Bonnie Watson Coleman: “I thank the chairman and I thank everyone that my colleague, Barbara Lee, acknowledged earlier. Mr. Speaker, I rise…”

“I thank the chairman and I thank everyone that my colleague, Barbara Lee, acknowledged earlier. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the MORE Act and on behalf of the countless families that have been disrupted and destroyed by our Nation's failed drug policies and the devastating war on drugs. As a result of the war on drugs, the United States has a higher rate of incarceration than such human rights-abusing governments as Russia, Belarus, and Iran. It also wastes more money than any other country locking up its citizens for personal drug use. Racial justice and cannabis decriminalization are inextricably intertwined, and the former cannot be achieved without the latter. By decriminalizing cannabis, we can reverse the trend of over- incarceration and get one step closer to dismantling the systemic racism so pervasive in our criminal justice system. The MORE Act is an important step in rewriting our future, and I urge my colleagues to support it. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair will advise the managers that Mr. Nadler has 2\3/4\ minutes and Mr. Bentz has 6\3/4\ minutes remaining.”