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'We Have to Raise Our Voices' to Legalize Medical Weed, Senator Says

“Across the country, lawmakers are catching up with science and finally recognizing the medical benefits of cannabis,” the senator said.
Gillibrand at today's summit. Image: AP

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand wants to live in a country where parents don't have to choose between potentially life-saving benefits of medical marijuana for their children and federal prosecution, she said on Monday.

In her keynote at the Cannabis Business Summit, the politician told tales of constituents who were forced to navigate the patchwork of federal and state medical marijuana laws as she advocated for the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States Act (CARERS Act), a bill aiming to decriminalize medical marijuana at a federal level.

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"It's a really exciting time, not just for your industry, but for our state and our country," the California Democrat said. "Across the country, lawmakers are catching up with science, and finally recognizing the medical benefits of cannabis."

Central to the bill, introduced by Gillibrand, Rand Paul (R-KY), and Cory Booker (D-NJ), is rescheduling marijuana as a Schedule II drug, the same category as prescription drugs like adderall, methadone, oxycodone, Percocet, and morphine, and giving it the classification of "accepted medical use."

The drug is currently classified as a Schedule I drug, the same category as LSD, heroin, ecstasy, and hallucinogenic mushrooms. Gillibrand said this classification creates major obstacles to research and safe medical use.

"There's a grave lack of any marijuana research," she said. "This is a direct result of federal requirements that only govern the study of marijuana. No other drug, Schedule I or otherwise, has been subjected to the same constraints."

She said the bill would eliminate fear of federal prosecution for patients and businesses in states with legal medical marijuana for the first time. It would also lift the financial restrictions preventing marijuana businesses from using banks and leaving many running dangerous cash-only operations.

It is unclear if and when this bill will come to a vote, but Gillibrand called on attendees to demand action from Washington.

"We have a lot of work to be done to pass this law, and I will need every person's help in this room," she said. "We have to raise our voices, and tell our elected leaders and ask they support this bill."