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Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Feb 7, 2019
Responsibly Addressing the Marijuana Policy Gap Act of 2019
This bill removes federal restrictions on, and creates new protections for, marijuana-related conduct and activities that are authorized by state or tribal law (i.e., state-authorized).
Among other things, the bill does the following:
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
eliminates regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal penalties under the Controlled Substances Act for state-authorized marijuana-related activities;
allows businesses that sell marijuana in compliance with state or tribal law to claim certain federal tax credits and deductions;
eliminates restrictions on print and broadcast advertising of state-authorized marijuana-related activities;
creates protections for depository institutions that provide financial services to marijuana-related businesses;
specifies that a marijuana-related business is entitled to federal bankruptcy protections;
establishes a process to expunge criminal records related to certain marijuana-related convictions;
reestablishes federal student aid eligibility for certain students convicted of a misdemeanor offense for marijuana possession;
exempts real property from civil forfeiture due to state-authorized marijuana-related conduct;
prohibits the inadmissibility or deportability of aliens for state-authorized marijuana-related conduct;
specifies that drug-related criminal activity, which is prohibited in federally assisted housing, does not include state-authorized marijuana-related conduct;
establishes a new, separate registration process to facilitate medical marijuana research;
authorizes health care providers employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs to recommend participation in state marijuana programs; and
authorizes medical providers through an Indian health program to make medical recommendations regarding marijuana.
People & committees
Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR] · D–OR
Legislative record
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Dec 5, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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