Many expect advocacy to drag on but co-sponsors Rand Paul, Kirsten Gillibrand and Cory Booker are ‘hopeful’ and cite research benefits of legalization

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Three high-profile lawmakers introduced the Senate’s first bill to legalize medical marijuana across the country on Tuesday. The bill’s future is far from certain, but has been met with praise from marijuana policy activists.



Democratic senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Cory Booker introduced the legislation with Kentucky Republican Rand Paul. The legislation, called the Carers Act, would allow patients to use states’ medical marijuana laws without fear of federal repercussions, open the banking system to marijuana dispensaries and clear the way for research.

“Many people have been finding relief, but some people are prevented from having that,” said Paul. “There’s great potential for research in this,” he said. “This is an example of how Washington works.”

About 23 states allow medical marijuana for at least some groups of patients, and four more regulate recreational marijuana, the bill’s future is still murky in the Senate. With a few recent exceptions – most prominently, Texas conservative Ted Cruz – the Republicans who control the chamber have been apprehensive to endorse medical marijuana.

Gillibrand, whose home state of New York has legalized medical marijuana, acknowledged the bill’s passage could be an uphill battle.

“This is the first step of a long process of advocacy,” she said, during a press conference Tuesday. “I’m very hopeful we will have significant support in the Senate.”

Executive director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, better known as Norml, was not as optimistic.



“That discussion is dead on arrival, and I’m sure the advocates who put the bill forward in the Senate well know this,” said Norml executive director Allen St Pierre. “What they’ve done is an important first step.”

St Pierre said the Senate hasn’t considered any sort of marijuana reform since 1978.



Still, legal marijuana advocates said the bill could “have legs” and were even heartened by the bill’s introduction.

“Marijuana prohibition, especially as it relates to the seriously ill, is a failed policy,” said Morgan Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project. “I hope lawmakers will look in their hearts and realize it’s time to pass this compassionate legislation.”

The proposed law has a number of provisions that would make it easier to research, sell and prescribe marijuana.

Currently, marijuana is classified as a schedule one substance by the US Drug Enforcement Agency. That defines the drug as having “no currently accepted medical use”, and places it in the same category as heroin and ecstasy.

Such a classification makes it difficult for researchers to conduct trials on the drug, despite a growing chorus of patients who say that medical marijuana eases seizures, pain and anxiety, among other ailments. Disabled military veterans have been pushing for federal recognition of its benefits.

Especially vocal are parents of children with rare forms of epilepsy, such as Dravet syndrome, a debilitating disease with limited treatment that can result in hundreds of seizures per day.

The future of weed? Vending machines could transform legal marijuana industry Read more

“She has trialled and failed over 10 different seizure medicines,” said New York medical marijuana advocate Kate Hintz about her 4-year-old daughter Morgan. Hintz said that her family “will never know if her uncontrolled seizures or the mountain of medications she has taken in her short life” affect her more.

Hintz uses CBD, or cannabidiol oil, to treat her daughter. CBD has a very small amount of THC, the compound in marijuana that causes intoxication. The legislation would also allow Veterans Affairs physicians to prescribe medical marijuana.

Additionally, the law would provide a “safe harbor” for banks to accept funds from marijuana-related businesses. Without existing federal legislation, there is contradictory laws relating to whether banks must report marijuana-related businesses to federal authorities as “suspicious activity”.