[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 70 (Friday, May 9, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H4053-H4055]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           MEDICAL MARIJUANA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hudson). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 3, 2013, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Rohrabacher) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss an issue that 
currently affects more than half the States in our Nation, and that is 
the inconsistency between Federal and State laws pertaining medical 
marijuana. Yes, Mr. Speaker, a majority of our Nation's States--
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, 
Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, 
Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, 
Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Washington, as well 
as the District of Columbia--all have some form of medical marijuana 
law on the books. Of course this means that these States allow their 
residents to engage in activities that are expressly prohibited by the 
Federal Government. To be exact, there are already 26 States that allow 
doctors to recommend the medical use of marijuana or its derivatives, 
and many more States are expected to take the step and do the same 
thing in the near future.
  Importantly, the States listed are not dominated by conservatives or 
liberals. This isn't a Republican or a Democrat issue. Massachusetts, 
Alaska, Mississippi, and Oregon are hardly the same, politically 
speaking, in their legislature. Politically speaking, they are not the 
same. But their legislators and their residents all have recognized the 
same reality, and that is the potential medical benefits of marijuana 
and marijuana's derivatives, and they believe that these derivatives 
and the benefits of marijuana should not be denied to their people.
  Unfortunately, however, the Federal Government continues to list 
marijuana and its derivatives as a schedule I substance, putting it in 
the same category as heroin, LSD, and other hard drugs.
  I have long supported rescheduling marijuana so that it can be 
researched, prescribed, and used by legitimate health care 
professionals. But multi-administrations, both Republican and Democrat 
alike, have refused to seriously talk about this topic. Instead, a 
heavy-handed, emotion-based policy continues.
  Evidence suggesting that the Federal Government ought to allow the 
use of marijuana for medical purposes has never had the serious 
discussion that it deserves. Many desperate patients have defied the 
Federal Government's blanket ban on the use of marijuana as a remedy 
for numerous ailments.
  The absurdity of this ban was brought home to me over a decade ago 
when my mother, depressed after undergoing surgery, lost her appetite 
and was requiring me to spoon-feed her. When I learned that medical 
marijuana might give her the appetite she needed and, yes, raise her 
spirits, the illegality of this herb was abundantly clear to me as I 
was there seeing my mother in the hospital bed, seeing how my mother 
had lost her appetite and seeing how her spirits were so low, knowing 
that perhaps marijuana, if the doctor had so ordered, would have been 
something that could have helped her and helped other people's mothers 
and children who were suffering the same situation.

                              {time}  1345

  The significance of changing--or at least altering--this prohibition 
could no longer be ignored by me when I was confronted by this over a 
decade ago. Since that time, the public's interest and support for 
medical marijuana has increased dramatically. As I mentioned, over half 
the States allow people with serious illnesses to use marijuana and/or 
its derivatives for medical purposes.
  Recent polls show that the vast majority of the American people 
support the medical efficacy and use of marijuana for medical purposes: 
77 percent according to Pew, 81 percent according to the ABC News poll, 
and a whopping 85 percent according to a FOX News poll last year. Just 
as interesting, 60 percent of the American people believe that the 
Federal Government should not prosecute people who are acting in 
accordance with State medical marijuana laws, and 72 percent think 
government efforts to enforce marijuana laws cost more than they are 
worth. Surprise, surprise, almost three-quarters of Americans believe 
that the cost of enforcing marijuana laws is far heavier than the 
benefits of having those laws enforced or having those laws on the 
books. All those numbers include majorities of both Republicans, 
Democrats, and, yes, it includes a majority of Independents, as well.
  What is the driving force behind this surge of support for a change 
in Federal policy? It is the realization by patients, researchers, and 
physicians that marijuana and its derivatives may offer enormous relief 
to numerous patients. For example, last year, the famous physician, 
Sanjay Gupta, released--who is a very prominent physician--released a 
documentary film in which he explored many of the benefits of medical 
marijuana. Like so many Americans, he is a relatively new convert to 
this position. I quote:

       We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 
     70 years in the United States, and I apologize for my own 
     role in that.

  This is what the doctor said in his documentary.
  His documentary explores a number of cases in which patients who have 
various environmental neurological disabilities were helped by 
marijuana. Anyone who watches this documentary will see the positive 
effect that marijuana and its derivatives can have on ailing patients. 
Dr. Gupta is not alone

[[Page H4054]]

in his belief that it may prove beneficial to some patients.
  The New England Journal of Medicine recently found that a majority of 
clinicians--a majority of the clinicians surveyed responded that they 
``would recommend the use of medicinal marijuana in certain 
situations.''
  We have all heard anecdotes of the ability of marijuana to improve 
patients' appetites, calm those with anxiety, and reduce the nausea for 
those who are extremely sick. Most recently, there has been an 
increased attention on the potential impacts of marijuana on patients 
who suffer from seizures, as well as those with PTSD.
  Some particularly conservative States in our country--Utah, Alabama, 
Kentucky, and Mississippi, for instance--have recently passed laws 
allowing patients to access medical marijuana products such as oils 
that are rich in what they call the Cannibis oil, which is CBD, which 
has been very helpful with so many patients who are looking for relief 
for children with seizure disorders. They have found that the CBD helps 
these children meet this challenge in the families that are suffering 
across the country watching their children go through this suffering 
with this type of seizures and disorders.
  These laws vary somewhat as to how patients are able to gain access 
to these products in various States, they differ, the laws differ, but 
they generally show that patients to be treated with this CBD-rich 
marijuana product, when administered by a physician and in the course 
of a State-approved medical study, have proved to be helpful to many 
people's health. Under current law, however, CBD, because it is derived 
from marijuana, is considered a Schedule I drug, and therefore it is 
prohibited to do the kind of research that is necessary to put that 
into the service for our people and to make sure that they have this 
available for their children and for other people who are suffering.
  We can't even do the fundamental research as long as the Federal 
Government continues to label it the same as heroin or the same as 
other types of drugs, cocaine and the rest.
  Well, we know from what I have said so far that there are numerous 
people in our country who understand that there are people who can 
benefit medically, and the people who understand this are not just 
civilians but medical professionals, as well as scientists.
  Also, of particular and growing interest are the benefits that 
marijuana has for those who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder, 
that is PTSD. This is one of the most commonly diagnosed disorders for 
our military veterans who are returning from overseas duty. Those 
suffering from PTSD often experience debilitating nightmares, 
depression, and anxiety; and, according to many of these patients, 
marijuana is the only thing that helps them alleviate these awful, 
awful symptoms.
  Yet, because of our decades-old policy of not allowing the legitimate 
use--or even research into the legitimate use--of the medical benefits 
of marijuana, many individuals that we are talking about, many of these 
veterans, feel they have no choice but to break the law. Our Nation's 
heroes who are trying to escape the hellish nightmares of the war that 
we sent them off to fight are forced into the compromising position of 
illegal activity just to receive some relief from the pain they are 
suffering.
  Parents who want to treat their children with nonpsychoactive 
extracts of the marijuana plant are forced to engage in activities 
that, if caught and convicted under Federal law, would make these 
parents who are just trying to help their children, it makes them 
felons--felons.
  I would submit that this scenario undermines every legal and moral 
institution that we want every citizen--we want every citizen--of the 
United States to respect. It puts our people in an impossible position. 
It requires them to choose between providing relief for a loved one or 
breaking the law. In many cases, that behavior is in compliance--we are 
talking about offering medical marijuana--it is in compliance with 
State law; but these people who need it, whose family may need it, 
whose veteran coming home from the war may need it, whose mother is in 
the hospital who has lost her appetite and is depressed may need it, 
well, even if it is in compliance with State law, what we have got now 
is they are still a violation of Federal law, so we end up condemning 
these people to a crisis in which their loved ones must either suffer 
or they must break the law. It is cruel nonsense to put our people 
through this.

  Patients and providers currently run the risk of having a Federal 
SWAT team-like police force raid their homes or their place of business 
because of the consumption of a plant which could be growing right in 
their backyard. The militarization of the police force in order to 
prevent Grandma from using a medical herb that will ease her pain 
during her last days on Earth is the type of thing that ought to make 
every person who believes in liberty and freedom--it should make them 
shudder, as well as, of course, responsible conservatives who 
understand we should be making every dollar our government spends count 
and be doing something that absolutely needs to be done.
  The harassment from the Drug Enforcement Agency is something that 
should not be tolerated in the land of the free. Businesspeople who are 
licensed and certified to provide doctor-recommended medicine within 
their own States have seen their businesses locked down, their assets 
seized, their customers driven away, and their financial lives ruined 
by very, very aggressive and energetic Federal law enforcers enforcing 
a law in which we are preventing something that doctors would recommend 
for the health of their patients that now some way distributing that 
material would result in the total destruction of that medical 
professional and his life.
  Instead of continuing to finance this repressive and expensive 
approach, we should be willing to allow patients and small businesses 
to follow their doctor's advice under the watchful eye of State law 
enforcement and regulators rather than treating it like something that 
ought to be eradicated from our society. And, yes, I am sure there are 
plenty of people around who would love to just continue building our 
police forces, spending the money; but having them target people who 
are engaged not in rape or murder or some type of aggressive action on 
the population but instead have them focus on a doctor who is trying to 
alleviate the pain of someone who has just gone through an operation or 
one of our veterans who is suffering some sort of posttrauma from his 
being overseas, no. To say it is a total waste of money is just an 
understatement.
  The 26 States that I have named have gotten this message. They have 
been making great strides toward compassion and, yes, towards freedom 
and, yes, towards a responsible use of limited government money in our 
country.
  Now, after the States have done their job, we need the Federal 
Government to do its part. In the near future, I, along with several of 
my colleagues in both parties, will introduce an amendment to the 
Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill to bring an end to this 
disruptive, ill-advised, and wasteful policy that we have pushed on our 
people and oppressed our people with for far too long. Specifically, 
our amendment would prohibit the Department of Justice from using any 
of the funds in this bill to prevent States from implementing their own 
State medical marijuana laws.
  I think my conservative friends could benefit from hearing what some 
of their idols have to say about this. Milton Friedman stated that it 
is ``disgraceful to deny marijuana for medical purposes.'' Dr. 
Friedman, whom I knew personally, a personal friend of mine, spent a 
great deal of time talking about this very issue. He and George 
Schultz, former Secretary--Dr. Friedman, of course, advised Ronald 
Reagan when I worked with Ronald Reagan in the White House. As you 
know, I was a special assistant to President Reagan as well as a 
Presidential speechwriter for President Reagan for 7 years. There with 
us was, of course, Dr. Milton Friedman; and he advised us of the 
nonsense of making marijuana illegal, especially for medical purposes.
  Then we have William F. Buckley--another man who advised 
conservatives like Ronald Reagan--who I read as a young person. In the 
pages of National Review, which he edited, he wrote:

       The stodgy inertia most politicians feel is up against a 
     creeping reality, and that is

[[Page H4055]]

     that marijuana for medical relief is a movement which is 
     attracting voters who are pretty assertive on the subject.

  Yes, William F. Buckley was a visionary. He saw what direction the 
will of the American people would be having, and he foresaw today that 
the vast majority of the American people do not want the Federal 
Government wasting limited dollars destroying doctors' lives, 
preventing research into medical marijuana, and getting in the way of 
the people of the States who have voted to make this substance legal in 
their State for medical purposes.
  Conservatives in this body--in this body, in this House--who 
regularly call for a decrease in the size and scope of the Federal 
Government ought to seriously consider voting for my amendment. 
Likewise, conservatives in this body who routinely talk about the need 
for the Federal Government to respect the 10th Amendment of the 
Constitution and those who believe that Washington should not interfere 
with the doctor-patient relationship, which we have heard so much 
about, these people, my conservative colleagues, ought to seriously 
consider supporting my amendment, as well.
  In fact, if you are on the wrong side of Milton Friedman and William 
F. Buckley and people like Grover Norquist and George Schultz on the 
medical marijuana issue, I would suggest to my colleagues that they 
ought to reconsider the position that they are taking, that it may not 
be the one that is consistent with the conservative belief in freedom, 
individual responsibility, and, of course, limited government.

                              {time}  1400

  This amendment has been introduced in the past, most recently in 
2012, but the difference this time around is that the American people 
are now demanding the Federal Government respect the majority of the 
States in our country which have implemented various medical marijuana 
laws.
  The question at this point is whether the American people's 
Representatives in this House will grant them the wish and accede to 
what their opinion is and understand that laws are made for these 
people and their opinions have a right to be heard. I would hope that 
my fellow Representatives hear the American people's cry, hear those 
people who are trying to take care of their elderly mother or a veteran 
coming home or their children who are suffering seizures and say it is 
a total waste, it is a travesty to use limited dollars, to have a 
Federal Government stopping a doctor in States that have declared it as 
legal, prevent that doctor from offering a treatment for these people, 
our loved ones, Americans throughout our country.
  My hope and expectation is that truth and common sense will prevail. 
I have faith in the American people. And yes, I have faith in my 
colleagues. I believe that both the American people, given a choice in 
their lives, they will do the right thing for themselves and their 
family. I also believe they will do it without bureaucracy, without 
massive Federal intrusion into their lives. And I also have faith in my 
colleagues that they will begin to take a second look at this issue and 
see if what they are doing is consistent with our overall belief in 
American freedom and personal responsibility.
  One final point I would like to make is that, as legislators who have 
the power of the purse, we have a responsibility to prioritize Federal 
tax dollars and how they are spent. Our debt has increased by trillions 
of dollars in just the last few years. This year's deficit is expected 
to add an additional $500 billion to the debt, and the CBO estimates 
that the deficit will only slightly be lower next year before 
ballooning up again to unacceptable levels. What we are going through 
is already unacceptable to most of us.
  As we look for places to cut spending, why don't we begin by 
eliminating those expenditures which the vast majority of Americans 
believe to be an unjustified exercise of Federal powers. I ask my 
colleagues to join me in supporting a commonsense amendment that will 
be a step in the right direction in respecting State medical marijuana 
laws and will respect the individual liberties that our country 
believes in.
  I would hope that the Federal Government also, finally, we in the 
Federal Government will understand prioritizing spending, so even if 
you have questions of how someone making a personal choice somewhere 
across the country as to whether to use medical marijuana to help a 
family member who is sick or to stop their own seizures or whatever, 
yes, even if you don't believe that individuals across our country or 
the State governments have a right to be able to make those decisions 
and local voters should be making those determinations, which is what 
our Founding Fathers wanted, even if you don't believe in that, we 
should, at the very least, understand that we do not have resources at 
the Federal level to do everything for everybody.
  While showing compassion for thousands of ailing patients across our 
country, we can also do the right thing, that is the right thing for us 
to do in terms of balancing our budget and having responsible spending 
patterns and taxing patterns here in Washington. Here is where it 
crosses. Here is where the waste of taxpayer dollars and enforcing laws 
that they have already said they don't want at the State level, forcing 
this upon them, declaring that someone is not going to have the 
personal responsibility in his own life to make these decisions, even 
in States where our people have voted to make this legal in terms of 
decisionmaking for using medical marijuana, well, even in those States, 
and all of this in one formula, you still have to understand that we 
have to deal with a budget; and it is totally inconsistent with a 
responsible spending pattern to use such limited resources as we have, 
going into debt in order to fence in doctors and other people who are 
trying to use medical marijuana around the country and even prevent the 
research into medical marijuana to show that it might have some 
benefit. No, that is a travesty and a total waste of our limited 
resources.
  I would call on my conservative colleagues and my liberal colleagues, 
my Democrat and Republican friends and the people across the country of 
the United States to look at this issue with an open mind, 
intelligently look at the issue, look at it with your heart and your 
brain, and we will come to the conclusion that medical marijuana, 
especially in those States in which the people have decided to make 
medical use of marijuana legal, that it is a total waste of limited 
Federal funds for us to be focusing the use of those Federal funds on 
that activity at the State and local levels by people who are being 
given the choice by doctors as to what medicine they will use.
  Let's get the Federal Government out of the areas that it shouldn't 
be in. That should be something conservatives really support. And so 
today, I would call on my colleagues to support the amendment that I 
will be offering, along with Congressman Blumenauer and others here in 
the body, to make sure that we get back to the 10th Amendment of the 
Constitution and put into law that, when it comes to the medical use of 
marijuana, the Federal Government will not waste its money trying to 
thwart the will of people throughout our country and the various State 
legislatures throughout our country.
  With that said, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________