Medical Marijuana’s Big DC Push
May 27th, 2011
You're still going to need a doctor's note though.
In an effort to expand the legitimacy of medical marijuana dispensaries across the country, and to promote easier access for patients to the plant, three bills are set to be introduced to the House floor aimed at protecting dispensaries as well as providing them with stable financial footing.
The first of these bills, authored by Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colorado), entitled the Small Business Banking Improvement Act, calls for legal pot dispensaries to be allowed to seek bank loans and lines of credit, just like any other small business. According to Polis, the current system makes these stores “targets of crime” because they can only operate with cash due to the lack of available credit, and it is wrong of the federal government to intrude and prevent otherwise “legal transactions” between banks and small businesses.
The second of these bills to appear before the house is the Small Business Tax Equity Act, introduced by Rep. Pete Stark (D-California). This bill is aimed to help medical marijuana stores receive the same tax breaks afforded to other small businesses. If passed, this would further increase the legal legitimacy of stores that provide marijuana for legal reasons, and make it easier for the plant to be available to patients who need it.
The last of the bills, called the States’ Medical Marijuana Protection Act, is aimed at protecting such stores from federal prosecution if the store is operating in a state that allows medical marijuana. As with the other two bills, this is being sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) and, as always, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). This would not only be a victory for the cause of medicinal marijuana, but also will be an important victory for state’s rights and a smaller central government, a cause that Paul has fought for his entire career.
If these get passed, the rebels in our movie may find that, while every other good becomes the victim of hyperinflation at the hands of a powerful Fed, they can at least get marijuana legally and affordably….well reasonably affordable.
