Four House members are making history, becoming the first federal lawmakers willing to come across as unequivocally supporting liberalizing the nation’s drug laws.
Two Republicans and two Democrats launched the Congressional Cannabis Caucus on Thursday, noting that 95 percent of Americans live where marijuana is legal to some degree. That statistic shows that the federal government is out of step with voters, say Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., Jared Polis, D-Colo., Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., and Don Young, R-Alaska.
“The prohibition of cannabis has been a failure and Americans … are demanding a more sensible approach,” Blumenauer said.
The caucus, which the foursome invited all House members to join in a “dear colleague” letter circulated Thursday, will serve as a forum through which members can “discuss, learn and work together to establish a better and more rational approach to federal cannabis policy.”
“I think you will be surprised by the number of folks who will join up in the weeks ahead,” Blumenauer said, predicting a rapid expansion of the caucus.
“I’m excited about the caucus we’ll see what happens, I think we can make a lot of progress” this Congress, Young said.
“The formation of this caucus is a testament to how far our country has come on the issue of cannabis policy,” the nation’s major pro-marijuana groups stated.
The lawmakers want to adjust the banking laws that force legal marijuana growers and sellers to deal only in cash, ensure that federal laws don’t block cannabis research, make the products available to veterans and otherwise ensure that federal laws don’t prevent state and local cannabis laws from being fully realized. They support making federal agencies comply with state and local laws. And they want the Drug Enforcement Agency and Health and Human Services Department to classify cannabis lower on the controlled-substance list.
“The states need friends in Congress and the Cannabis Caucus is here to help,” Rohrabacher said.
States need to be able to proceed “free from federal bullying and federal interference,” Polis said.
Alaska, California, Colorado and Oregon all have legalized marijuana to some degree.
The lawmakers stressed that the issue boils to a matter of states’ rights and that anyone who claims to support allowing states to chart their own courses but opposes their efforts are hypocrites.
‘This is a states’ rights issue,” Young said. “We can’t be a conservative and say we can pick and choose. You have to be either for states’ rights or against states’ rights.”
Rohrabacher said House Republicans will pass a lot of legislation this Congress delegating more decisions to the states.
“Well I’m sorry; you can’t make that argument over here and then just ignore the fact that it’s applicable to this other area of decision making,” Young said. “So I think we are going to find that Republicans are being held” accountable to “their own values and principles.”
They called on President Trump to stand by his campaign promise to let states decide about medicinal and recreational marijuana and not veto their bills. And they implored Attorney General Jeff Sessions to accede to Trump’s position and not use his authority to block any state or municipality.
Blumenauer noted that legalizing marijuana is more popular than Trump.
Marijuana got “more votes than Donald Trump” in states that passed pro-cannabis laws in November, he said. “And millions of Trump voters voted for changing marijuana laws.”
Rohrabacher admitted using a cannabis candle to help alleviate his pain after shoulder surgery.
