State Medical Marijuana Protection Amendments Introduced

Senators Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) introduced an amendment to the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science spending bill that would prohibit the federal government from interfering with medical marijuana operations in states with legalized medical marijuana policies. The amendment contains identical language to the amendment offered by California Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-Orange) late last month which successfully made it through the House after years of previous failed attempts. Representative Rohrabacher’s amendment would protect the 32 states and the District of Columbia that have legalized medical marijuana from raids conducted by federal law enforcement officers on medical marijuana cultivators and distributors. When before the House of Representatives, the vote on the measure amongst the California delegation was as follows:

Ayes

Huffman, Garamendi, McClintock, Thompson, Matsui, Bera, McNerney, Miller (George), Pelosi, Lee, Speier, Swalwell, Costa, Honda, Eshoo, Lofgren, Farr, Capps, Brownley, Chu, Schiff, Cardenas, Sherman, Napolitano, Becerra, Negrete McLeod, Ruiz, Sanchez (Linda), Sanchez (Loretta), Roybal Allard, Takano, Hahn, Lowenthal, Rohrabacher, Hunter, Vargas, Peters, and Davis

Nays

LaMalfa, Cook, Denham, Valadao, Nunes, McCarthy, McKeon, Bass, Royce, Issa, and Calvert

Did Not Vote

Miller (Gary), Waxman, Waters, and Campbell