The Oregon lawmaker has championed cannabis policy changes on Capitol Hill for nearly three decades.
Half a century ago, a Republican hog farmer delivered the most convincing argument for cannabis legalization Earl Blumenauer has ever heard.
Stafford Hansell, a 60-year-old state senator, was a lead sponsor of Oregon’s groundbreaking 1973 marijuana decriminalization bill.
Hansell held up a cigarette and a bottle of alcohol, and explained that they each killed tens of thousands of people every year. Then he held up a bag of weed, and said it doesn’t kill anybody.
Fifty years on, cannabis is still federally illegal. But in that time, the issue has gone from fringe to mainstream, with more than half of Americans now living in states where adults can legally possess the drug. And the “cannabis czar” – as Blumenauer became known during 14 terms in Congress championing the issue – has seen it all.
Blumenauer is now exiting Capitol Hill at a time when significant changes are occuring at the federal level. Long-time drug warrior Joe Biden has pushed forward a plan to loosen federal marijuana restrictions – arguably the biggest change in national drug policy in half a century – and President-elect Donald Trump says he supports those changes. This follows a decade of the Department of Justice not enforcing federal cannabis laws in states that voted to legalize, and Congress passing protections for medical marijuana programs. [Read More @ Politico]
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