A Republican senator says marijuana is a \u201cgateway drug,\u201d and Democrats\u2019 moves to legalize it reflect \u201cpro-criminal, anti-American policies\u201d that will \u201cstimulate more crime on American streets.\u201d He also argued that cannabis banking legislation \u201cfacilitates an entire infrastructure and an ecosystem for more drug usage in America.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) said during an interview on Thursday that he\u2019s opposed to both comprehensive legalization legislation such as the bill Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)<\/a> and 17 other Democrats reintroduced this week, as well as modest reform like the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat the Joe Biden administration\u2014what Leader Schumer\u2014is trying to do is basically stimulate more crime on American streets,\u201d Hagerty said. \u201cHere we have Chuck Schumer basically lowering the barriers for gateway drugs like marijuana, and it\u2019s going to damage society, and this is exactly what Democrats have been pushing. This is not good for America.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that the push for cannabis legalization is an attempt to \u201cincentivize more drug usage in America.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked for his thoughts on the SAFER Banking Act to simply protect financial institutions that work with state-licensed marijuana businesses, the senator said it \u201cfacilitates an entire infrastructure, an ecosystem, for more drug usage in America.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to be constraining drug usage, not encouraging it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hagerty said that Democrats\u2019 marijuana reform efforts are \u201ccompletely political,\u201d designed to shore up support from a \u201csmall fragment\u201d of voters who care about cannabis policy ahead of the November election.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat they\u2019re trying to do is cobble together a very disparate group of people to vote for Joe Biden,\u201d he said. \u201cNobody likes his overall policies. If you look at American sentiment, everyone says that America is moving in the wrong direction. But what they\u2019re trying to do is pick off minor issues like this\u2014encouraging drug abuse, frankly. It\u2019s obscene that this would be happening.\u201d<\/p>\n This is Exhibit A why I thought the @DEAHQ<\/a> should announce #Schedule3<\/a> (fwiw, S3 was leaked not announced) on a Friday prior to a recess. Unless they wanted the GOP to embarrass themselves\u2026#SAFEBanking<\/a> \u2014 Don Murphy (@donmurphy12a) May 2, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cBut this is Chuck Schumer\u2019s perspective on basically putting another sliver of the Biden fragmented population together to vote for him. It\u2019s a shame,\u201d he continued. \u201cDemocrats are willing to do anything to maintain power here in Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n Fox News reporter Tyler Olson pointed out that even certain red states such as Montana have moved forward with marijuana legalization regardless of federal prohibition and asked the senator if he thought it would make sense to have some kind of regulatory framework to account for that.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think we should be doing anything to facilitate an ecosystem of drug abuse,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s precisely what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite his firm opposition, Hagerty and other GOP senators inadvertently made the case for marijuana legalization last year while warning that a proposed ban on menthol cigarettes could empower international criminal organizations to take advantage of an illicit market<\/a> that would emerge.<\/p>\n The prospect of passing a legalization bill such as the measure Schumer filed this week are slim in the divided Congress.<\/p>\n But some lawmakers do believe that the Drug Enforcement Administration\u2019s (DEA) decision to move forward with marijuana rescheduling could bolster the chances of advancing other cannabis reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act this Congress.<\/p>\n Schumer signaled this week that he\u2019s not giving up hope on attaching the marijuana banking bill to must-pass aviation legislation<\/a>. But Republican leaders in both chambers continue to represent roadblocks for the reform.<\/p>\n Former Biden Cabinet Member Is \u2018Concerned\u2019 About Marijuana Legalization<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis \/\/ Side Pocket Images.<\/em><\/p>\n The post GOP Senator Says Marijuana Is A \u2018Gateway Drug,\u2019 And Legalization Is A \u2018Pro-Criminal, Anti-American\u2019 Policy<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A Republican senator says marijuana is a \u201cgateway drug,\u201d and Democrats\u2019 moves to legalize it reflect \u201cpro-criminal, anti-American policies\u201d that will \u201cstimulate more crime on American streets.\u201d He also argued that cannabis banking legislation \u201cfacilitates an entire infrastructure and an ecosystem for more drug usage in America.\u201d Sen. Bill HagertyContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74933"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74934,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74933\/revisions\/74934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Thanks to @TylerOlson1791<\/a> at @FoxNews<\/a> for the questions. @AmericanCCo<\/a>
(Also\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/9JQj8LaQFm<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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\nRead More: GOP Senator Says Marijuana Is A \u2018Gateway Drug,\u2019 And Legalization Is A \u2018Pro-Criminal, Anti-American\u2019 Policy<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"