The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) reports that a U.S. House of Representatives just voted 221-202 on the omnibus spending bill, which will allow Washington, D.C. to implement its medical marijuana law. The Senate will now take up the legislation; MPP expects the bill to pass there without any alterations. President Obama will sign the bill into law once the Senate has acted.
MPP expects all of this to happen very quickly; Congress and the president have until December 18 to finalize the legislation.
That was last week. Now this today:
The U.S. Senate today passed historic legislation to end the decade-long ban on implementing a medical marijuana law in Washington, D.C. This marks the first time in history Congress has changed a marijuana law for the better. Only Obama’s signature is needed for the change to become law.
This is not only a huge victory for medical marijuana patients in the nation’s capital, it marks a historic shift on the medical marijuana issue nationwide. This is the first time Congress has given its assent to a state or local law that permits medical use of marijuana. Coming on top of the announcement that the Justice Department will no longer interfere with state medical marijuana laws, this shows that the ground has fundamentally shifted.
Reports indicate that President Obama will sign the legislation.
Errata: The title of this article originally showed an incorrect spelling of the word “Congress.” We regret the error.