The Trump administration’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’, the federal government’s annual spending and tax omnibus legislation, has quietly dropped a key piece of legislation putting the country’s entire medical cannabis industry under threat.
While attention has been squarely focused on the public spat between the President and the former de facto head of the ‘so called’ Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Elon Musk, which initially centered on the bill, little attention has been paid to the potentially devastating impact on the country’s medical cannabis industry.
Deb Tharp, activist and cannabis business and political consultant, tells Business of Cannabis: “Congress dropped the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment (formerly Rohrabacher-Farr) from the latest appropriations bill… To be clear, it’s now extremely obvious that the state legacy markets are in dire jeopardy.”
The Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment is a key provision in US law that protects state medical cannabis programs from federal interference. First passed in 2014 as part of the federal budget process, the amendment prohibits the Department of Justice (DOJ) from spending federal funds to prevent states from implementing their own medical cannabis laws.
While cannabis remains illegal under federal law as a Schedule I drug, this rider has effectively shielded patients, caregivers, and businesses operating in compliance with state programs from federal prosecution. Courts have largely upheld this protection, though they are divided on whether strict or substantial compliance with state law is required.
It’s worth noting that the amendment applies only to medical, not recreational, cannabis, and it must be renewed annually.
If Congress were to remove the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment, it would dramatically destabilise the medical cannabis industry. Without this protection, the DOJ would regain full authority to prosecute individuals and businesses, even if they fully comply with state law.
This would expose medical cannabis providers to criminal charges, asset forfeiture, and banking restrictions, potentially forcing many legitimate businesses to close or operate underground.
The loss of the amendment could also jeopardise patient access to medical cannabis, disrupt an industry that supports nearly half a million jobs, and reignite federal-state conflicts in an area where public opinion overwhelmingly favours state-level legalisation and regulation.
According to Prohibition Partners North America’s (the US and Canada) medical cannabis market currently represents over 70% of the total global market, and is set to be worth nearly 13bn by 2026.
Writing in Business of Cannabis in November last year, Tharp detailed the already existing efforts to do-away with these protections.
Amendments added to last year’s Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill aimed to undercut Rohrabacher-Blumenauer protections. Section 623 of the bill blocked funding for federal efforts to reschedule or de-schedule cannabis, making it harder to advance broader reforms that would complement the amendment’s intent.
Another carve-out explicitly allowed the DOJ to enforce federal cannabis laws within 1,000 feet of schools, playgrounds, housing authority properties, and other sensitive locations. This would expose many state-legal medical cannabis businesses, particularly those operating under less restrictive local zoning rules, to renewed risk of federal prosecution.
This carve-out, Tharp explained, ‘was bad enough because those buffer zones cover most populated areas’.
“But this year they’ve removed all protections entirely. No rider, no caveat, just full DOJ authority again.
“Leaving Rohrabacher-Blumenauer out isn’t an oversight, it’s political chess. Even if public pressure forces them to reinstate the amendment, they’ll likely add the same rider they tried last year, which says that regardless of the amendment, the DOJ can still enforce federal law against any activity within the buffer zones defined by 21 U.S.C. § 860. “Their strategy is to distract us, make us fight to get the amendment back, while quietly pushing through this carve-out.”
“This would leave most dispensary locations vulnerable, even if the amendment is restored, because 21 U.S.C. § 860 zones are so broad they cover nearly all populated areas. In practice, the DOJ would still have enforcement power over most of the industry.”
The post US State Medical Cannabis Markets in ‘Dire Jeapardy’ as Critical Federal Protections Dropped by Trump appeared first on Business of Cannabis.
Continue reading...
While attention has been squarely focused on the public spat between the President and the former de facto head of the ‘so called’ Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Elon Musk, which initially centered on the bill, little attention has been paid to the potentially devastating impact on the country’s medical cannabis industry.
Deb Tharp, activist and cannabis business and political consultant, tells Business of Cannabis: “Congress dropped the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment (formerly Rohrabacher-Farr) from the latest appropriations bill… To be clear, it’s now extremely obvious that the state legacy markets are in dire jeopardy.”
What is the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment?
The Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment is a key provision in US law that protects state medical cannabis programs from federal interference. First passed in 2014 as part of the federal budget process, the amendment prohibits the Department of Justice (DOJ) from spending federal funds to prevent states from implementing their own medical cannabis laws.
While cannabis remains illegal under federal law as a Schedule I drug, this rider has effectively shielded patients, caregivers, and businesses operating in compliance with state programs from federal prosecution. Courts have largely upheld this protection, though they are divided on whether strict or substantial compliance with state law is required.
It’s worth noting that the amendment applies only to medical, not recreational, cannabis, and it must be renewed annually.
If Congress were to remove the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment, it would dramatically destabilise the medical cannabis industry. Without this protection, the DOJ would regain full authority to prosecute individuals and businesses, even if they fully comply with state law.
This would expose medical cannabis providers to criminal charges, asset forfeiture, and banking restrictions, potentially forcing many legitimate businesses to close or operate underground.
The loss of the amendment could also jeopardise patient access to medical cannabis, disrupt an industry that supports nearly half a million jobs, and reignite federal-state conflicts in an area where public opinion overwhelmingly favours state-level legalisation and regulation.
According to Prohibition Partners North America’s (the US and Canada) medical cannabis market currently represents over 70% of the total global market, and is set to be worth nearly 13bn by 2026.
‘The final battleground for legal legacy cannabis’
Writing in Business of Cannabis in November last year, Tharp detailed the already existing efforts to do-away with these protections.
Amendments added to last year’s Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill aimed to undercut Rohrabacher-Blumenauer protections. Section 623 of the bill blocked funding for federal efforts to reschedule or de-schedule cannabis, making it harder to advance broader reforms that would complement the amendment’s intent.
Another carve-out explicitly allowed the DOJ to enforce federal cannabis laws within 1,000 feet of schools, playgrounds, housing authority properties, and other sensitive locations. This would expose many state-legal medical cannabis businesses, particularly those operating under less restrictive local zoning rules, to renewed risk of federal prosecution.
This carve-out, Tharp explained, ‘was bad enough because those buffer zones cover most populated areas’.
“But this year they’ve removed all protections entirely. No rider, no caveat, just full DOJ authority again.
“Leaving Rohrabacher-Blumenauer out isn’t an oversight, it’s political chess. Even if public pressure forces them to reinstate the amendment, they’ll likely add the same rider they tried last year, which says that regardless of the amendment, the DOJ can still enforce federal law against any activity within the buffer zones defined by 21 U.S.C. § 860. “Their strategy is to distract us, make us fight to get the amendment back, while quietly pushing through this carve-out.”
“This would leave most dispensary locations vulnerable, even if the amendment is restored, because 21 U.S.C. § 860 zones are so broad they cover nearly all populated areas. In practice, the DOJ would still have enforcement power over most of the industry.”
The post US State Medical Cannabis Markets in ‘Dire Jeapardy’ as Critical Federal Protections Dropped by Trump appeared first on Business of Cannabis.
Continue reading...
