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“SCIENCE, STATE, JUSTICE, COMMERCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1312 on June 22, 2005.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SCIENCE, STATE, JUSTICE, COMMERCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS
ACT, 2006
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speech of
HON. ANNA G. ESHOO
of california
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2862) making appropriations for Science, the Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2006, and for other purposes:
Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Hinchey Amendment which will ban the U.S. Justice Department from spending taxpayer money to arrest or prosecute medical marijuana patients in the ten states where medical marijuana is legal: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.
In 1996, my home-state of California passed Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, which gave seriously ill Californians the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes. The medical use of the drug must be deemed appropriate and prescribed by a physician.
Since then, the U.S. Justice Department has initiated actions against individuals who are following State law and making marijuana available to individuals with a physician's prescription. Federal law enforcement officials should not be deployed to override State law in this regard.
Although the Supreme Court recently ruled that Federal drug law supercedes State medical marijuana statutes, there is no reason to imprison patients who are seeking relief from chronic pain or the doctors trying to help them.
The use of prescriptive medical marijuana is supported by the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Public Health Association. This is a matter of medicine not self indulgence. The use of marijuana for medical treatment should not be criminalized.
I urge all my colleagues to support this Amendment.
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