The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed by 39 votes a measure that bars treasury and securities regulators from spending funds to penalize financial institutions that work with legal marijuana businesses.
And they did so without exactly saying banks could openly and without worry work with the industry — what banks have asked for in writing — and without decriminalizing the drug at the federal level.
The amendment to House appropriations bill H.R. 5016 — co-sponsored by Rep. Ed Perlmutter and three other congressmen — takes aim at the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s oversight of banks by narrowing the scope of earlier directives the agency gave for banking the marijuana trade.
“Congress is yet again rejecting the failed war on marijuana,” Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, said in a statement. “They have read the poll numbers and are doing both what is right and what is politically smart.”
The move comes on the heels of to restrict the U.S. Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration from meddling with state-approved medical marijuana programs.
Both measures are headed to the U.S. Senate.
“The recent votes in the House of Representatives demonstrate bi-partisan support at the federal level to allow states to experiment with new marijuana policies, free from federal interference,” said Erik Altieri, communication director for NORML. “If implemented, this amendment will help alter the current untenable status quo that forces otherwise law-abiding businesses to operate on a cash-only basis, making them a target for criminal actions and unduly burdening their operations.”
Colorado and Washington are the only two states where recreational marijuana sales are legal, though voters in Alaska and Oregon are set to take up the issue in its November election.
Twenty-three states including Colorado have legalized medical marijuana.
David Migoya: 303-954-1506, dmigoya@denverpost.com or twitter.com/davidmigoya
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