This past weekend, maybe about the same time you were lighting up your favorite pipe or vape pen, the Congress approved legislation that effectively ended the federal government's prohibition of medical marijuana.

And when President Barack Obama signed the massive, $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill this week, he was not only assuring that most of the federal government will stay open though next September. He was also signaling a major shift in the U.S. government's attitude about pot. (A move, by the way, that was championed and made possible by House Republicans.)

The 1,600 page bill funds the Department of Homeland Security through February and all other departments through next fall. It also provides additional money for military action against ISIS and humanitarian efforts to combat the spread of Ebola in Africa. Buried inside is a rider that disallows any use of federal funds to impede state medical marijuana laws.

The Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment halts the use of government funds to prevent medical marijuana states "from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana." The vast majority of Americans (78 percent) support states' right to allow access to medical cannabis.

The rider is a huge, symbolic victory for medical cannabis, which was first legalized in California in 1996 and has spread haphazardly since—with some states allowing recreational use, some medical use, and some limiting the type of ingredients and delivery methods permitted. New medical laws in New York, for instance, do not allow for smoking of marijuana flower; the active ingredients will have to be extracted and administered orally, topically, or by vaporizer. Twelve of the state laws allow only the ingestion of CBD, cannabidiol, a compound in pot that has medical but not psychoactive effects. (THC, tetrahydrocannabinol, is the one that makes you stoned.) Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia are listed in the amendment as having legalized marijuana or its ingredients for medical purposes.

Under the provision, federal funds can no longer be used by the Department of Justice to raid state-licensed retail operations. Since 1996, when California passed Proposition 215 and Senate Bill 420 (the first measures to legalize medical marijuana in the nation), raids by feds, and similar initiatives by local law enforcement in more conservative areas of California, like San Diego, have been a regular occurrence. Arrests were made, stores were shuttered, pot and money were seized, merchants were subject to huge legal fees, and lists of patients were confiscated. To be a patient was to live on the edge—would the fricking place get busted one afternoon when I chose to legally enter to purchase my medicine? And what are they doing with my HIPPA-protected medical information? Ultimately it became safer to buy from my local dealer.

According to Allen St. Pierre, of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), the Obama Administration has more recently followed a hands-off policy on marijuana establishments. But the new measure approved as part of the spending bill, and signed by Obama, will make the administration's policy a matter of law.

Interestingly, while pot advocates had recently lobbied extra hard for similar legislation—fearing less tolerant presidential administrations on the horizon—the bill was carried by the emergence of a strong Republican voting block, which sees medical marijuana as a states' rights issue (like abortion, the death penalty and guns), even as federal law officially classifies the drug as being more dangerous than cocaine.

While this was the first victory for such an amendment, it was not the first attempt. A similar amendment has been defeated more than half a dozen times since first introduced in 2007 by various coalitions of California lawmakers, principally Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of Orange County. Rep. Sam Far, the co-sponsor, is a democrat from Santa Cruz, known as a liberal hotbed and a center of northern California weed culture.

Rohrabacher, 67, is an unlikely champion for weed enthusiasts. He's a former Reagan speechwriter who passed his college years in atmospheric Sunset Beach, during which time he was known as something of a folk singer. He credits the fundraising help of his friend Oliver North (of the Reagan-era Contragate/drugs for guns scandal) for his first seat in Congress. Maybe you saw him on Bill Maher's HBO chat show wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a puka shell necklace, taking a bit of a mauling from the resident left.

"This is the first time in over 40 years that congress has passed a law having to do with marijuana that did not seek to further criminalize the drug, so that's a historic change," said St. Pierre.

Even as Congress has shifted ground on medical marijuana, there isn't likely to be any federal legalization anytime soon. Lawmakers remain uneasy about full legalization. "Dana told us a couple weeks ago, in a meeting with him and other congressmen, that the only reason he was finally able to get a plurality of republicans to join with the democrats was because of states' rights issues," St. Pierre told Esquire.

Need evidence? A separate amendment to the spending package, tacked on at the behest of anti-marijuana crusader Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), will jeopardize the legalization of recreational pot in Washington, D.C., which voters approved last month.

Mike Sager Mike Sager is a bestselling author and award-winning reporter who's been a contributor to Esquire for thirty years.

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