US Congress quietly ends federal ban on medical cannabis

Buried in a 1603-page document on federal government measures is the provision that effectively ends the federal government's prohibition on medical cannabis and marks a major change in American drug policy.

This is the first time the U.S. Congress has approved significant legislation at the national level requested by legalization advocates, ending almost 20 years of tension between the states and Washington over the medical use of cannabis.

Thanks to this provision American states where medical cannabis is legal no longer have to worry about raids by federal narcotics agents. Agents are now prohibited from doing so, even though the Obama administration had already largely followed this rule since 2014. The new measure, when signed by President Obama, will become law.

Cannabis advocates worked hard with Congress to pass this legislation, as they feared a less tolerant future administration. And more importantly from the activists' point of view, Congress' action marks the emergence of a new alliance on cannabis issues: Republicans are taking a major role in supporting states to allow the use of a drug that is still officially considered more dangerous than cocaine.

«This is a victory for a lot of people,» said the measure's co-author, Republican Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa. Approval of the measure represents «the first time in years that the federal government has rolled back its oppressive prohibition on cannabis.».

To date, 32 US states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical cannabis, a movement that began in the 1990s. Even then, some states like California had already been decriminalizing for over 20 years.

Even though the medical cannabis movement has had many successes recently, the DEA still classifies cannabis as one of the most dangerous drugs, with no accepted medical use.

The U.S. Congress has resisted for years to prevent states from charting their own course on cannabis legislation. The measure that prevents the federal government from using its resources to impede state cannabis laws was defeated half a dozen times before it was passed. When Washington DC voted to approve medical cannabis in 1998, Congress used the tools at its disposal to prevent the law from taking effect for 11 years.

«The war against medical cannabis is over,» says Bill Piper, a lobbyist for the Drug Policy Alliance, who calls the change historic. «The fight will now be on for the full legalization of cannabis».