I’ve spoken to two reporters today inquiring about Colorado Congressman Jared Polis’ medical cannabis-related questions to Attorney General Holder at a congressional committee hearing that was otherwise a ‘bloodbath’ for Holder—getting grilled about the guns and Mexico fiasco—when Polis, who is not a member of the Judiciary Committee, was allowed to ask Holder two questions about medical cannabis enforcement.

Generally written…

Polis first wanted assurances that Colorado’s medical cannabis dispensaries/cultivation centers compliant with state laws—unlike California’s medical cannabis businesses that are not regulated by the state—are not a Department of Justice (DOJ) target. Holder affirmed the basic tenets of the previous Ogden and Cole memos, and wouldn’t provide assurances, but, re-iterated the DOJ stance that enforcing medical cannabis laws, notably in a state like Colorado with its rules and regulations, and with limited federal resources at hand, is a low law DOJ enforcement priority.

The second Polis question was about banking and medical cannabis businesses in Colorado, where he pushed Holder to acknowledge that the DOJ is not placing a priority on interfering with state compliant medical cannabis businesses and banking concerns.

I assume there will be news and industry coverage later today and tomorrow about this unexpected, but informative exchange between Representative Polis and Attorney General Holder.

As many of you know, this is the website where Washington DC insiders, members of Congress, and their staff go to blog.

Want to send Washington, DC a message that the American public is fed up with the criminalization of cannabis? Then click the link below to read my entire commentary and the be sure to leave a comment (polite, respectful comments only please) on The Hill website.

More Americans support legalizing marijuana than oppose it
via The Hill.com

[excerpt] Since 2005, public support for legalizing cannabis has grown among every single demographic polled. That’s right, today a greater percentage of Americans of every age, political ideology, and from every region of the country back marijuana law reform than did just six years ago.

… Gallup pollsters analyzed the data and concluded the obvious, “If this current trend on legalizing marijuana continues, pressure may build to bring the nation’s laws into compliance with the people’s wishes.”

Of course, public pressure has been building for some time now. Since 1996, 16 states and the District of Columbia have initiated statewide laws to allow for the limited legal use of marijuana when recommended by a physician. Laws are also changing in regards to the broader use of cannabis. In fact, in 2011, four states – Arkansas, California, Connecticut, and Kentucky – enacted new laws significantly lowering the penalties for marijuana use and possession. In California and Connecticut, lawmakers took the dramatic step of making such activities non-criminal offenses.

Nonetheless, federal officials don’t yet seem to be hearing the public’s message – even when it is made clear to them on the White House’s own ‘We the People’ website. … But the Administration’s failure to heed public opinion is a gross political miscalculation.

Rather than rebuff the public’s calls for cannabis policy reform, the Administration ought to be embracing it.

… The bottom line: marijuana law reform should no longer be viewed by federal legislators as a political liability. For those lawmakers willing to advocate for common-sense reforms, this issue represents a unique political opportunity. The public is ready for change; in fact, they are demanding it. Lawmakers can either get with the program, or suffer the consequences.

After you have done so, please also take a moment to contact your members of Congress and urge them to support HR 2306: The Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011. You can do so quickly and conveniently via NORML’s Take Action Center’ here. You can also contact the White House here.

Get active. Get NORML!

A NORML supporter from Ohio named Todd recently used NORML’s webpage to contact his elected representative in Congress, who just so happens to be the Speaker of the House John Boehner, to encourage him to become a co-sponsor of the Ron Paul/Barney Frank bill to allow states to legalize cannabis for responsible adult use.

What Todd did was exactly what tens of thousands of other like-minded NORML supporters have done since late June, when H.R. 2306 was introduced: they contacted their member of Congress and asked them to support the passage of H.R. 2306.

What cannabis reformers and consumers really need to do now is to send hundreds of thousands of letters and emails to their members of Congress, and to, like Todd, not take ‘no’ for an answer, especially from hypocrites like Speaker Boehner, who maybe one of the capital’s most notorious tobacco addicts and consumer of hard liquor.

Roll Call photo from a Sept. 2010 event capturing then Minority Leader John Boehner using society's most deadly and addictive drug: Tobacco

Last October at a fancy Washington restaurant in a section of town called ‘Barracks Row’, a week or so before his ascendency to the Speakership of the House, High Times’ associate publisher Rick Cusick and I watched Mr. Boehner (and five or six of his fellow Republican colleagues from the House, and one from the Senate) continuously leave their table–after rounds of shot glasses of hard liquor were consumed–to stand out in front of the establishment in a circle to smoke cigarettes. We witnessed this kind of excessive ‘drug’ consumption from Congressional leaders for over two hours.

Mr. Boehner, the son of a bar owner in Ohio, needs to get real and quick regarding losing his Reefer Madness about cannabis and to start treating cannabis consumers with the same respect and dignity that he wants afforded to him as a tobacco and alcohol consumer.

If not, then, based on his unscientific and non-sensible reply to his constituent in Ohio found below, the man should 1.) stop buying and consuming clearly deadly and dangerous drugs like hard booze and cigarettes and 2.) pass federal laws banning these unhealthy and unsafe products from people who’d be foolish enough to consume them.

NORML thanks ‘Todd’ from Ohio for being a stand up cannabis law reformer who is not keen to be governed by a hypocrite (who would have him consume drugs much, much less safe—and toxic—than cannabis. Just like him….).

Boehner writes below: “I am unalterably opposed to the legalization of marijuana or any other FDA Schedule I drug.  I remain concerned that legalization will result in increased abuse of all varieties of drugs, including alcohol.”

Maybe the Speaker of the House is speaking for himself here as both the science and my own personal experience is crystal clear here: When adults consume cannabis products they consume less—or no—alcohol products.

I, for one, have always publicly acknowledged that I consume far less alcohol (and don’t binge drink at all) if I have access to cannabis products.

Further, in the twenty years I’ve worked at NORML and convening dozens of major pro-reform conferences, fundraising parties and events I’ve watched bar managers, restaurant owners and hotel catering managers from coast-to-coast do major double and triple takes on our alcohol consumption bills, insisting that there must be some kind of billing error. When, in fact, if 500 cannabis consumers are attending a NORML soiree, we as a group consume 50%-75% less alcohol than similar size events.

At a large and famous San Francisco waterfront restaurant that hosted a NORML event a few years back, when I went into the manager’s office at the end of the night to settle the final bill and remit payment, he too was flabbergasted at the dearth of our large group’s alcohol consumption tab and wryly remarked to me: “No wonder ya’ll can’t get pot legalized, because, you’ll cut too deeply into the alcohol industry’s bottom line.”

Please join Todd and tens of thousands of other citizens who do not support Cannabis Prohibition anymore by contacting your member of Congress and insist that they co-sponsor H.R. 2306.

The process to lobby your member of Congress is easy, free and necessary to finally—and once and for all—end Cannabis Prohibition in America.

Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 1:19 PM, Congressman John Boehner wrote:

Dear Todd:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the legalization of marijuana.  I appreciate hearing from you.

On June 23, 2011, Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced H.R. 2306, the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011.  H.R. 2306 would remove marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act to provide states with jurisdiction in the regulation of marijuana.  H.R. 2306 has been referred to the House Committees on the Judiciary and Energy and Commerce for consideration.

According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), “research shows that marijuana use in its raw form is harmful and its average potency has tripled in the past 20 years.”  ONDCP goes on to say that “studies also show teens are using the drug at earlier ages and the earlier a person begins to use drugs, the more likely they are to progress to more serious abuse and addiction.”  In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services stated that “marijuana dependence in the U.S. population is higher than that for any other illicit drug and over 150,000 people who showed up voluntarily at treatment facilities in 2009 reported marijuana as their primary substance of abuse.”

As you know, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has classified marijuana, together with heroin, LSD, methamphetamines, hashish, and a number of other drugs as Schedule I drugs.  According to the FDA, these drugs carry a high potential for dangerous abuse.  To date, no clinical study of marijuana has progressed to the level required for approval by the FDA.  Even more, the Department of Justice has reiterated its intent to enforce the Controlled Substances Act in states who have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes.

I am unalterably opposed to the legalization of marijuana or any other FDA Schedule I drug.  I remain concerned that legalization will result in increased abuse of all varieties of drugs, including alcohol.

Thank you again for contacting me with your thoughts.  Please don’t hesitate to inform me of your concerns in the future.  To sign up for email updates, I invite you to visit my website at http://johnboehner.house.gov.

Sincerely,

John A. Boehner

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

Dear John Boehner,

Wow thats a mouthful did someone write that for you.  Your seriously trying to tell me that marijuana is as harmful as lsd, crack, methamphetamines, cocaine,legal sildenafil,merinol and other “chemicals” when marijuana is a plant which is nearly impossible to overdose. You sir are uninformed as are most of our “representatives”, who, are supposed to represent the interest of the people, but end up representing their own interests entirely. I would think that given our current economic crisis, it would be ideal to look objectively at every opportunity to decrease frivolous spending, and increase revenue. By legalizing and taxing marijuana on a federal level, the taxes alone are estimated at billions of dollars annually. Given the annual cost of the failed war on drugs and incarcerated nonviolent marijuana users, the annual savings plus revenue could reach in the hundreds of billions of dollarsNot to mention the tens of thousands of jobs legalizing marijuana would create. This is common sense knowledge and neither you nor the “F.D.A.” can tell me otherwise.

As for your statement ” I remain concerned that legalization will result in increased abuse of all varieties of drugs, including alcohol.” Please elaborate as I do not understand how the legalization and regulation of marijuana on a federal level, will result in increased abuse of other drugs and alcohol. Regulating marijuana will not only decrease it’s availability on the black market, but will also decrease its value, therefore being less available, and of less interest, to teens and other underage people.

On the subject of the Department of Health and Human Services statement that “marijuana dependence in the U.S. population is higher than that for any other illicit drug and over 150,000 people who showed up voluntarily at treatment facilities in 2009 reported marijuana as their primary substance of abuse.” What this statement does not tell you is that roughly 97% of these 150,000 people “voluntarily” showed up because they were given an ultimatum by the courts when found in possesion of marijuana, rather than face probation, or even worse, jail time.

How about the statement made by Francis Young, the D.E.A.s’ own judge, ”Marijuana in it’s natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.”  If marijuana is considered a schedule I narcotic with no medicinal benefits, why do we have Marinol, the  synthetic form of T.H.C. (tetrahydrocannabinol), the main psycoactive substance found in marijuana?.  And why is the “chemical” Marinol a schedule III drug, meaning it is considered to be non-narcotic and to have a low risk of physical or mental dependence, when it is another form of T.H.C.?. There has never been a documented human fatality from overdosing on tetrahydrocannabinol or cannabis in its natural form. However, the synthetic T.H.C. pill Marinol was cited by the FDA as being responsible for 4 of the 11,687 deaths from 17 different FDA approved drugs between January 1, 1997 to June 30, 2005.

I would appreciate a personal response from you, rather than one of your pre-writen responses. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Todd

However, the twelve co-sponsors who have since joined with HR 2306′s primary sponsor, Rep. Barney Frank, in supporting this bill show that not all lawmakers are content to watch tax dollars being frivolously thrown away while our citizens are being robbed of their civil liberties. We need more brave individuals to stand up and rally with them, which is why NORML is asking you to reach out to your elected officials and encourage them to co-sponsor this important legislation. With each legislator added to the list of co-sponsors, we are adding a new political ally and demonstrating the widespread support for our cause.

Over the past 70+ years, the federal criminalization of marijuana has:

1) Failed to reduce the public’s demand for or access to cannabis.

2) Imposed enormous fiscal and human costs upon the American people.

3) Promoted disrespect for the law.

4) Reinforced ethnic and generational divides between the public and law enforcement.

This debate is long overdue. It is time to rethink the leaf.

Contact your Representatives today and tell them to stand with us and co-sponsor HR 2306.

NORML would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to Representatives Polis, Paul, Honda, Nadler, Conyers, Cohen, McDermott, Norton, Lee, Stark, Rohrbacher, Rangel, and, of course, Barney Frank for their support and advocacy of HR 2306.

Rep. Smith, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, responded to press inquiries yesterday about the new federal legalization bill, that will be referred to his committee, saying he had no intention of considering the bill, or even giving it a public hearing. Unfortunately, under current Congressional rules, a committee chairman is given great discretion regarding what bills to consider, and which to ignore, and it is only when another member or members of that committee, or the general public, make a big deal out of it that sometimes one can overcome the stiff opposition of a committee chair.

One promising fact is that the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Conyers, JR, is a co-sponsor of HB 2306, and should serve as a counter-balance to the opposition of the chairman.

Smith’s anti-cannabis salvo against the new legalization bill should inspire cannabis consumers and activists to redouble their efforts this year to get as many co-sponsors as possible for HR 2306, and to recruit and elect political candidates to Congress who no longer embrace reefer madness or favor continuing—possibly for another 74 years—the status quo of arresting another cannabis consumer every 35 seconds in America.

NORML and our supporters decided to reach out to Representative Smith today, to let him know we considered HR 2306 sound public policy that deserved a hearing. Instead of addressing the concerns of the general public, Smith removed his page from Facebook and wiped it clean of any and all comments posted in support of the bill. Further commenting was also disabled on the page. Once one too many calls began coming into his congressional offices and the extension for the House Judiciary Committee, a prerecorded message was posted stating that his office was closed (it wasn’t, their operating hours on Friday are posted as until 6pm EST).

Even President Barack Obama has stated he considers legalization a legitimate topic for debate, so why is Rep. Lamar Smith stonewalling the legislation?

NORMLtv is now streaming a new PSA targeting Smith and his refusal to engage this issue in a productive and rational way, which you can view above. We encourage you to continue contacting the chairman through his contact information listed below.

Rep. Lamar Smith
DC Office: 202-225-4236 (8:30 am- 6:00 pm EST)
TX Office: 210-821-5024 (8:00 am- 5:00 pm CT)
Web: http://lamarsmith.house.gov/

You can also use NORML’s Take Action Center by clicking here and easily message your elected officials to encourage their support of this important legislation. Over 3,000 of you already have, let’s keep the pressure on!

We appreciate your support and especially want to thank those who have been helping us push this issue today with Chairman Smith. We will be back in touch soon to ask for your further help as we find new ways to push this new legislation forward.

Subscribe to NORMLtv or follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on the latest marijuana news and further updates on HR2306.

The bipartisan measure, HR 2306 – entitled the ‘Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011’ and sponsored by Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank and Texas Republican Ron Paul along with Reps. Cohen (D-TN), Conyers (D-MI), Polis (D-CO), and Lee (D-CA) – prohibits the federal government from prosecuting adults who use or possess marijuana by removing the plant and its primary psychoactive constituent, THC, from the five schedules of the United States Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Under present law, all varieties of the marijuana plant are defined as illicit Schedule I controlled substances, defined as possessing ‘a high potential for abuse,’ and ‘no currently accepted medical use in treatment.’

Said Rep. Frank, “Criminally prosecuting adults for making the choice to smoke marijuana is a waste of law enforcement resources and an intrusion on personal freedom. I do not advocate urging people to smoke marijuana, neither do I urge them to drink alcoholic beverages or smoke tobacco, but in none of these cases do I think prohibition enforced by criminal sanctions is good public policy.”

The ‘Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act’ seeks to federally deregulate the personal possession and use of marijuana by adults. It marks the first time that members of Congress have introduced legislation to eliminate the federal criminalization of marijuana since the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937.

Language in this Act mimics changes enacted by Congress to repeal the federal prohibition of alcohol. Passage of this measure would remove the existing conflict between federal law and the laws of those sixteen states that allow for the limited use of marijuana under a physicians’ supervision. It would also allow state governments that wish to fully legalize and regulate the responsible use, possession, production, and intrastate distribution of marijuana for all adults to be free to do so without federal interference. (To date, lawmakers in six states have introduced legislation to legalize and regulate the adult use of cannabis, and separate statewide initiative measures are planned for 2012 in several additional states.)

Speaking in support of the measure, NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said, “The federal criminalization of marijuana has failed to reduce the public’s demand or access to cannabis, and it has imposed enormous fiscal and human costs upon the American people. It is time to end this failed public policy and to provide state governments with the freedom to enact alternative strategies — such as medicalization, decriminalization, and/or legalization — without running afoul of the federal law or the whims of the Department of Justice.”

You can read the full text of Allen’s remarks from today’s press conference, which is being reported today by major news outlets nationwide, here.

NORML, along with representatives from the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), and the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), worked closely with members of Congress in drafting the measure.

Additional information regarding this measure is available from NORML’s ‘Take Action Center’ here.

AFTERNOON UPDATE:

Below is video of co-sponsor Steven Cohen (D-TN) speaking on the House floor today in favor of HR 2306: Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011.

The Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act;
The Small Business Banking Improvement Act of 2011; and
The Small Business Tax Equity Act of 2011.

Representative Polis has issued the following press release outlining the significance and the intentions of these measures.

Bipartisan Coalition Urges Sensible Drug Policy
Introducing Three Bills to Protect Access to Medical Marijuana

Washington, May 25 – In a sign of growing bipartisan Congressional support for reforming our nation’s drug laws, a coalition of Republicans and Democrats today offered three bills that would ensure fair treatment of cannabis businesses under tax and banking law, and change existing law to reflect the medical efficacy of marijuana. The bills were authored by Congressman Pete Stark (D-CA), Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), and Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO).

Stark’s bill – the Small Business Tax Equity Act – would allow medical marijuana dispensaries to take the full range of business expense deductions on their federal tax returns, just like every other legal business is permitted to do under the law. It is co-sponsored by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), as well as Frank and Polis.

“Our tax code undercuts legal medical marijuana dispensaries by preventing them from taking all the deductions allowed for other small businesses,” Stark stated. “While unfair to these small business owners, the tax code also punishes the patients who rely on them for safe and reliable access to medical marijuana prescribed by a doctor. The Small Business Tax Equity Act would correct these shortcomings.”

The States’ Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act, authored by Frank and co-sponsored by Stark, Polis and Rohrabacher, would make individuals and entities immune to federal prosecution when acting in compliance with state medical marijuana laws. It would also direct the administration to initiate the process of rescheduling marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act so that it is placed in a schedule other than Schedules I or II.

“The time has come for the federal government to stop preempting states’ medical marijuana laws,” Frank said. “For the federal government to come in and supersede state law is a real mistake for those in pain for whom nothing else seems to work. This bill would block the federal prosecution of those patients who reside in those states that allow medical marijuana.”

Polis’ Small Business Banking Improvement Act, which is cosponsored by Stark, Frank and Paul, would ensure that medical marijuana businesses that are state-certified have full access to banking services by amending the Bank Secrecy Act.

“When a small business, such as a medical marijuana dispensary, can’t access basic banking services they either have to become cash-only—and become targets of crime—or they’ll end up out-of-business,” said Polis. “In states that have legalized medical marijuana, and for businesses that have been state-approved, it is simply wrong for the federal government to intrude and threaten banks that are involved in legal transactions.”

Stark and Polis welcomed Congressman Paul’s support for their bills.

“It is time to get the federal government out of state criminal matters, so states can determine sensible drug policy for themselves,” added Paul. “It is quite obvious the federal war on drugs is a disaster. Respect for states’ rights means that different policies can be tried in different states and we can see which are the most successful. This legislation is a step in the right direction as it removes a major federal road block impeding businesses that states have determined should be allowed within their borders.”

NORML and many of our allied organizations have been working closely with the staff of Reps. Frank, Polis, and others on these measures, and we commend these representatives for courageously standing up for the rights of patients and their providers. NORML will have more information about these bills, and how you can contact your members of Congress in support of these efforts, imminently in our ‘Take Action Center.‘

Music, news, interviews, comedy, and rants - all free!

(Download this interview at from our archives and listen every weekday at 4pm Eastern to NORML SHOW LIVE at http://live.norml.org for more marijuana reform news and interviews.  You can also subscribe to our podcast via iTunes or download on-demand at The Stash Blog at http://stash.norml.org)

From our interview with Colorado’s US Rep. Jared Polis on NORML SHOW LIVE, Feb 7, 2011 – questions and answers have been abbreviated for clarity.

NORML SHOW LIVE: How has your stance on marijuana reform affected your interactions with your colleagues in the House [of Representatives]?

US Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) speaks at Kush Con in Denver 2010

REP. JARED POLIS: You know, I find that a lot of members of Congress privately agree that we need to change our drug policy, they’re just still too timid or scared to come public with it.  That’s kind of what I find.  I find very few that are ‘hard core’ on the other side.

NSL: Have you been working with Rep. Barney Frank and Rep. Ron Paul and do you have plans to introduce federal legislation?

POLIS: We really have a growing group that support decriminalization at the federal level and changing the schedule of marijuana.  It’s not a majority yet, but it’s growing rather than shrinking.  One of the things I’m working on the political front is FearlessCampaign.com [Polis mistakenly says "dot-org"]. If you go to FearlessCampaign.com you can sign up. We’re basically creating  a grassroots movement towards changing our federal drug laws.

NSL: Coming from an area that has so embraced medical marijuana, what are you telling your fellow legislators on Capitol Hill as far as what they can expect from medical marijuana in their state?

POLIS: Well, they can expect jobs, reduced crime, increased tax revenues, and reduced suffering of patients.  When Colorado voters overwhelmingly passed the medical marijuana law, the legislature took their responsibility pretty seriously and passed laws to implement that.  So there’s a very… I mean, it’s far from perfect… but compared to where other states are there’s a decent regulatory structure here and there’s specific rules that the marijuana dispensaries have to play by and it’s truly allowed them to grow and flourish in the communities that allow them.  We’ve had some communities that exercise their local discretion and have chosen not to allow those kind of businesses as well.

NSL: Recently some of those regulations that have been passed in Colorado include Senate Bill 1284 that came up with a lot of of these new rules for dispensaries.  How do you see these regulations playing out in Colorado and do they bode well for other states that are looking to pass medical marijuana?

POLIS: You know, I think  some of the fears of people that are opposed to medical marijuana they’re just worried that you could have these stores anywhere and what’s the control on whether they’re doing it right.  We’ve had a regulatory structure for liquor stores for a long time and also for pharmacies. I mean, we know how to do this kind of thing, it’s just a matter of doing it right.  Having background checks for the people involved, we have the video cameras monitoring the premises, audits to make sure people have the right medical permission, so, it’s not as difficult as it sounds and in many ways it’s easier than some of the other substances that are already regulated.

NSL: We’re curious about your background.  How did you come about the marijuana reform issue: was this personally important to you or just what shaped your views on this issue?

POLIS: Well, it’s important to a lot of my constituents. It wasn’t really an issue until Colorado passed the medical marijuana law.  That was the will and law of the voters of Colorado so at the federal level I try to back that up.  I try to make sure that we don’t have federal agents coming in and arresting law-abiding people in Colorado.  We’re trying to open up the banking resources for Colorado dispensaries that have really faced a lot of discrimination and difficulty with normal banking services.  We’re really just trying to support local businesses and my constituents.

NSL: You were the first openly gay man elected to the House as a freshman representative.  In marijuana law reform we’ve often heard that cannabis consumers need to “come out of the closet” and admit that they are just regular law-abiding folks that use cannabis.  Of course that’s a reference to the whole “come out of the closet” in the gay rights movement that has led to so many positive strides in that area.  Do you see a comparison between the two movements in that respect?

POLIS: Yeah, I do think they need to.  It’s been something that wasn’t talked about, something that was secretive, even though, oddly enough people would frequently brag about or talk about being on much harder-core substances, they say, “oh, my doctor gave me morphine or something to kill the pain,” or “I had to take a Percocet after my dental surgery,” but yet they don’t talk about using medical marijuana.  Like any other issue, the visibility helps, because it helps people realize “Oh, it’s my friend, it’s my neighbor, it’s my cousin,” rather than just something abstract, and once they have that human face to go with it I think it really helps shift their attitudes.

NSL: One of the things we’ve been disappointed with in the Obama Administration is that they said they would base their decisions on science and bring science back to the fore, and we’re finding, though, in the area of marijuana research and medical marijuana that doesn’t seem to be the case.  If you had the chance to speak with Mr. Obama and educate him on the issue, what would you tell him?

POLIS: I think first of all the scientific jury is very much still out.  There need to be a lot of double-blind studies to look at the different impact of different substances.  There’s still a lot of science that needs to be done and it is being done.  Part of the problem is the laws have gotten in the way of the science.  It’s very difficult to conduct research with marijuana and still is, by the way, compared to many other substances.  So we need good science, but we need the laws to allow the good science to occur.  That’s the type of policies and we try to give some backbone to our members of Congress which is why we launched the FearlessCampaign.com to try to move the country forward.  We’re at this point where close to half the country supports medical marijuana and it’s close to that for marijuana legalization, it’s probably on the order of 40%.  And yet, far from 40% of Congress supports it, I mean you only get a handful of members, myself included, who are willing to say that, but it’s nowhere close to where society itself has evolved on this issue.

NSL: On Mr. Obama’s answer to the LEAP question on YouTube on ending the War on Drugs, and Mr. Obama responded with talk about more treatment and more education and shifting that, but of course our federal budget doesn’t recognize that at this point – it’s still two-to-one in favor of incarceration and interdiction.  What kind of political obstacles are in our way from moving toward a budget shifted more toward treatment?

POLIS:  I think the budgetary pressures – and there’s going to be cuts across the board in every area – do provide a good entry for discussion of decriminalization because not only do you have the savings from the reduced incarceration and the ability of law enforcement to focus on criminals rather than users of medical marijuana, you also have increased revenues from the taxation of the legal and regulated sale of marijuana.  It’s something that as we’re looking at this budget situation, it can actually reduce costs and increase income.  I think that will be more desirable for most people in our country than having tax increases or having cuts in programs that they care about.

NSL: It’s like the call we’ve seen from a lot of our organizations to the new GOP majority that if you’re looking to cut wasteful inefficient government spending, look no further than the DEA.  Is that something you’re on board with?

POLIS: You don’t have too many people running around saying “Please tax me!” but I think that’s something the marijuana industry is saying “Please tax us rather than sending all the cops to burst down our doors!”  I think the least we can do is tax it.

NSL: What’s your take on and what are you doing for industrial hemp?

POLIS: I think industrial hemp has a lot of economic opportunities for farmers in our area and nationally it’s a very durable crop and a very strong market to be in yet we still have laws that prevent it from being cultivated in any areas.  I’m actually very much involved with trying to get that legalized as well – I’m a co-sponsor of that bill – we’ll continue to push for hearings on it as well.  I think it’s a much easier case than anything else that we’re talking about.  It doesn’t make any sense to prevent the industrial cultivation of hemp.

NSL: Congress has allowed DC to proceed on its medical marijuana program.  What’s it going to be like in DC with yourself and your colleagues walking around town and perhaps happening upon a medical marijuana dispensary or two?  Can you imagine that looking forward?

POLIS: The visibility is good.  Just as we were saying, it really is.  The fact that people will be your staff people, your friends, they will see the world doesn’t end.  Hopefully crime in DC will go down because of it, tax revenue will go up.  Still, the majority of members come from areas that don’t have medical marijuana, so they don’t have any exposure to it like the people from California, Colorado, Nevada do.  At least they’ll get exposure to it in DC and I think that will be a positive thing.

NSL: What are your plans for the future?  Running for re-election to the House, maybe moving to the Senate, or just a couple of terms and then return to private life?

POLIS:  Well, one thing at a time, I just got elected to a two-year term… it’s a fun job, it’s an exciting job, and I’m honored to be able to serve the country.  We have a ways to go on this issue, marijuana legalization, and we have a ways to go on a lot of other issues.  If everything that I wanted that I supported happened tomorrow then I wouldn’t have any need to be in Congress anymore, but I don’t see that happening.  We’ve got to work hard to make it happen and we’ll get there eventually.

Contact Rep. Polis at http://polisforcongress.com or by calling 303-381-0121.

Update: Inexplicably, the Republican leadership chose to CENSOR reading the 18th Amendment today. Ugh.

Today, as first act for the Republican led 112^th Congress, the new majority is going to read the United States Constitution out loud.

Oh, the irony.

If there is real reverence for the document (notably the original copies of the document in the late 1700s were scribed onto paper made from hemp…a staple commercial crop during America’s Revolutionary period cultivated by many of the US Constitution’s original signers…an agricultural product banned by US federal governments for the last 74 years) by those who read the document and sit in rapture listening to the words, then it should be clear to all in the Congress this morning that Cannabis Prohibition is unconstitutional.

Why?

Where in the Constitution does the federal government derive the power and authority to ban and criminalize such a utilitarian and life-enhancing plant species as cannabis?

The oft-lamented by conservatives Commerce Clause? This is where the liberals in Franklin Roosevelt’s administration justified the federal government’s prohibition of cannabis in 1937. Both liberal and conservative governments have argued strenuously, and successfully, in federal courts that Cannabis Prohibition is lawful and sanctioned under the US Constitution’s Commerce Clause.

Further, and most importantly, today’s Congress, notably the new Constitution-loving majority, should listen carefully today when the reading turns to the 1919 18^th Amendment (which created Alcohol Prohibition) and the 1933 21^st Amendment (which, of course, repealed Alcohol Prohibition, which, like Cannabis Prohibition, was a complete failure that created more problems than it solved and unnecessarily conveyed policing powers from the states and cities to the federal government).

Unless the new majority supports the continued use of the Commerce Clause to justify federal intervention into state sovereignty, for them to adhere and respect the U.S. Constitution (which each member of Congress swears to uphold), they need to pass a constitutional amendment post haste that prohibits the cannabis plant and criminalizes its use, rather than rely on what many Americans consider a legislative fiat by the Congress that created and has fostered Cannabis Prohibition for over eight decades.

Indeed new majority (and minority) in Congress, read and respect the U.S. Constitution!

Now anyone who is familiar with Calvina already knows of her propensity toward lunacy — Here’s just one example, “Truly sick people who deserve legitimate medical treatment have been duped into believing that marijuana will help them, while in reality it is hurting them.” — but this time, in her vitriol against California’s Prop. 19, she really outdoes herself, arguing that regulating the adult use of cannabis is a threat to… marriage!

Should California legalize pot?
via The Christian Science Monitor

No: legalization means more costs

… Legalizing marijuana use would substantially increase its already formidable costs to society. That’s because the initiative would allow individuals to possess up to about 120 joints and cultivate 25 square feet of plants, capable of yielding up to 240,000 joints.

… Legalization would also create an influx in drugged-driving fatalities, more deteriorated neighborhoods, more divorce, more domestic violence, more child abuse, and more addiction!

Whoa — 120 joints per ounce?! As NORML Outeach Director Russ Belville writes, that’s some fuzzy math. (A more realistic conversion might be 30, or at most 60, joints.) However, such hyperbole is par for the course for our opposition. They are well aware that they can not win this debate on merit, and as a result they now have only the most foolish fear-mongering to fall back on. Fortunately, the polls show that this tactic is also doomed to fail.

(FYI, for those wishing to weigh in on the CSM debate, you can post your comments on Yahoo News here.)

And speaking of fear-mongering, I have an op/ed in today’s online version of The Hill rebutting claims of various Prop. 19 detractors, including California Senator Diane Feinstein and Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske. Here is an excerpt:

Proposition 19 is the right direction
via The Hill.com

So then why are Sen. Feinstein and the drug czars so worried about adults consuming it in the privacy of their own home?

California lawmakers criminalized the possession and use of marijuana in 1913 — a full 24 years before the federal government enacted prohibition. Yet right now in California, the state Board of Equalization reports that some 400,000 use marijuana daily. Self-evidently, cannabis is here to stay.

It’s time to reject the drug czar’s tired rhetoric, and abandon the failed federal policy of criminal marijuana prohibition. Let’s stop ceding control of this market to unregulated, untaxed criminal enterprises and put it in the hands of licensed businesses. Let’s stop sanctioning adults for private behavior that is engaged in absent of harm to others. …Proposition 19 is a first step in this direction.

Read NORML’s full commentary here.

The Hill’s ever-popular Congress blog ‘is where lawmakers come to blog.’ It’s also where legislators and other politicos — such as staffers at the Drug Czar’s office (hint, hint) — come to gauge the pulse of the public. Given that this is a paper of record in these folks’ backyard, why not send a message to those in Washington that their opposition is out of touch with voter sentiment. You can make your voice heard by leaving your feedback here.