The bill, sponsored by Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), would deal a sharp blow to the U.S. government’s longstanding war on marijuana by banning the Drug Enforcement Administration from cracking down on patients, growers, doctors and dispensaries in states that have legalized medical cannabis. It would give military veterans in states with medical marijuana laws easier access to the drug by allowing Veterans Affairs doctors to recommend medical cannabis.
The legislation also would reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug, which has no benefit, to a Schedule II drug, which has an accepted medical use. Rescheduling marijuana would, in effect, be the federal government’s first acknowledgement that the drug has medical benefits. Read more