Blumenauer backs legal pot — but not for his grandchildren
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) is one of the leading advocates for marijuana legalization in Congress, but don’t let him catch his grandchildren smoking pot.
“I’ve got four grandkids all under four years old, and I don’t want them messing around with marijuana,” Blumenauer told The Hill in an Election Day interview.
{mosads}“It’s bad for young brains.”
Blumenauer said the federal prohibition on marijuana is ineffective and “doesn’t protect our kids.”
Not only does the ban unfairly target African-Americans, who are more likely to be arrested for smoking pot, he argued, but it also drums up business for illegal drug dealers.
“We tried prohibition once and it didn’t turn out so well,” he said.
Nine states are considering ballot measures Tuesday that would legalize marijuana in some form.
Voters in Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada are considering measures to legalize the adult use of recreation marijuana, while medical marijuana is on the ballot in Arkansas, Florida, Montana and North Dakota.
Oregon approved recreational marijuana in 2014, but Blumenauer said he has kept busy campaigning “from Maine to California” in favor of these other ballot initiatives.
Congress has been slow to act on marijuana reform, but Blumenauer hopes the state ballot initiatives will give a jolt of momentum to legalization efforts on Capitol Hill.
He is pushing legislation that would allow the government to regulate the sale of marijuana like alcohol in an effort to undercut illegal drug dealers.
Blumenauer sees no conflict between his family life and his politics.
“There are lots of things in society that are bad for us,” Blumenauer said. “I don’t want my grandkids smoking cigarettes either, but they’re legal.”
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