The US House of Representatives passed a funding bill on June 3 which restricted the federal government from intervening in state medical marijuana laws, but narrowly rejected an amendment which would restrict it from also intervening in state recreational marijuana laws.
"We wanted to make sure that we got the amendment passed to provide some legal protection in place in case the next administration feels differently," Dan Riffle of the Marijuana Policy Project told Sputnik Radio's BradCast.
The current funding bill prevents the US Department of Justice from using federal funds to prosecute medical marijuana use in states. The bill has to be passed every year to prolong the policy.
"Marijuana would still be illegal even if we were to pass an amendment like that, which means that banks would still have a problem providing services and checking accounts to the marijuana industry," Rittle told the BradCast.
The Marijuana Policy Project sees the votes as a tally of potential supporters of future marijuana legalization bills.
