STATES Act

The Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States Act was a bill proposed in the 115th United States Congress that would recognize legalization of cannabis and the U.S. state laws that have legalized it through their legislatures or citizen initiative.
It was introduced on June 7, 2018, by Senators Cory Gardner and Elizabeth Warren. A companion bill was introduced the same day in the House of Representatives, sponsored by Earl Blumenauer and David Joyce.
The act would amend the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 to exempt from federal enforcement individuals or corporations in states who are in compliance with U.S. state, U.S. territory and the District of Columbia, or tribal law on cannabis, with certain additional provisions such as minimum ages. The banking provisions of the STATES Act have been reintroduced as the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act of 2019 in the 116th U.S. Congress by Ed Perlmutter in the House, and by Jeff Merkley in the Senate.
, the House bill had 206 cosponsors, and the Senate bill had 33 cosponsors.

History

According to Voice of America, "The impetus for the legislation was a decision by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in January to rescind Obama-era Justice Department guidelines that encouraged prosecutors to adopt a hands-off approach to marijuana law enforcement in states where the substance was legal", referring to the Cole Memorandum provisions rescinded on January 4, 2018.
On April 25, 2018, Senators Cory Gardner and Elizabeth Warren announced that they would introduce a bipartisan bill to prevent Federal interference with states that had legalized marijuana. The announcement came a few days after Senator Gardner spoke with President Trump and announced that he had received assurances that the President would support such legislation. As of late April, the details of the bill were unannounced but analysts said it "would not legalize cannabis nationally, but would allow each state the options of legalizing recreational or medical cannabis, or to continue to prohibit the plant entirely" and had announced the name of the bill.
On June 7, 2018, Warren introduced the bill in the U.S. Senate and Representative David Joyce introduced a companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Senate bill was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In December 2018, Gardner attempted to attach the bill as an amendment to the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform bill being debated in the Senate during the lame-duck session of the 115th U.S. Congress, but was blocked by a procedural maneuver from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Legislation tracker

The STATES Act was reintroduced in the 116th Congress on April 4, 2019, in both the House and the Senate.
The STATES Act was reintroduced in the 118th Congress on December 7, 2023 as H.R. 6673, also called STATES 2.0.
STATES 2.0 Act was reintroduced in the 119th Congress on April 17, 2025.

Cosponsors and support

Senate

House

State governors

Native American tribes

The Suquamish Tribe in Washington State, one of the first tribes with legal cannabis sales, indicated support for the bill.

Reactions

President Donald Trump said he "probably will end up supporting" the bill on June 8, 2018. The same day, twelve governors, from West Coast states that had legalized cannabis for adult use, plus Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota and Pennsylvania, sent a letter to Congress urging passage of the measure.
The Los Angeles Timess editorial board endorsed the proposal under a headline that said it was "kickstarting Congress' effort to legalize marijuana".
A spokesperson for the Marijuana Policy Project called the STATES Act "the most significant piece of marijuana-related legislation ever introduced in Congress."
Writing for Above the Law, a legal analysis website for attorneys, cannabis law specialist Hilary Bricken wrote that it was "for the first time ever, a real and legitimate bipartisan 'respect states' rights' effort" on "meaningful marijuana law reform at the Congressional level".
In testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee on April 10, 2019, then-Attorney General William Barr said he preferred the legislation over the "intolerable" status quo of conflicting state and federal laws.
According to NORML political director Justin Strekal, as of 2019 the STATES Act is looking basic and dated compared to newer legislation that goes beyond carving out exceptions to prohibition to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act entirely, take steps to repair prohibition's harms, forgive past criminal convictions, and build an equitable industry.