Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I will enter in the Record my comments that I would have made today. Mr. Speaker, I am sad and I am angry. I have been working for 50 years leading the effort to end the failed, unfair, cynical, dangerous war on drugs that targeted Black people, that discouraged the legal use of a therapeutic good, something that could have enriched our economy, but instead criminalized behavior, had unintended consequences, and continues to fail us today. You have been reading comments lately about the problems we have in terms of the use of cannabis for some pregnant women who are unaware of the impact that that can have on a developing fetus. We are looking at impacts on our children from a cannabis that is much more potent than it used to be. We don't have a system that regulates it, that taxes it, that keeps it out of the hands of children. No neighborhood drug dealer looks for identification, and they are perfectly happy to sell kids other, more dangerous and potent drugs. We don't have to do this. The House of Representatives has passed a number of items that would remedy this situation. We passed the comprehensive MORE Act that would put it on equal footing. Frankly, we have legislation that would stop the unfair practice of taxing State-legal cannabis businesses two or three times higher than regular businesses. No wonder they can't compete with the black market.…”