Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. FLEMING. Madam Chairman, I want to thank my good friend, Chairman Wolf, for all the many years of service he has provided and the great work he is doing on this appropriation.
My amendment simply reduces the Department of Justice's general legal account by $866,000, specifically targeting the Deputy Attorney General's office until the Attorney General enforces the Controlled Substances Act, as well as the Bank Secrecy Act.
My amendment does not reduce the enforcement funding available to DOJ, but rather decreases available funding for the salaries of individuals who are delineating ways to evade Federal law.
Madam Chairman, it is with growing alarm that we see this administration selectively executing and enforcing Federal law.
The CSA sets forth five classifications or schedules for controlled substances. Marijuana, along with heroin and LSD, are schedule I drugs without accepted medical purpose and which have a high potential for abuse. Smoking marijuana remains a Federal offense, and growers and distributors could and should be prosecuted.
Despite DOJ's responsibility to uphold the CSA as the law of the land, over the last few months, the Department of Justice has issued several memos suggesting ways for States like Colorado and Washington to evade Federal law and Federal law enforcement and encouraging other States to follow suit with decriminalization and potentially legalization.
Any Google search will tell you that the first of eight Federal priorities outlined in Deputy Attorney General James Cole's August 2013 is being run roughshod in Colorado.
Kids are quickly gaining access to marijuana. News accounts from Colorado describe elementary children selling pot at school.
In February of this year, both the Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury outlined ways for banks and other financial institutions to circumvent Federal law, in effect, giving tacit approval for financially facilitating the marijuana industry.
Madam Chairman, I don't have time to delve into all of the negative issues regarding health care and marijuana, but it is vitally important for my colleagues to remember that the scientific facts and recent studies all point to the fact that marijuana is highly addictive, is closely linked to altered brain development; schizophrenia; mental illness; heart complications; lower IQ; and impairs attention, judgment, and memory functions.
I would like to close by reading the following statement from the Drug Enforcement Agency's DEA May 2014 booklet on the ugly truth about marijuana:
Legalization of marijuana, no matter how it begins, will come at the expense of our children and public safety. It will create dependency and treatment issues and opens the door to use of other drugs, impaired health, delinquent behavior, and drugged drivers.
I think the DEA got it right. It is time for the rest of the Justice Department to do their job and enforce current U.S. law that recognizes marijuana's devastating impact on our children and society.
I am hopeful that my amendment will encourage DOJ to take steps necessary to correct any misunderstanding regarding the Federal enforcement of the CSA and the BSA. I now urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this amendment.
Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. FLEMING. I thank the gentleman for yielding. And I would say to you that science tells us that the more drugs--whether it is marijuana or heroin or whatever--are out there in society, on the shelves in homes, the more likely children will get involved in them. And as they do, in their young, developing brains, they are five times more likely at risk of having an addiction, and that is what gets them in prison. And trust me, my friend, I will tell the gentleman that whether it is marijuana or heroin or methamphetamines, as a drug addict once told me: All addicting substances are gateways to other addicting substances.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source