Congress and President Donald J. Trump are at odds over his authority to exploit an emergency declaration to build a wall on the U.S. southern border. Many hope that the ill will and war of words over this heated controversy will not poison the well on issues that enjoy bipartisan support.
There has been recent talk of a bipartisan effort to pass legislation providing mandatory family leave for parents with children, with support from pro-family conservatives and those on the left who want more rights for workers. Bipartisanship also extends to the issue of rebuilding America’s infrastructure, as there is powerful support from politicians in both parties for spending money on roads and bridges. An agreement to reduce some troops overseas in Afghanistan may also be possible, with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) voicing support on the left while many on the right, including President Trump, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) ) and Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Justin Amash (R-MI) agree.
Another area of potential agreement is some areas of consensus regarding federal marijuana law. In the marijuana space, there are three issues where both the right and left should work together to remove legal conflicts between the federal government’s marijuana prohibition and the many states that have legalized marijuana for both adult and medical exploit. It’s unlikely that Congress will pass wholesale legalization in the next two years, even though it would be consistent with the idea of federalism, but there are three areas where progress could be made.
The first concerns medical marijuana. Medical marijuana polling shows powerful Republican support for these efforts. Yahoo/Marist released a survey in 2017 showing that 83% of Americans support the idea that doctors should be able to prescribe medical marijuana to patients in need. Quinnipiac University released a poll in January that showed even greater support with overall support at 91%, including 80% of Republicans. In this Congress, Republican Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN) was joined by Republican Representatives Don Young of Alaska, Matt Gaetz of Florida and David Joyce of Ohio in calling for H.R. 127Guardians Act. The legislation exempts from prosecution those involved in the “production, possession, distribution, dispensing, administration, laboratory testing, prescription of use or supply of medical marijuana.” At the very least, Congress should continue to fund appropriations bills in place since 2014 that prevent the Department of Justice from interfering with states’ legal medical marijuana programs.
The second issue is banking services for businesses in states that allow marijuana. It was introduced at the last Congress by Rep. Perlmutter (D-CO). H.R. 2215Safe and Fair Banking Enforcement Act (SAFE Banking Act). This bill provides a banking safe and sound harbor for a state’s marijuana businesses if the state has approved adult or medical exploit of marijuana. During a recent hearing of the House Financial Services Committee subcommittee on California State Treasurer Fiona Ma testified, “the cannabis market in California alone is expected to exceed $5.1 billion in total revenue in 2020, according to reports from Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics. The same report highlighted that the legal cannabis market could triple in size over the next four years – reaching a value of as much as $32 billion GLOBAL. The United States will drive the majority of this revenue, and it is critical that we match the scale of this economic growth with access to banking for this new state-regulated industry.” There is no point in pushing the legal marijuana industry into the cash market when it is a legal business within the state.
The final issue of a possible agreement is veterans’ health issues. Earlier this week, Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) introduced the Safe Harbor for Veterans Medical Marijuana Act. S.445. This bill would expand and facilitate access to medical marijuana for military veterans suffering from chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other solemn medical conditions. Department of Veterans Affairs physicians cannot currently recommend medical marijuana to patients living in states that allow it. Allowing veterans access is an simple issue for Congress and something they should address this year.
These three issues seem to be secondary issues because they are relatively uncontroversial. There is some promise that the Republican and Democratic parties can agree on something, and some tweaks to federal marijuana law would make sense.
Federalism is something conservatives value, and all of these proposals are consistent with the idea that states are a better place to deal with legalizing varying levels of access to marijuana under the powers of state police rather than the federal government.
