What happens when a conservative medical doctor from Louisiana debates marijuana with a free spirit like Jared Polis of Boulder on the floor of the U.S. House?
For some reason, a bizarre discussion on .
Polis took offense at the comments , who talked about what he sees as the negative impacts of legalizing marijuana on Colorado and its children. The Colorado congressman disputed Fleming’s concerns.
“I just wish that you would leave my sovereign state of Colorado alone. Let our people and our state government decide what we want to do with regard to marijuana rather than a federal agent going around trying to arrest people for doing activities that are fully legal under state law. That’s all I ask,” Polis said.
“I’m not going to send federal troops into Louisiana to arrest people for whatever you do down there, smoking crayfish. Want me to ban that and send federal troops down there? I bet maybe smoking crayfish ain’t good for you. What if it’s fried? Might clog your arteries, huh?”
Smoke this.
The discussion came as Polis and Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., discussed their amendment to a Department of Justice spending bill intended to prevent the federal government from enforcing federal marijuana laws against individuals and companies who are operating in compliance with the state laws regulating marijuana. The amendment, they say, “will not only protect critically ill medical marijuana patients from federal prosecution but, unlike previous versions, will also apply to adult use of marijuana in states where it is legal, like Colorado, Washington, Alaska, and Oregon.”
Colorado voters legalized marijuana in 2012 .
Fleming referred to a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision that says Congress many criminalize the production and use of home-grown cannabis even where states approve its use for medicinal purposes.
