The new bill passed by Congress this weekend is a 1,603 page monster detailing $1.1 trillion in spending, but none of that money will be spent on hassling marijuana growers and sellers that are complying with laws in individual states. The bill includes a passage meant to end the conflict between the federal government, which still considers marijuana growing and trafficking a crime, and the multitude of states which have legalized both the sale of marijuana and its regulated cultivation. The bill explicitly states that the Department of Justice can’t spend money to prosecute marijuana operations that are legal in their home states. The passage reads as follows:
“None of the funds made available in this Act to the Department of Justice may be used, with respect to the States of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, to prevent such States from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.”
