US Senator Elizabeth Warren on Thursday unveiled legislation that would allow states to set their own marijuana policies without the threat of federal interference.
Cosponsored by Republican Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado, the Senate bill and companion legislation introduced in the House would amend the Controlled Substances Act to exempt from prosecution anyone acting in compliance with state laws that legalize cannabis use.
“There’s not enough support in the US Congress to repeal the ban on marijuana outright, but this gets the job done for Massachusetts and for other states that have legalized marijuana,’’ Warren said in an interview. “This isn’t some compromise where we stop here forever. This just lets states that want to move forward, to move forward.’’
The measure would also allow banks to work more freely with marijuana-related businesses. The reluctance of financial companies to serve the marijuana industry for fear of federal prosecution has made it difficult for cannabis companies to raise money and has prompted security concerns about businesses that are forced to deal in large quantities of cash.
The bill would set the legal age for marijuana purchases at 21, except for medical purposes, and put in place other public safety “guardrails,’’ such as banning sales at truck stops and other transportation facilities. It would also legalize industrial hemp, which is used in clothing, building materials, and other products.
The bill is the indirect result of the decision by US Attorney General Jeff Sessions in January to rescind Obama-era guidance that had protected most state-legal marijuana activity from federal prosecution. In response, Gardner had blocked Senate confirmation of the Trump administration’s Justice Department nominees until Trump in April promised he would support legislation to allow states to proceed with marijuana legalization.
No major enforcement actions against state-regulated marijuana companies have followed Sessions’ policy change, but it highlighted the awkward coexistence of contradictory state and federal laws and gave investors in the industry pause.
At a news conference, Gardner said he spoke to Trump on Thursday and the president reiterated his support for the compromise. According to Gardner, Trump said: “We can’t go backwards. We can only go forwards.’’
Warren’s position on marijuana has evolved in recent years. She opposed legalization during her campaign in 2012 but then said she was “open’’ to it in advance of the 2016 vote by which Massachusetts voters approved the policy.
She now says the drug should be legal nationwide and suggested Democrats consider adding such a policy to the party’s platform.
Warren also said the newly legal industry should be based on contemporary ideals and praised the social and racial justice programs adopted by the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission.
“I’m hopeful this will be an industry that looks more like America in 2018,’’ Warren said. “It’s starting at a time when more women, more people of color, and more young people are ready to try starting their own businesses. It doesn’t have all the inherited problems of industries that have been around 200 or 300 years.’’
Dan Adams can be reached at dadams@globe.com.
