Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2013
Floor Speech
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Mr. COHEN. There have been quite a few good arguments made--excellent arguments--as to why this amendment should pass. Justice Louis Brandeis is one of my favorite Justices. He said the laboratories of democracy are the States. Indeed, 16 States, mostly through, if not entirely through, referenda determined that they wanted to try to find out whether medical marijuana laws worked.
The Federal Government should not be infringing on what the States have determined and their citizens have determined in the most direct form of democracy that this Nation knows--State referenda. The Federal Government has been using its resources, which could be used in better ways, to police the jurisdictions that have voted it in. That's what this amendment does. It says there will not be any additional spending of Federal moneys to try to thwart the will of the people of the States on issues on which they have voted.
This is the most basic democracy that we could be talking about. You talk about the Founding Fathers. This is the people who give us power. They have voted in their States to make it the law, and the Federal Government has taken its heavy hand and has tried to come in there--and has come in there--to prosecute individuals. It's for the States to prosecute those individuals if they want.
As the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff) has pointed out, Federal priorities have to be made to meet the resources available. The moneys that they're spending now in these States could be spent on border traffic and could be spent on policing against heroin and cocaine, which cause people, when they get hooked, to commit violent crimes in order to get their money to buy their drugs. That has never been known to be the case with marijuana, and it is not the case with marijuana. That's where our priorities for law enforcement should go and prosecution should go is to crack and cocaine and heroin, and they're not being used there.
So this is a commonsense, basic, democratic proposal to tell our Federal Government that has gone astray to not use its resources against the people of this country who have made this determination. Mr. COHEN. There have been quite a few good arguments made--excellent arguments--as to why this amendment should pass. Justice Louis Brandeis is one of my favorite Justices. He said the laboratories of democracy are the States. Indeed, 16 States, mostly through, if not entirely through, referenda determined that they wanted to try to find out whether medical marijuana laws worked.
The Federal Government should not be infringing on what the States have determined and their citizens have determined in the most direct form of democracy that this Nation knows--State referenda. The Federal Government has been using its resources, which could be used in better ways, to police the jurisdictions that have voted it in. That's what this amendment does. It says there will not be any additional spending of Federal moneys to try to thwart the will of the people of the States on issues on which they have voted.
This is the most basic democracy that we could be talking about. You talk about the Founding Fathers. This is the people who give us power. They have voted in their States to make it the law, and the Federal Government has taken its heavy hand and has tried to come in there--and has come in there--to prosecute individuals. It's for the States to prosecute those individuals if they want.
As the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff) has pointed out, Federal priorities have to be made to meet the resources available. The moneys that they're spending now in these States could be spent on border traffic and could be spent on policing against heroin and cocaine, which cause people, when they get hooked, to commit violent crimes in order to get their money to buy their drugs. That has never been known to be the case with marijuana, and it is not the case with marijuana. That's where our priorities for law enforcement should go and prosecution should go is to crack and cocaine and heroin, and they're not being used there.
So this is a commonsense, basic, democratic proposal to tell our Federal Government that has gone astray to not use its resources against the people of this country who have made this determination.
Now, as far as some of the other statements that have been made, I think the public who listens knows that this is not about legalization, that this is not about 14-year-olds or 15-year-olds or 18-year-olds.
It's about States, democracy, doctors, and people who have cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, MS, whatever. Montel Williams has testified how it has helped him with his illness. I had a Navy SEAL friend who died of cancer. There is no question but that marijuana, which he smoked, helped him with his appetite when he wasn't eating, and his pancreatic cancer took him from 215 pounds to 115 pounds. His grandmother said it's the only thing that makes Orel laugh, and it's the only thing that makes Orel eat. And when he was dying, I wanted my friend to have whatever he could have to make his illness less damaging to him and less difficult to deal with.
So I rise here and assure people that it won't affect your States; it will just be those States where it's been voted in. It will save resources and be able to give our government the proper direction, the usage of resources to protect us against heroin, crack, and cocaine.
Now, as far as some of the other statements that have been made, I think the public who listens knows that this is not about legalization, that this is not about 14-year-olds or 15-year-olds or 18-year-olds.
It's about States, democracy, doctors, and people who have cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, MS, whatever. Montel Williams has testified how it has helped him with his illness. I had a Navy SEAL friend who died of cancer. There is no question but that marijuana, which he smoked, helped him with his appetite when he wasn't eating, and his pancreatic cancer took him from 215 pounds to 115 pounds. His grandmother said it's the only thing that makes Orel laugh, and it's the only thing that makes Orel eat. And when he was dying, I wanted my friend to have whatever he could have to make his illness less damaging to him and less difficult to deal with.
So I rise here and assure people that it won't affect your States; it will just be those States where it's been voted in. It will save resources and be able to give our government the proper direction, the usage of resources to protect us against heroin, crack, and cocaine.
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