[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 110 (Friday, June 23, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H3114]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TIME FOR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO CATCH UP

  (Mr. BLUMENAUER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, 50 years ago this week, Oregon became 
the first State to decriminalize cannabis. I was honored to be a part 
of that process.
  It is time for the Federal Government to catch up.
  We owe it to the generations of Black Americans targeted by the 
failed war on drugs.
  We owe it to our veterans with their wounds, seen and unseen.
  We owe it to thousands of workers and their employers who fail drug 
tests every day because they used State-legal cannabis weeks before.
  We owe it to the large and growing cannabis industry, whose employees 
are targets for violent robbery because we deny them bank accounts.
  We owe it to the American public who are not waiting for the Federal 
Government.
  We need that framework to tax and regulate cannabis.
  On the anniversary of Oregon's historic step to decriminalize 
cannabis, it is past time for the Federal Government to be a real 
partner and not a roadblock on the path forward.

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