Oregon’s Democrats in Congress want to send a message to the U.S. Postal Service: If a state legalizes marijuana, it’s OK for publications with ads for pot businesses to go through the mail.
Reps. Earl Blumenauer of Portland and Suzanne Bonamici of Beaverton and Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, all Democrats who are strong supporters in Congress of states’ rights to legalize cannabis, on Thursday introduced legislation that would carve out an exception to the Controlled Substances Act to allow the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mailers with pot ads.
That may be welcome news at newspapers and companies hoping to do direct mailers for marijuana companies doing business in states that have legalized the plant for adult users.
“Federal agencies must respect the decisions made by law-abiding Oregonians and small business owners in the state,” Wyden said in a statement.
The legislation comes weeks after a postmaster told a newspaper publisher the paper couldn’t use the postal service for delivery if marijuana companies ran ads in the paper. The postal service later clarified that its policy stood for postal carriers throughout the country.
“This USPS policy is outdated and ignores reforms happening in Oregon and across the country,” Blumenauer said in a statement. “The federal government must stay out of the way of these state legalization efforts.”
It’s not clear whether the bill has a chance at passing the Republican-controlled Congress.
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