Bipartisan legislation titled the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act has gained its sixth sponsor.
The STATES Act was filed State Representative Dave Joyce (R) earlier this month, with Representatives Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R), Brian Mast (R), Troy Carter (D) and Earl Blumenauer (D) serving as cosponsors. On Friday, Representative Luis Correa (D-CA) joined the list, giving the measure six total sponsors at the time of publication.
The STATES Act would explicitly allow states to legalize marijuana without fear of federal persecution, while protecting those that already have. It would entirely prevent the federal government from enforcing federal drug laws in states where they’ve been legalized.
The legislation would accomplish this by amending the Federal Controlled Substances Act so that those acting in compliance with state drug laws laws would no longer be committing a federal crime. This includes both marijuana consumers and those operating state-legal marijuana businesses.
The measure would also explicitly allow marijuana commerce between legal marijuana states and tribes, and it would amend an IRS law (section 280E) that prohibits businesses from taking tax deductions if they run a federally illegal business, even if the business is properly following their state’s laws.
In addition, the STATES Act would direct the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study on the impacts of marijuana legalization on traffic safety.
In October Representative Nancy Mace (R) filed a somewhat similar measure, the States Reform Act, which would “Federally decriminalizes cannabis and fully defers to state powers over prohibition and commercial regulation.”
