12-11-2014, 05:02 PM
In an unprecedented move Thursday night, the House of Representatives voted to pass a bill that prevents the Drug Enforcement Administration from raiding state-legal medical marijuana dispensaries.
Just after midnight, the vote won with 219 ayes, including an unexpected 49 Republicans and 170 Democrats. It’s the first time Congress has approved a major marijuana law reform, which shows the changing tide of marijuana policy in the United States—and suggests a new day is rising in the war on drugs. A similar measure failed in Congress six previous times, receiving the most votes (165) in 2007. But with data showing three out of four Americans now approve of medical marijuana, the issue gained momentum in the months leading up to the vote.
Medical marijuana advocates across the nation celebrated the landmark decision. “This is a huge development,” Mason Tvert Director of Communications Marijuana Policy Project, told The Daily Beast hours later. “This is a major sign that things are moving full-speed in the right direction at the federal level, as well as the state level.”
http://lee.house.gov/newsroom/in-the-new...by-the-dea
Just after midnight, the vote won with 219 ayes, including an unexpected 49 Republicans and 170 Democrats. It’s the first time Congress has approved a major marijuana law reform, which shows the changing tide of marijuana policy in the United States—and suggests a new day is rising in the war on drugs. A similar measure failed in Congress six previous times, receiving the most votes (165) in 2007. But with data showing three out of four Americans now approve of medical marijuana, the issue gained momentum in the months leading up to the vote.
Medical marijuana advocates across the nation celebrated the landmark decision. “This is a huge development,” Mason Tvert Director of Communications Marijuana Policy Project, told The Daily Beast hours later. “This is a major sign that things are moving full-speed in the right direction at the federal level, as well as the state level.”
http://lee.house.gov/newsroom/in-the-new...by-the-dea