Political Quotes

“I thank Mr. Griffith for his succinct and excellent summary of the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Griffith-Raskin-Jackson Lee amendment. I want to thank Chairman Goodlatte for his excellent work on this with his professional staff. It is an important consensus amendment, and I also want to specifically mention the hard work of DEA detailee Tony Angeli. I also want to salute our partners at the National Institute on Drug Addiction and the National Institutes of Health, which is headquartered in my district. This amendment will do a lot to aid NIH scientists and allied researchers across the country who are presently working on the science of addiction and advancing medical efforts to treat and to prevent it. This amendment constitutes a significant improvement in the text of the bill. With the amendment, researchers will not have to immediately cease their work while they wait to clear licensing hurdles if a substance is placed on schedule A. The amendment creates a two-tiered system for researchers: one section for those who have a schedule I or schedule II license and one for those who have a schedule III through V license. Researchers with schedule I or II licenses can continue working with any substance placed on schedule A without cessation of that work while an application for schedule A licensure is pending. This includes work with synthetic cannabinoids and opioids, which is obviously essential to our making progress in the field.…”