File photo of marijuana plants on display for sale at the medical marijuana farmers market at the California Heritage Market in Los Angeles, California, on July 11, 2014. (David McNew/Reuters)
It's a good first step.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/medical-marijuana-bill-gains-momentum-in-senate/
A push to legalize medical marijuana at the federal level is gaining momentum in the Senate, drawing a growing roster of co-sponsors from both parties just over a week after it was unveiled.
Though 23 states have legalized medical marijuana, the federal government classifies pot as a Schedule I narcotic, recognizing no appropriate medical uses for the drug. The Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect States (CARERS) Act, introduced last Tuesday by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, and Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, would reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug, providing dispensaries in states that permit medical marijuana with access to the banking system and potentially fueling greater medical research of the drug.
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nevada, signed onto the proposal last week, declaring in astatement, "The time has come for the federal government to stop impeding the doctor-patient relationship in states that have decided their own medical marijuana policies."
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