[jump /injack]

Federal: Measure Introduced To Reschedule Marijuana
Virginia Republican Morgan Griffin has introduced legislation, HR 4498, in Congress to reclassify cannabis under federal law from a schedule I to a schedule II controlled substance.
The Act seeks to prohibit the federal government from interfering in the possession and distribution of marijuana in states where physicians are permitted to authorized cannabis therapy.
The measure awaits action from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Rescheduling marijuana will loosen existing restrictions on medical marijuana research. It was also allow physicians greater freedom to authorize marijuana as a therapy. It would also clear the way for financial institutions to begin partnering with state-authorized marijuana establishments.
By any objective analysis, cannabis does not meet the criteria of a schedule I controlled substance — a classification that equates the potential harms of marijuana with those of heroin. Further, with 21 states and the District of Columbia now permitting for the physician-authorized use of cannabis, it is not accurate for federal law to maintain that the plant “has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.”
HR 4498 falls short of NORML’s ultimate goal of removing marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act altogether. However, it is one of a growing number of legislative measures pending in Congress to significantly amend federal marijuana laws, including:
HR 499: the Ending Marijuana Prohibition Act
HR 689: the States' Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act
HR 1523: Respect State Marijuana Laws Act
NORML will keep you updated when/if these measures move forward.

https://energycommerce.house.gov/about/membership
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• These are some of the Congressional Members who will vote on HR 4498, it has to get out of Committee first, a well reasoned letter to one of these Congressmen or women can make a difference. If your Congressman is on the list you can click on their name if you have gone to the above site and a provision for a personal letter can be obtained. Letters work, less than 5% of the electorate even know who their Congress People are and they will figure you actually represent a block of voters who just might vote for them and you are politically aware of them. Let Congressman Morgan Griffin know that you appreciate his bill and won’t forget it, strokes work.
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E&C Membership
Republican Members
Democratic Members
Fred Upton (MI)- Chairman
Henry Waxman (CA) - Ranking Member
Ralph Hall (TX)
John D. Dingell (MI)
Joe Barton (TX)*- Chairman Emeritus
Frank Pallone Jr. (NJ)
Ed Whitfield (KY)
Bobby L. Rush (IL)
John Shimkus (IL)
Anna G. Eshoo (CA)
Joseph R. Pitts (PA)
Eliot L. Engel (NY)
Greg Walden (OR)
Gene Green (TX)
Lee Terry (NE)
Diana DeGette (CO)
Mike Rogers (MI)
Lois Capps (CA)
Tim Murphy (PA)
Michael F. Doyle (PA)
Michael C. Burgess (TX)
Jan Schakowsky (IL)
Marsha Blackburn (TN)*- Vice Chairman
Jim Matheson (UT)
Phil Gingrey (GA)
G. K. Butterfield (NC)
Steve Scalise (LA)
John Barrow (GA)
Bob Latta (OH)
Doris O. Matsui (CA)
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA)
Donna Christensen (VI)
Gregg Harper (MS)
Kathy Castor (FL)
Leonard Lance (NJ)
John Sarbanes (MD)
Bill Cassidy (LA)
Jerry McNerney (CA)
Brett Guthrie (KY)
Bruce Braley (IA)
Pete Olson (TX)
Peter Welch (VT)
David McKinley (WV)
Ben Ray Lujan (NM)
Cory Gardner (CO)
Paul Tonko (NY)
Mike Pompeo (KS)
John Yarmuth (KY)
Adam Kinzinger (IL)
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Morgan Griffith (VA)
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Gus Bilirakis (FL)
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Bill Johnson (OH)
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Billy Long (MO)
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Renee Ellmers (NC)
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[catbuds]

Thank you so much for this post! Please keep posting this kind of info whenever you find it. Keeping us informed is just one of many ways to help win the fight to free our herb! THANKS AGAIN!

[Soulrebel239]

More great news for us people who live by the herb.

[Skip]

Excellent! The good news on cannabis just keeps on coming!

[mojave green]

would love to see this one make it!
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr4498

[paper thorn]

I'd like for someone to tell me just how making MJ schedule II would help.

Meth is schedule II. Most of the stuff behind the counter at a pharmacy is schedule II. Some evil people are using our 'movement' to pull the rug out from underneath us.

[one.sixoneeight]

Originally Posted by paper thorn

I'd like for someone to tell me just how making MJ schedule II would help.

Meth is schedule II. Most of the stuff behind the counter at a pharmacy is schedule II. Some evil people are using our 'movement' to pull the rug out from underneath us.

Because the law says schedule I drugs have NO medicinal value. Meaning nobody is allowed to possess them. Some of the Drugs on Schedule II may seem bad, but they have a clinical use at the least.
Very little in a US pharmacy is sched.II, perhaps 5% of the total of all the drugs in a pharmacy behind the counter. Hospital pharmacy will have more of those types.

[mojave green]

would also make it so employers couldn't fire u for positive pee test.

[bigAl25]

Let's see if this Republican controlled congress can pass this law, much less any law that requires compromise and votes from both sides of the aisle.

[Jhhnn]

Originally Posted by paper thorn

I'd like for someone to tell me just how making MJ schedule II would help.

Meth is schedule II. Most of the stuff behind the counter at a pharmacy is schedule II. Some evil people are using our 'movement' to pull the rug out from underneath us.

Yep. rescheduling cannabis to schedule 2 is prohibitionists' fallback position. It rules out recreational cannabis & attempts to split the community, only allowing a few to pass through the portal of legality. We need to move past that, not allow them to fortify that new position at all.

Cannabis needs to be rescheduled as OTC or redefined entirely as with alcohol & tobacco. States & Munis can deal with it after that.