By Medical Marijuana Protections Extended
The Senate Appropriations Committee is proposing to continue a rider in federal law that shields state medical marijuana programs from federal interference. The Fiscal Year 2027 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies spending bill was posted by the committee on Thursday.
The bill contains an updated version of the state medical cannabis protection provision that has been federal law since 2014. Section 531 states that none of the funds made available under the Act to the Department of Justice may be used to prevent listed states and territories from implementing their own laws authorizing the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.
It also applies to the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.
The Senate version does not include a new section the House Appropriations Committee proposed adding in May. That House language would stipulate that the Justice Department can still enforce a section of U.S. code calling for increased penalties for distributing cannabis within 1,000 feet of schools, playgrounds or public housing.
The Senate bill also keeps a separate longstanding rider protecting state hemp research programs from federal interference by the Department of Justice or the DEA.
Rescheduling Block Left Out
The Senate committee declined to align with the House on a new provision that would block federal officials from taking further steps to carry out cannabis rescheduling. No such language appears in the Senate version of the legislation.
The House rider would make it so no federal funds appropriated under the bill could be “used to reschedule marijuana…or to remove marijuana from the schedules” of the Controlled Substances Act.
The Trump administration has already moved state-licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. A Drug Enforcement Administration hearing is considering more broadly moving marijuana to Schedule III.
The committee report attached to the CJS bill directs the Department of Justice to submit a report to Congress, within 90 days of enactment, assessing the proliferation of “illegal marijuana growing operations associated with foreign nationals.”
That report shall be coordinated among the FBI, DEA and the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, and shall assess any connections to Chinese transnational criminal organizations or the government of the People’s Republic of China.
Agencies Face New Briefings
The report also directs DEA to brief Congress about kratom-related issues within 60 days of enactment. The committee noted that in 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services referred a byproduct of the kratom plant to DEA for possible scheduling.
A report attached to a separate Department of Homeland Security funding bill directs Customs and Border Protection to brief Congress on seizures of marijuana products from state-legal businesses within 120 days of enactment.
The issue has been the subject of litigation and criticism from New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D). The briefing must cover products possessed, sold or transferred by cannabis distributors in compliance with applicable state or Tribal law.
