Maryland Legislators

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Speaking on the legalized sale of marijuana in both Colorado and Washington, Cardin said he believes Congress and the federal government as a whole are taking a “wait-and-see” approach. “I think you’re seeing federalism played out,” he said. “Law enforcement is a state and local issue; it’s not generally a national issue.” Cardin said he doesn’t believe national marijuana decriminalization or legalization had any support at this time, but his Senate colleagues are monitoring how the individual state systems were panning out in the states that had passed referendums. “We want to see whether the claims of concern or positive results pan out,” he said. “To me, that’s how federalism operates, the states pilot different programs and if they work, we adopt national policy.” Cardin likened the issue to drunken-driving laws of the past, which varied in different states until a national effort created the uniform, nationwide 0.08 blood alcohol concentration limit.

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“We need to know one way or another [if] marijuana has the widespread medical uses people claim,” says Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md. Harris, a medical doctor reviled by reformers for his role blocking regulated recreational pot sales in the nation’s capital, says he’s serious about research, which he believes will prove pot “actually has quite limited usefulness in the smoked raw product.” “I would assume they would go with the intent of Congress to remove as many obstacles as possible to doing rigorous scientific research on medical marijuana,” he says.”The bottom line is marijuana can be available from many sources as long as we test for the components being tested,” Harris says. “Multi-sourcing the product could be one possible way to make research easier.” 7/9/2015 (Link)

“I would hope that the D.C. residents would turn down legalization,” Harris said. “If they don’t, I think that Congress will have an opportunity next year to comment on it, both through the normal authorization process or through appropriations if necessary.” 8/7/2014 (Link)

“It is illegal under the law. This is an example of the administration not wanting to enforce the law,” Harris says. “If the administration thinks the law ought to be changed, go to Congress and change the law. “We don’t take lightly interfering in D.C. home rule, but when they make clearly bad decisions. Look, unemployment is high among youth in D.C. Is anybody advancing the argument legalizing marijuana is going to reduce youth unemployment? Education performance of youth in D.C. is lower than the national average. Does anybody make an argument this is going to improve educational performance in D.C.? This is where I think D.C. made a bad decision about its own rule and we have — the Congress has — the ultimate authority.” 2/26/2015 (Link)