Cannabis Research Provisions Included in Senate-Approved Infrastructure Bill

Included in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed by the Senate on Tuesday are provisions that would allow researchers to study the actual cannabis being purchased at state-approved dispensaries instead of having to use the low-grade cannabis grown at government facilities, Marijuana Moment reports.

The bill included in the spending package also directs the secretary of transportation to work with the attorney general and Department of Health and Human Services to publish a report within two years on how to advance scientific research into cannabis impairment while driving, even if the researchers are in states where cannabis remains prohibited. That report must also advise lawmakers on how to set up “a national clearinghouse to collect and distribute samples and strains of marijuana for scientific research that includes marijuana and products containing marijuana lawfully available to patients or consumers in a state on a retail basis.”

The infrastructure bill still needs to be approved by the House where it could face hurdles in the form of progressive Democrats who have said they wouldn’t support the proposal until the Senate passes a separate $3.5 trillion bill that focuses on poverty, climate change, and health care policy, CNBC reports.

The cannabis language is included in a House-passed infrastructure measure, so it is likely, were the chambers to have to reconcile the two proposals, the cannabis provisions would remain in the final version.