Indopedia All Things Marijuana
For years, Congressman Earl Blumenauer has been fighting to end the failed federal prohibition of cannabis and allow citizens to benefit both medically and financially from the plant. In 2013, the Democratic representative of Oregon teamed with Colorado congressman Jared Polis to co-author “The Path Forward: Rethinking Federal Marijuana Policy,” a report in which they outlined opportunities to reform and clarify marijuana laws at the federal level. He has also introduced a number of bills focused on reform, from getting veterans medical marijuana recommendations, to expunging some federal cannabis-related offenses and making people guilty of marijuana misdemeanor offenses eligible for federal financial aid for education, to removing cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and creating a framework for its federal taxation and regulation. This year, 69-year-old Blumenauer helped form the bipartisan Congressional Cannabis Caucus, to address conflicts between federal laws that prohibit medical and recreational cannabis use and state laws that permit them.
MERRY JANE Editor-in-Chief Noah Rubin sat down with Blumenauer in Washington, D.C., to discuss the genesis and…
