On the recordApril 30, 2014
To my friends from Texas and Oregon, I would say to the gentleman from Texas: you are absolutely right, it is against Federal law, and that is something that we as a legislature need to look at very closely. We are dealing with issues right now in Colorado where we have legalized the use of marijuana. In respect to certain banking laws, there may be a question of whether banks can provide financial services to marijuana businesses, and as a consequence, cash is building up. So you may be absolutely right, I say to my friend from Texas; but the gentleman from Oregon does, as does the gentleman from California, state a valid case from a medical point of view. I would just say that I had a brother-in-law who had melanoma, and the only thing that gave him any relief was marijuana. Now, subsequently, he has passed away, but from a medical standpoint, there ought to be an opportunity for a doctor to consult with a patient to prescribe something that gives that kind of relief. So you are correct, Mr. Chairman, but I think we need to really take a good look at this. In Colorado, we see a lot of people coming to Colorado to help treat epilepsy because marijuana may have some positive effects on epilepsy. We need to take a look at that in a whole variety of ways.
