hemp research, according to riders tucked into the 
recent 2016 spending bill -- but many federal obstacles remain as 
legal marijuana gets off the ground in Alaska.

Congress agreed to $1.8 trillion in tax and spending legislation on 
Friday, a bill that carries the government through the end of 
September 2016. It included several rehashed provisions regarding 
marijuana, but some issues of key interest to Alaska's legalization 
efforts -- particularly related to veteran care and banking -- 
remained on the sidelines.

The state's congressional delegation is unified on the issue, to some 
extent. None of them voted for legalization in the November 2014 
general election, and none of them like it. But they all say the vote 
of the people should prevail, and the state has a right to decide on 
its own -- without federal government interference.

"My thing is, I'm not a big fan of the marijuana," said Alaska 
Republican Rep. Don Young Friday. "I will tell you though, I believe 
the states have a right to do as they wish to do. That goes back to 
states rights."

The two pro-marijuana provisions that were included in the "omnibus" 
spending bill used the congressional purse strings to enact policy. 
Both were included in last year's spending bill, but were not 
permanent, and had to be included again in order to continue.

One prevents the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement 
Agency from spending any money on interfering with medical marijuana 
laws in 40 states, Guam, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. 
The other prevents the DOJ and the DEA from using funding to 
interfere with state research programs for industrial hemp.

A third marijuana-related provision shows the remaining political 
split: Once again Washington, D.C., is prohibited from spending funds 
on implementing regulations that would allow the sale of marijuana. 
Like Alaska, a voter referendum legalized marijuana in the nation's 
capitol in 2014. But the district has no voting representation in 
Congress, which has the option of exerting federal control over D.C.'s budget.

But several key federal policy options didn't make it into the bill, 
despite making it through at least the Senate Appropriations 
Committee. Those amendments would have allowed doctors working for 
the Department of Veterans Affairs to recommend medical marijuana to 
vets, and would have kept the department from denying services to 
veterans who are documented as medical marijuana patients.

Another would have allowed banks to work with state-legal marijuana 
businesses. An amendment that passed the Senate Appropriations 
Committee would have kept the federal government from spending money 
penalizing banks that take money from marijuana businesses. But it 
didn't make it into the final bill, and would have only been a 
short-term provision.

Banks are reluctant to take money from marijuana businesses, leaving 
them in the difficult situation of keeping large amounts of cash on 
hand, being unable to take debit or credit card payments, and facing 
a slew of other difficulties -- including attempting to pay taxes 
with cash. A 2013 memo from the Justice Department declared 
prosecuting banks a low priority, but that hasn't been enough to 
reassure most financial institutions.

One piece of legislation introduced earlier this year would take care 
of many of those remaining issues. Despite his personal feelings on 
marijuana, Young helped introduce H.R. 1538 with Rep. Steve Cohen, 
D-Tennessee. Sens. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, and Rand Paul, 
R-Kentucky, introduced an identical bill in the upper chamber, S. 
683, but Alaska's senators have not signed on.

At least half a dozen other marijuana-related bills have been 
introduced in the House and Senate, but the Young bill is by far the 
most comprehensive effort.

The bill would make production, distribution and possession of 
marijuana legal under federal law, if it's legal under state law; 
would allow for federal research; remove barriers to veterans using 
medical marijuana; allow some interstate transport of cannabidiol oil 
- -- a part of the plant that doesn't get people high; and allows 
marijuana businesses access to banks.

But so far, it has gone nowhere -- halted by lawmakers overseeing key 
committees that don't wish to see it go further.

But Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican, said Friday that he's 
working with the state to determine the best next steps.

"I've actually held a number of meetings on it," he said. But "it's 
very complicated, to be honest," he said -- noting that he's working 
on parsing through unintended consequences of potential legislation.

Like Young, Sullivan and fellow Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski 
voted against legalization, but both say they're ready to manage the 
results of the vote.

"I'm not bringing any kind of anti feeling to it," Sullivan said. 
"I'm just trying really to understand the issues and coordinate with 
the governor and some federal agencies here."

Murkowski said she is "not so big into the camp of making money off 
of" marijuana because of her concerns about its health impacts. She's 
counting on regulations to keep it out of the hands of minors and 
make clear what's in the products.

"I voted against it -- I made no secret of the fact that I don't like 
the fact that we have legalized it, but we have, the people of Alaska 
have voted and it was a substantial vote. So I have to respect that, 
" Murkowski said. She is closely following the state's regulatory 
efforts -- and she's not opposed to congressional action.

"I think there's a lot of flux going on. But I do recognize that we 
have an inherent conflict between our federal policies and the states 
that have chosen to legalize it," Murkowski said.

Both she and Sullivan pointed to concerns about marijuana businesses 
being able to access safe banking -- a major issue for Alaska as the 
state dives into legal recreational marijuana, which is already big 
business in other states.

"There are now thousands of legal adult marijuana businesses across 
America. Colorado is on track to raise over $125 million in revenue 
this year. Our friends in Washington state ... expect marijuana sales 
taxes to bring in more than a billion dollars over the next four 
years," Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, said in a speech at the High 
Times Business Summit in Washington, D.C., last week.

But "discrepancies" between state and federal laws "continue to trap 
state-legal marijuana businesses unfairly in the middle for both 
medical and adult use," Blumenauer said. "People who just want to 
abide by state laws, be part of this transition, pay their taxes, do 
their business -- it's insane that you are not allowed to deduct your 
business expenses from your taxes like every other state legal 
activity. It is beyond insane that you can't pay fair taxes with a 
bank account, with a check. And that your colleagues are forced to 
carry tens of thousands of dollars in cash -- a safety risk, a 
logistical nightmare. You shouldn't have to be paying those taxes 
with shopping bags full of cash."

But Blumenauer, a longtime advocate for legalization, said Congress 
has turned a corner, with interest in passing marijuana-friendly 
legislation on the rise -- something he said was "inconceivable" just 
a few years ago.

Robert Capecchi -- director of federal policies for the Marijuana 
Policy Project, a national pro-marijuana advocacy group -- was 
optimistic that the renewal of this year's cannabis policy amendments 
is a good sign for further action.

It "suggests most members of Congress are ready to end the federal 
government's war on medical marijuana," he said in a statement. 
"There's a growing sentiment that the Justice Department should not 
be using taxpayer dollars to arrest and prosecute people who are 
following their states' medical marijuana laws."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom