House Passes Bill To Keep Blocking Washington, D.C. From Legalizing Marijuana Sales

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a spending bill that contains
a provision to continue blocking Washington, D.C. from legalizing
recreational marijuana sales while also warning local officials about
approving cannabis dispensaries near schools.

The appropriations legislation covering Financial Services and General
Government (FSGG) as well as National Security, Department of State, and
Related Programs Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2026, was approved on
the floor in a vote of 341-79 on Wednesday.

A report attached to the legislation also contains a section directing
federal officials to submit a report on Chinese-linked drug syndicates that
operate illicit cannabis grows.

The District has long been barred from allowing regulated adult-use
marijuana sales under a spending bill rider led by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD),
despite voters approving legalization of possession and personal
cultivation in 2014.

Leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees who negotiated
the legislation ahead of its release on Sunday evidently didn’t see reason
to shift away from that policy.

*Here’s the text of the D.C. sales rider:*

“SEC. 809. (a) None of the Federal funds contained in this Act may be used
to enact or carry out any law, rule, or regulation to legalize or otherwise
reduce penalties associated with the possession, use, or distribution of
any schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801
et seq.) or any tetrahydrocannabinols derivative.

(b) No funds available for obligation or expenditure by the District of
Columbia government under any authority may be used to enact any law, rule,
or regulation to legalize or otherwise reduce penalties associated with the
possession, use, or distribution of any schedule I substance under the
Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.) or any
tetrahydrocannabinols derivative for recreational purposes.”

The language may ultimately be rendered moot, however, if the Trump
administration moves forward with an order from the president to
expeditiously reclassify cannabis as a Schedule III substance under the
Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

In a report published in 2024, the Congressional Research Service (CRS)
said that while federal cannabis prohibition would still be the law of the
land even if it’s rescheduled, the reform “would permit the District
government, as a matter of local law, to authorize the commercial sale of
recreational marijuana, establish market regulations, and levy marijuana
taxes, among other policy options.”

There is a complication, however, because the congressional rider also
stipulates that the District of Columbia can’t use funds to legalize or
reduce penalties for “any tetrahydrocannabinols derivative.” But that term
isn’t clearly defined in the rider or anywhere else in federal law.

Meanwhile, the FSGG report attached to the new spending bill also reminds
D.C. officials that cannabis remains federally prohibited, and there are
enhanced penalties for manufacturing or distributing marijuana within 1,000
feet of various public and private entities like schools and playgrounds.

*Here’s that D.C.-specific language:*

“Marijuana Dispensary Proximity to Schools.-The agreement reminds the
District of Columbia that the distribution, manufacturing, and sale of
marijuana remains illegal under Federal law, which includes enhanced
penalties for such distribution within one thousand feet of a public or
private elementary, vocational, or secondary school or public or private
college, junior college, or university, or a playground, among other real
property where children frequent.”

Another section of the report for the National Security and State bill
concerns illegal drug syndicates based out of the People’s Republic of
China (PRC).

*Here’s what that section says:*

“PRC-linked Criminal Drug Syndicates.-Not later than 45 days after the date
of enactment of the Act, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the
heads of other relevant Federal agencies, shall submit a report to the
appropriate congressional committees regarding PRC-linked criminal
syndicates or nationals who may be directly or indirectly involved in
illegal drug and money laundering operations in the United States,
including in Maine, California, and Oregon. The information should include,
as relevant, information on the involvement of officials of the Government
of the PRC and PRC-linked syndicates operating in Southeast Asia.”

While the provision doesn’t mention marijuana specifically, it seems
intended to target illicit Chinese cannabis operators, which were also the
focus of a House subcommittee hearing last September. Much of the talk
about the issue has centered around Maine, California and Oregon, as
referenced in the report section.

The appropriations deal was unveiled just days after the House passed a
separate spending package that would continue protecting state medical
marijuana programs from federal intervention—while excluding a provision
that previously advanced to block the Justice Department from rescheduling
cannabis. That proposal now heads to the Senate for consideration.


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GOP senators have separately tried to block the administration from
rescheduling cannabis as part of a standalone bill filed in 2023, but that
proposal did not receive a hearing or vote.

Meanwhile, last week, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said the
marijuana rescheduling appeal process “remains pending” despite President
Donald Trump’s recent executive order directing the attorney general to
finalize the process of moving cannabis to Schedule III.

Advocates may welcome the exclusion of the rescheduling provision and
inclusion of medical marijuana protections in the CJS bill, but many
cannabis stakeholders have protested Trump’s signing of a separate
appropriations measure in November that includes provisions to ban most
consumable hemp products.

The post House Passes Bill To Keep Blocking Washington, D.C. From
Legalizing Marijuana Sales appeared first on Marijuana Moment.