darby.beck@leap.cc February 20, 2015





FEDERAL MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION BILLS INTRODUCED

TO CONGRESS

Congressmen Jared Polis (D-CO) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) Introduce Separate Marijuana Tax, Regulation Bills





Contact: Darby Beck For Immediate Release:415.823.5496Washington D.C. – Today US Representatives Jared Polis (D-CO) and Earl Blumenauer(D-OR) introduced separate bills to tax and regulate the sale of marijuana for adults at thefederal level. Polis introduced a bill that would allow states the ability to choose tolegalize marijuana without fear of federal intervention, and a federal regulatory structurewould be built to accommodate those new laws. Blumenauer’s bill would tax marijuanaat the federal level, in addition to any taxes that may be imposed by state and localjurisdictions. Marijuana is already state-legal in Colorado, Washington, Alaska andOregon, and medical marijuana is allowed in 23 states and Washington, DC. Yet despitea Department of Justice memo that instructed federal prosecutors to be sparing in theirinterference in state-legal operations, “using [their] limited investigative andprosecutorial resources to address the most significant marijuana-related cases,” whichthe memo explained, and passage of the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment defunding federalprosecution of medical marijuana cases, some US attorneys, such as Melinda Haag,continue to inappropriately use federal law to go after state-legal operations.“Cops have better things to worry about than the recreational habits of responsible,nonviolent adults,” said Maj. Neill Franklin (Ret.), executive director of LawEnforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a group of criminal justice professionalsopposed to the drug war. “And dispensary owners have better things to worry about thanwhether the federal government is going to arrest them and/or seize their assets for actingin accordance with state law.”###