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Feds barred from spending money on medical marijuana fight

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President Donald Trump’s administration will not spend any federal dollars fighting medical marijuana in the current fiscal year.

The $1.1 trillion appropriations plan adopted in May to keep the federal government running includes language that will prevent the government from spending money during the 2017 fiscal year to fight medical marijuana, which is still considered illegal by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, but is now legal in 29 states.

Cannabis remains classified as a Schedule I drug alongside cocaine and heroin, a category the federal government classifies as drugs having no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.

Workers compensation experts have been closely watching how the new administration would act given Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ negative stance on a substance that is illegal under federal law despite voters in many states overwhelmingly approving marijuana use for medicinal purposes.

According to a May 5 statement from the White House, a section of the bill “provides that the Department of Justice may not use any funds to prevent implementation of medical marijuana laws by various states and territories.”

 

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