He’s retiring so doesn’t need to hold his tongue..
Marijuana Moment
A Democratic congressman laid into a top Biden administration official on Wednesday over the “political malpractice” that is the president’s failure to end marijuana prohibition. The top federal health official promised to deliver that message to the White House, but also deferred responsibility for delays in an ongoing review into cannabis’s scheduling status to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), founding co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, didn’t pull any punches at the House Ways & Means Committee hearing with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra.
The retiring congressman cited remarks from Vice President Kamala Harris last week— where she expressed frustration with how long it is taking to complete the marijuana scheduling review that President Joe Biden directed in 2022 and urged DEA to move “as quickly as possible”—and said “she’s right.”
“I think it borders on political malpractice and beyond. This is an area that just breaks my heart,” Blumenauer said, adding that he’s “frustrated” with the lack of progress implementing a cannabis research bill he championed that Biden signed into law in late 2022.
“We’re still waiting. Mr. Secretary. This is an area that is profoundly affecting millions of people in the United States,” he said. “We are denying opportunities for research that almost everybody agrees could be transformative, and we’re not in the forefront of this research.”
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