Cannabis reform will likely be on the Trump administration’s agenda after the midterm elections, Republican U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California said Thursday.
In an interview with Fox Business, Rohrabacher said he’s been “talking to people inside the White House” and members of President Donald Trump’s inner circle about ending cannabis prohibition. The congressman said he’s been “reassured that the president intends on keeping his campaign promise” to protect local marijuana policies from federal interference.
Though Rohrabacher didn’t point to specific legislation that the president is reportedly interested in advancing, he said that details would likely begin to take shape after Nov. 6, 2018.
“I would expect after the election we will sit down and we’ll start hammering out something that is specific and real,” Rohracher said to Fox Business.
Trump has previously voiced support for a bipartisan bill, introduced by Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, which would amend the Controlled Substances Act to protect states that legalize cannabis from federal interference. He also embraced medical cannabis during his presidential campaign, saying that he knows people who have benefited from using it.
Rohrabacher, in the interview published Oct. 11, laid out a vague timeline for anticipated congressional action on marijuana reform.
“It could be as early as spring of 2019, but definitely in the next legislative session,” he said.
What remains to be seen is which party will ultimately take the lead on marijuana after the midterms. Though Democrats are generally more supportive of cannabis reform and multiple bills have been introduced to achieve that end, a top House Democrat recently conceded that the party hasn’t been actively discussing plans to pass marijuana legislation.
Asked in September 2018 whether Democrats would bring cannabis legislation to the floor if the party retakes the House in November, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland admitted “[w]e haven’t talked about that.”
And California’s Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who is expected to seek the speakership again if Democrats win control of the chamber in the midterms, indicated that the prospects for marijuana legislation would depend on support from the president.
“I don’t know where the president is on any of this,” Pelosi said during a press conference Sept. 28, 2018. “So any decision about how we go forward would have to reflect where we can get the result.”
Based on polling, either party stands to benefit from taking on a marijuana-friendly agenda. According to an October 2017 Gallup poll, fewer Republican voters support full legalization, compared with Democrats, but when it comes to medical cannabis, there’s sizable majority support on both sides of the aisle.
This article has been republished from Marijuana Moment under a content syndication agreement. Read the original article here.
