The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider FY2027 Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) spending legislation on Tuesday, with an accompanying report directing federal agencies to evaluate state marijuana frameworks and assess diversion prevention methods.
The draft report acknowledges that more than 20 states and territories permit adult-use cannabis and more than 35 allow medical use. It directs the Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), coordinating with other agencies with relevant expertise, to assess the adequacy of state marijuana regulatory frameworks—including commonalities and novel enforcement approaches—and to recommend ways to improve federal-state data sharing. The Department must brief the committee on findings within one year of enactment.
A new provision in this year's report urges DOJ, working with TTB and other agencies, to coordinate an assessment of "the most effective methods of preventing diversion of state legal cannabis product into jurisdictions that do not permit the use of cannabis."
Similar adequacy-assessment language has appeared in prior FSGG and Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) appropriations reports, though it is unclear whether TTB has ever submitted a resulting marijuana policy report to lawmakers. The directive also echoes a standalone bill from House FSGG Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Dave Joyce (R-OH), co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, which would direct the attorney general to establish a commission charged with recommending a federal cannabis regulatory framework.
The underlying FSGG bill also carries a longstanding rider—championed by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD)—blocking Washington, D.C. from legalizing and regulating recreational marijuana sales. The provision bars federal and D.C. government funds from being used to reduce penalties for Schedule I substances or tetrahydrocannabinols derivatives for recreational purposes. D.C. officials have partially navigated the restriction by expanding the city's medical marijuana program. The White House last year characterized D.C.'s local marijuana reform as a "failed" policy that "opened the door to disorder," and President Trump's budget request released earlier this month proposed maintaining the Harris rider.
Separately, bipartisan lawmakers have introduced legislation to delay or reverse a broad federal recriminalization of hemp THC products set to take effect in November. Trump directed the Justice Department in December to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act "in the most expeditious manner," but that rescheduling has not yet occurred.
