John Rice Carter: “How is it that we here in Congress, in the face of all the domestic and international crises that we are facing right…”

“How is it that we here in Congress, in the face of all the domestic and international crises that we are facing right now, that we are here talking about decriminalizing and descheduling marijuana? Now, we are all going to go home this weekend, and what are our constituents going to be talking about? They are going to be talking about the price of gas. They are going to be talking about the price of food. They are going to be talking about the price that they have to pay to heat their homes. They are going to turn on the TV. What are they going to see? They are going to see in real time Ukrainians being bombed by Russia, fleeing for their lives. And what are we doing here in Congress? Talking about marijuana? You have got to be kidding me. Mr. Speaker, as you know, I am a pharmacist. I know addiction. I know and I have studied addiction. I can tell you, marijuana is nothing more than a gateway drug. It leads to other harder drugs. Don't try to justify this by saying, Oh, alcohol is a drug and it is legalized. That is not what we do. That makes no sense whatsoever. Mr. Speaker, we had a hearing in the Energy and Commerce Committee. We had 10 parents before us whose children had died due to opioid addiction. Not 8 out of 10, not 9 out of 10, but 10 out of 10 of those parents said they smoked marijuana to begin with; 10 out of 10. It is a gateway drug that leads to harder drugs. This is not a Republican-Democrat situation here. This is an American problem.…”