DeGette Once Again To Try To Declassify Marijuana At Federal Level

DENVER (CBS4) - It's another step trying to protect Colorado's legal cannabis industry as Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colorado, plans to reintroduce legislation to change the way the federal government manages marijuana.

"It's a state's rights issue," said DeGette.

The bill would amend the Controlled Substances Act allowing states that have legalized marijuana to be safe from federal regulation.

"As business owners, those of us in the cannabis industry in Colorado need certainty and with the overhanging threat of the fact that marijuana is illegal at the federal level," said Meg Collins, the Vice President of Good Chemistry Dispensary. It creates a level of uncertainty."

"We're living in a reality here where federal law is so dramatically out of touch with the reality on the ground," said Michael Elliott with the Marijuana Industry Group. "We here in Colorado can't change federal law on banking or the federal law on federal taxes."

"At a state level people can regulate it, banks can offer bank accounts, we can do research, we'll be safe from federal interference," DeGette said.

The congresswoman introduced H.R. 964 three years ago but the bill never moved after being introduced. The same language is being introduced later this week in a new bill. She said she hopes public sentiment has changed enough for other members of Congress to finally address this issue, but knows the presidential election may be a hard time to get legislation passed.

"We call the presidential election 'silly season' in Congress, so we don't know what that will mean for any legislation," DeGette said. "But as I say, any number of states, and not just blue Democratic states, but red states, are really looking to legalize marijuana for medicinal or other purposes."

Jeff Todd joined the CBS4 team in 2011 covering the Western Slope in the Mountain Newsroom. Since 2015 he's been working across the Front Range in the Denver Headquarters. Follow him on Twitter @CBS4Jeff.