Draft US Bill Released to Legalise Cannabis at Federal Level

The first draft of a long-anticipated US senate bill to federally legalise marijuana has been released. While cannabis is legal for medical or adult-use in 36 US states and four territories, at federal level it is still classified as an illegal, Schedule I drug.

Among other provisions, the bill would de-schedule cannabis at federal level, while maintaining the right of individual states to set their own marijuana policies. Therefore, shipping marijuana into a state where the plant is prohibited would still be federally illegal. On the other hand, the bill would make it clear that states will not be able to stop businesses from transporting cannabis products across their borders to other states where the plant is permitted.

The bill would also impose a federal tax on marijuana products, and would transfer regulatory authority over cannabis from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).

While the FDA would be recognised as the primary federal regulatory authority with respect to the manufacture and marketing of cannabis products, the TTB would have jurisdiction over marijuana tax and trade practices. That includes cannabis tax revenue collection, tax law enforcement and tracking and tracing of marijuana products to prevent their illicit distribution. Under the legislation, the Treasury secretary would be required to establish the track and trace regime.

Considering that 15 states plus Washington DC already use a cannabis track and trace system, based on RFID labels provided by Metrc, it will be interesting to see how a federal system would work together with these existing state systems.

The draft bill is open for comment until 1 September, and interested parties are invited to send their input to Cannabis_ [email protected].