Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Tuesday convened a hearing of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control to investigate whether the Justice Department has been derelict in its enforcement duties on marijuana.
In the words of Grassley, "The Department of Justice decided to all but abandon the enforcement of federal law relating to the possession, cultivation, and distribution of marijuana."
But the line-up of witnesses called to testify -- including three opponents of marijuana legalization -- had drug policy groups crying foul before the hearing even took place. The Drug Policy Alliance, a group advocating for the reform of highly punitive drug laws, described the proceedings as a "sham hearing" and a "one-sided prohibitionist party."
[Support for marijuana legalization has hit an all-time high]
The liberal Feinstein and conservative Grassley make an odd couple in the charged partisan environment of today's Senate, but the two senators have long seen eye to eye on marijuana issues. To discuss the merits of state-level marijuana legalization initiatives and the federal government's response to them, they called on a number of speakers who've made a name for themselves fighting marijuana reform efforts at the state and federal level, including:
Benjamin B. Wagner, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, who has prosecuted low-level marijuana offenses;
Doug Peterson, the Nebraska attorney general whose lawsuit against Colorado's legal marijuana regime was recently tossed out by the U.S. Supreme Court;
And Kathryn Wells, a Colorado pediatrician on the advisory board of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, the leading anti-marijuana legalization group in the United States.
The only other speaker was a representative from the Government Accountability Office who gave a rundown of a recent report on the nuts and bolts of the federal response to marijuana legalization. Otherwise, the hearing focused almost exclusively on what the speakers said were the harms caused by relaxing marijuana laws.
Caucus member Jeff Sessions (R.-Al.) spoke of the need to foster "knowledge that this drug is dangerous, you cannot play with it, it is not funny, it's not something to laugh about... and to send that message with clarity that good people don't smoke marijuana."
more:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...a-hearing-is-heavy-on-anecdote-light-on-data/
In the words of Grassley, "The Department of Justice decided to all but abandon the enforcement of federal law relating to the possession, cultivation, and distribution of marijuana."
But the line-up of witnesses called to testify -- including three opponents of marijuana legalization -- had drug policy groups crying foul before the hearing even took place. The Drug Policy Alliance, a group advocating for the reform of highly punitive drug laws, described the proceedings as a "sham hearing" and a "one-sided prohibitionist party."
[Support for marijuana legalization has hit an all-time high]
The liberal Feinstein and conservative Grassley make an odd couple in the charged partisan environment of today's Senate, but the two senators have long seen eye to eye on marijuana issues. To discuss the merits of state-level marijuana legalization initiatives and the federal government's response to them, they called on a number of speakers who've made a name for themselves fighting marijuana reform efforts at the state and federal level, including:
Benjamin B. Wagner, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, who has prosecuted low-level marijuana offenses;
Doug Peterson, the Nebraska attorney general whose lawsuit against Colorado's legal marijuana regime was recently tossed out by the U.S. Supreme Court;
And Kathryn Wells, a Colorado pediatrician on the advisory board of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, the leading anti-marijuana legalization group in the United States.
The only other speaker was a representative from the Government Accountability Office who gave a rundown of a recent report on the nuts and bolts of the federal response to marijuana legalization. Otherwise, the hearing focused almost exclusively on what the speakers said were the harms caused by relaxing marijuana laws.
Caucus member Jeff Sessions (R.-Al.) spoke of the need to foster "knowledge that this drug is dangerous, you cannot play with it, it is not funny, it's not something to laugh about... and to send that message with clarity that good people don't smoke marijuana."
more:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...a-hearing-is-heavy-on-anecdote-light-on-data/
