In June of 2018, Senators Cory Gardner [R-CO] and Elizabeth Warren [D-MA] introduced a piece of legislation called the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act. The bill was written to protect the rights of states, U.S. territories, and Native American Tribes to legalize and regulate cannabis without fear of retribution from the federal government.
In December, Gardner was blocked from attaching the bill as an amendment to the First Step Act criminal justice reform bill by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell [R-KY].
On Thursday, Gardner reintroduced the STATES Act into the Senate with Warren, saying the bill has presidential support, but McConnell still needs more convincing. He noted that McConnell got part of the way there with hemp but said he is “not exactly the bastion of libertarianism on this.”
“The federal government is closing its eyes and plugging its ears while 47 states have acted,” said Gardner in a statement. “The bipartisan STATES Act fixes this problem once and for all by taking a states’ rights approach to the legal marijuana question.”
Gardner says that the bill ensures that the federal government will respect the will of the voters, whether it be cannabis legalization or prohibition, and not interfere.
Medical cannabis laws are active in 33 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands and ten states have legalized adult-use cannabis.
“The conflict between federal and state cannabis laws has become untenable and must end,” said Cannabis Trade Federation CEO Neal Levine. “The STATES Act is a bipartisan bill with real world impact. It would immediately improve public safety and the local economies within the states in which the cannabis industry operates.”
Levine said the STATES Act would simultaneously protect the freedom and livelihood of the hundreds of thousands of Americans working in America’s legal cannabis industry.
The bill would also fix the cannabis industry’s banking issue by legalizing the activities of state-compliant companies, protecting them from money laundering statutes.
Senator Gardner says that while McConnell may need more convincing, President Donald Trump will sign the STATES Act into law if it manages to pass Congress.
