Matt Gaetz: “It is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Every day, nearly 1,000 women in this country receive a life-changing diagnosis…”

“It is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Every day, nearly 1,000 women in this country receive a life-changing diagnosis that they will be affected by breast cancer. Nearly 200,000 of these diagnoses occur each year. One in eight women in our country will face breast cancer. Breast cancer has a devastating effect on our families, taking away wives, mothers, aunts, uncles, sisters, and daughters. I wish I was a brilliant scientist and could develop a cure. I wish I was a magician and could wave a magic wand and cure breast cancer, but I am just a Member of Congress. Actually, there are things this Congress could do to make breast cancer less likely, less deadly, and less painful. Cannabis has shown promise in cancer research for over 2 decades. This research finally came to fruition in 2007, when Dr. Sean McAllister showed that cannabis-related compounds helped fight malignant forms of breast cancer. In the decade since, other research has confirmed and built on Dr. McAllister's findings, and there is now conclusive research that shows that cannabis-related compounds have antitumor properties. Yet, despite these findings, scientists are going too slow. It is time for cannabis research to begin, and we should declassify it as a schedule I drug. ____________________”