A key House committee has blocked amendments to legalize marijuana and carry out a federal study into “the prevalence of fentanyl-tainted” cannabis from receiving floor votes. The proposals were both filed by Republican lawmakers who sought to attach them to a broader bill to ramp up criminalization of the opioid that also contains provisions to generally streamline research into Schedule I drugs.
Ahead of Monday’s House Rules Committee hearing on the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of (HALT) Fentanyl Act, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) proposed an amendment seeking to federally deschedule marijuana.
A separate proposal from Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) would have required the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to carry out a study into cannabis tainted with fentanyl—an issue that many advocates say has received outsized media attention following a number of law enforcement claims that later turned out to be dubious following testing.
Neither amendment was made in order by the committee, meaning they will not receive floor consideration. The panel also rejected a proposed amendment from Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) to prohibit federal funds from going to public or private entities that operate safe drug consumption facilities.
In the end, the Rules Committee only advanced three of 88 proposed amendments
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