Another day and another notable figure announces themselves as a new combatant in the cannabis industry’s fight against Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Today it’s Whoopi Goldberg who recently asked her fellow citizens to squash Sessions’ efforts to end the country’s medical marijuana programs.
“I’m writing to you with an urgent request: that you join me in telling Congress to protect lawful medical marijuana patients and programs from Attorney General Jeff Sessions,” Goldberg wrote in a NORML blog post.
U.S. Representative Dana Rohrabacher introduced protect states’ right to maintain medical marijuana programs. The proposal, called “Respect State Marijuana Laws Act of 2017,” would create a wall between the state and federal levels and would provide immunity for businesses operating according to state laws.
Goldberg explained that since 2014 that spending bills have “included a provision protecting those who engage in the state-sanctioned use and dispensing of medical cannabis from undue prosecution by the Department of Justice.”
“The amendment, known as Rohrabacher-Blumenauer, maintains that federal funds cannot be used to prevent states from ‘implementing their own state laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana,’ ” Goldberg continued.
Goldberg of course founded the cannabis line Whoopi & Maya, aimed specifically at women’s needs in the marijuana industry. As she explained in the post, “I started my company Whoopi and Maya so that women suffering from debilitating menstrual pain could find relief from a safe, natural product rather than turning to potentially addictive and dangerous pharmaceutical drugs.”
If interested, learn more about the amendment here and you can write a letter to Congress here.