[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 84 (Wednesday, June 22, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1312]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SCIENCE, STATE, JUSTICE, COMMERCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS 
                               ACT, 2006

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 15, 2005

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2862) making 
     appropriations for Science, the Departments of State, 
     Justice, and Commerce, and related agencies for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 2006, and for other purposes:

  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Hinchey Amendment 
which will ban the U.S. Justice Department from spending taxpayer money 
to arrest or prosecute medical marijuana patients in the ten states 
where medical marijuana is legal: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, 
Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.
  In 1996, my home-state of California passed Proposition 215, the 
Compassionate Use Act, which gave seriously ill Californians the right 
to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes. The medical use of 
the drug must be deemed appropriate and prescribed by a physician.
  Since then, the U.S. Justice Department has initiated actions against 
individuals who are following State law and making marijuana available 
to individuals with a physician's prescription. Federal law enforcement 
officials should not be deployed to override State law in this regard.
  Although the Supreme Court recently ruled that Federal drug law 
supercedes State medical marijuana statutes, there is no reason to 
imprison patients who are seeking relief from chronic pain or the 
doctors trying to help them.
  The use of prescriptive medical marijuana is supported by the 
National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, the American 
Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Public Health 
Association. This is a matter of medicine not self indulgence. The use 
of marijuana for medical treatment should not be criminalized.
  I urge all my colleagues to support this Amendment.

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