Paul Ryan Is Leading House Republicans Backwards On Medical Marijuana Legalization

Mexico is a country, a city and a state. Last month, the governor of the state of Mexico announced that his government had begun purchasing a new product, Real Scientific Hemp Oil-X (RSHO-X)-- better known as CBD oil-- to help treat medical patients. The parent company, Medical Marijuana, Inc., provides products to patients suffering from a wide range of diseases including epilepsy, Alzheimer's, autism, psoriasis, migraine, pain, diabetes, cancer, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Parkinson’s and Fibromyalgia.

Meanwhile, here in the U.S., Republican throwbacks led by Jeff Sessions and Mike Pence are targeting the legal marijuana industry and House Republicans are starting to fall into line behind them. Wednesday there were definitive reports out of Congress that Ryan and McCarthy have decided to not allow the House "to vote on an amendment that bars the Justice Department from pursuing states that have legalized medical marijuana. Without legislation, states would lose protection they have enjoyed for the past four years, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions could begin his long-sought crackdown on the rapid expansion of legalized pot." 

At a Wednesday morning closed-door briefing of House Republicans, California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R) implored his GOP colleagues to press House leaders to allow a vote on his amendment.

Fellow Californian Rep. Duncan Hunter told The Hill that after Rohrabacher “talked about it this morning in conference,” GOP leaders said “it splits the conference too much so we’re not going to have a vote on it.”

Rohrabacher had pled with his colleagues in a Tuesday night floor speech to allow the vote.

“The status quo for four years has been the federal government will not interfere because the Department of Justice is not permitted to use its resources to supercede a state that has legalized the medical use of marijuana,” Rohrabacher said.

He said that without his amendment, “we’re changing the status quo in a way that undermines the rights of the states and the people... to make their policy.”

Rohrabacher’s amendment, co-sponsored with Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer (Ore.), was included in the previous four Commerce-Justice-Science funding measures, when President Obama was in the White House. It was also included in an omnibus funding bill signed by President Trump earlier this year that expires at the end of the month.

Ted Lieu, who has been a champion of legalized medical marijuana in California for many years, might not agree with Rohrabacher on much, but they see eye to eye on this issue. "The Justice Department," he told us this morning, "should not be spending precious federal tax dollars going to war with states that have some variation of legalized marijuana. I encourage my Republican colleagues to recall their oft-repeated mantra of 'states rights,' and leave us the heck alone. States like California should be able to regulate the use of controlled substances without interference from Jeff Sessions and company."

The House Rules Committee followed Ryan's direction and refused to allow Rohrabacher's amendment to come to a vote, "a significant blow to medical marijuana advocates, patients, and cannabis companies around the nation. The Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment (a spending bill amendment that prevents the Department of Justice from using its budget to arrest or prosecute people acting in accordance with state medical marijuana laws), and a number of other proposals, including one to protect banks serving legal cannabis businesses, were rejected by the committee in a Wednesday session that stretched into the night. The actions mean the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment, a version of which has protected MMJ patients since 2014, will not proceed as part of the spending package to a vote by the full House. Previous versions of the same medical marijuana protections have passed with wide margins in the House; the current version of the amendment is scheduled to expire at the end of September."

David Gill is an emergency room doctor running for Congress in central Illinois. Gill has been endorsed by Blue America and you can support his campaign by clicking on the thermometer on the right. "Once again, the Trump administration is moving in exactly the wrong direction," he told us. "As a physician board-certified in both family practice and emergency medicine, I've been pleased to see the progress this country has made over the past several years in the liberalization of its marijuana laws. In fact, as is stated on my website, I believe that it's long past time that the federal government legalize marijuana for recreational use nationwide: 'The war on drugs has failed to decrease drug use and cost taxpayers billions of dollars. Current policy also disproportionately impacts communities of color. It is finally time to legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana. Legalization of marijuana has proven to successfully stimulate the economy in Colorado. This policy will generate billions of dollars in tax revenue and reduce the huge financial burden posed by incarcerating non-violent offenders.' I've long been amazed by the hypocrisy of our laws regarding chemical substances. Working in the E.R., I bear witness to incredible levels of havoc wreaked upon people's lives by legal alcohol, but it's a rare day that we see any crises related to marijuana use. Jeff Sessions and the President Trump appear to be stunningly mean-spirited or ignorant or both."

El Paso-based Congressman Beto O'Rourke is running for the Texas U.S. Senate seat currently held by Ted Cruz. He's long supported decriminalization of marijuana and this morning he reiterated to us that "We need to end the federal prohibition of marijuana once and for all." BOOM! Simple and clear and understandable by every voter in Texas. House Science Committee chairman Lamar Smith is the opposite of Beto; he defines the neanderthal wing of the GOP. But Rep. Backward has a very progressive opponent in Derrick Crowe next year. Derrick: "What the GOP is saying is they won't show leadership on either compassionate medical uses of marijuana specifically or criminal justice reform generally. Marijuana possession should be decriminalized, full stop. States that want to permit the use of medical marijuana should be able to do so. Sessions' obsession with prosecuting marijuana offenses is of a piece with his support for DACA repeal. It's part of a war on communities of color that sees dollar signs connected to incarceration, rather than devastated families and communities."

Paul Clements is a professor in Kalamazoo running for Congress against a corrupt and entrenched reactionary Republican, Fred Upton, in southwest Michigan. He told us that "Medical marijuana is proven to reduce pain and suffering from many forms of illness. The people of Michigan, like those many states, have chosen to make this relief available to our citizens. It is simple cruelty if Republicans take it away. This threat is one more reason the people need to restore a Democratic majority in Congress next year." Again-- clear, straight-forward and simple-- just what voters are asking for from candidates for elected office.

Dan Canon is a nationally prominent civil rights attorney running for Congress from the one seat Democrats have a shot at taking back in Indiana (IN-09). His perspective is similar to how almost all progressives view Sessions' deranged attack on the legal marijuana industry. "Because of Sessions' insane vendetta against cannabis users, this Justice Department is targeting patients who legitimately suffer without access to safe, natural, affordable, nonaddictive medication. The enforcement of outdated and racist drug laws against those patients is not only cruel, but entirely irrational. Legal medical cannabis creates jobs, creates revenue, eliminates a black market, and substantially decreases opioid use. Decriminalizing marijuana altogether is the clear path forward-- there is literally no good reason why it shouldn't be legal. However, both Trump and Sessions have been very clear that they want America to go further and further backward, and this Congress is willing to let them lead us there."

The other nationally prominent civil rights attorney Blue America has endorsed for Congress is James Thompson in the Wichita-based Kansas district. He stands were most Kansans do on this. "Medical marijuana has existed in this country for over 20 years and is now legal in 29 states. It's long past time that the United States' drug enforcement laws catch up with medical science and common sense criminal justice policy. If House Republicans refuse to legislate based on long-standing and widely recognized scientific fact, they should prepare themselves for an electoral tidal wave in 2018. If they won't stand up and stop Attorney General Sessions' half-baked obsession with antiquated drug enforcement policies, they should get ready to hear from the American people. According to a Gallup poll released in April 2017, 61 percent of Americans favor the legalization of recreational marijuana. And 88 percent support the legalization of medical marijuana. The American people have spoken. It's time that their government started listening."