Marijuana Policy Project - Federal Lobbying

Federal Lobbying

MPP not only works to reform marijuana policy state-by-state, but also on the federal level. Some of MPP’s key federal goals include: building support for legislation that would treat marijuana like alcohol under federal law, persuading members of Congress to introduce and support legislation designed to protect medical marijuana patients and providers, monitoring the Department of Justice to ensure that the department honors its pledge to not prosecute individuals acting in compliance with state medical marijuana laws, generating media coverage to pressure the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to provide marijuana for an FDA-approved study related to PTSD, and lobbying for passage of an amendment to a congressional appropriations bill that would eliminate all funding for the drug czar’s office, among others.

Since MPP’s founding, positive medical marijuana bills have been introduced in six consecutive Congresses. In addition, in the summers of 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, the U.S. House debated and voted on an appropriations amendment advocated for primarily by MPP.

In July 2003, 152 members of Congress voted in favor of the Hinchey amendment to the spending bill for the U.S. Justice Department. The legislation would have prevented the DEA from spending any money to raid or arrest medical marijuana patients and caregivers in states with medical marijuana laws.

In July 2007, following an intensive MPP lobbying campaign, MPP helped to garner 165 votes in the U.S. House of Representatives for the Hinchey Amendment — an all-time record of support for medical marijuana access.

In December 2009, MPP successfully lobbied for the removal of the “Barr Amendment” from the D.C. Appropriations bill. MPP led the fight to end Congressional interference, which, for over 10 years, blocked the District of Columbia from implementing a medical marijuana initiative that passed with over 70% of the vote. MPP even retained the amendment’s namesake, former Georgia Rep. Bob Barr, to lobby for the amendment’s removal after he reversed his position in 2007. Following the removal of the amendment, MPP successfully lobbied the District Council to improve the language they were considering to implement the initiative and lobbied the executive branch for reasonable regulations. Those regulations went into effect on April 15, 2011.

MPP is currently lobbying the 112th Congress on behalf of several pending marijuana-related bills. For the first time ever, a bill to end federal marijuana prohibition has been introduced. H.R. 2306, the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2012, would remove marijuana from the list of controlled substances and would eliminate all federal penalties related to marijuana (except in cases where marijuana is transferred into another state in violation of that state’s laws).

MPP is also lobbying on behalf of medical marijuana on the federal level. In May 2011, three bills to benefit medical marijuana patients and their providers were introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The “States’ Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act” would modify federal law so that individuals acting in compliance with state law are immune from federal prosecution. The “Small Business Tax Equity Act of 2011” and the “Small Business Banking Improvement Act of 2011” address critical tax and banking issues faced by medical marijuana centers and dispensaries as they attempt to serve patients, comply with statewide regulations, and pay their fair share of taxes.

Finally, during the 112th session of Congress, U.S. Reps. Jared Polis (D-CO) and Ron Paul (R-TX) plan to introduce an amendment to the FY2012 (or FY2013) Financial Services Appropriations bill. This amendment would cut $23 million in duplicative and wasteful discretionary government spending by zero-funding the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), commonly known as the “Drug Czar’s Office.” MPP has been actively engaged in efforts to defund the ONDCP for nearly 10 years.