[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 14990-14991]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    LET STATES SET MARIJUANA POLICY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, amidst all the turmoil on the world 
stage, I think many of us are still processing the visit from Pope 
Francis last week, his call for us to care for the planet, for our 
fellow man, for all of God's creatures.
  In the background here on Capitol Hill, there is more than a little 
turmoil in terms of what is going to happen after the resignation of 
Speaker Boehner. There looks to be a little good news that we will 
avert a government

[[Page 14991]]

shutdown, at least for a few months, as we continue to have the 
misdirected crusade to defund Planned Parenthood.
  I have been focusing on the epidemic of deaths from prescription drug 
abuse and heroin overdoses. Mr. Speaker, it is something that is 
creating problems from Portland, Oregon, to Portland, Maine; yet, in 
the midst of that epidemic, there was a stark symbol of our dysfunction 
on something that most Americans now think should be legal.
  There are over 200 million Americans that live in States where they 
can get access to medical marijuana. Four States and the District of 
Columbia have legalized adult use, and more States are going to be 
voting on it again this year; yet we have arrested over 7 million 
people over the last 10 years, costing billions of dollars.
  It can turn lives upside down, particularly lives of young men of 
color, especially African Americans, who are arrested many times more 
often even though their use is the same as White young men. It fuels 
that frustration that one can understand in the African American 
community.
  I would suggest that it is time for us to focus law enforcement 
resources on real drug problems, deal with that epidemic of 
prescription drug abuse and heroin overdose. Let's deal with making 
sure that our children are safe rather than at risk from a vast 
underground drug distribution network.
accounts, so this is an attractive source of revenue for people who 
would like to rob them.
  Let's let the States make their own policy until we reclassify 
marijuana, frankly, less dangerous than tobacco, which is completely 
legal in every State. In the meantime, we should at least stay out of 
the way, let States formulate their own policy, and have local 
authorities deal with real problems, not creating unnecessary ones.

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