Congressmen Push Cut To Pot Enforcement

Dept. of Justice would lose money to bust state-legal cannabis under Congressman's plan.

Finally, an issue Tea Partiers and medical cannabis supporters can agree on.

Less spending.

A group of congressmen from California and New York want to help reduce federal spending by cutting the amount of money spent on medical marijuana enforcement, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), Rep. Sam Farr (D-Carmel), and Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) want to stop funding the Department of Justice any dollars spent on interfering with state-legal medial marijuana. They introduced an amendment to the spending bill currently before Congress, which could vote to accept the amendment with a simple majority as early as Wednesday, according to SF Weekly.

It's unclear exactly how much national treasure is used on the drug war. Neither the Department of Justice's budget, the spending bill in Congress which funds it, or the amendment to remove funding specifies.

The Department of Justice's total budget is $28.2 billion, and the United States Attorneys and DEA both spend about $2 billion a year each, according to SF Weekly.

In California, the four federal prosecutors for the state announced in October a coordinated crackdown on the medical marijuana industry. Since then, several hundred dispensaries claiming protection under state law have closed. In the Bay Area, well-known dispensaries in San Francisco, Berkeley, Marin County, and Santa Cruz have been shut down by Melinda Haag, the U.S. Attorney for Northern California.
 

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
Contact Us