 Last week during a House Subcomittee meeting, Texas Congressman Pete Sessions drew harsh criticism for comparing cannabis legalization to slavery.
The statements were made during a hearing by the House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which was held to examine the many benefits of cannabis decriminalization at the federal level. Maryland Democratic Representative Jaime Raskin, who chaired the committee, opened the hearing on a more positive note, by saying that “decriminalizing cannabis would benefit a lot of communities, including especially people of color, individuals incarcerated for non-violent offenses, veterans, and federal employees.” He also pointed out how it would benefit the small businesses by providing banking access. During the hearing, committe members heard testimony from the heads of several cannabis advocacy groups who “discussed how decriminalizing cannabis at the federal level would improve treatment options for veterans and help address the racial disparities in the criminal justice system,” as well as help cannabis businesses with banking access. Witnesses included: Randall Woodfin, Mayor of the City of Birmingham, Alabama Paul Armentano, Deputy Director of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Andrew Freedman, Executive Director of Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education, and Regulation (CPEAR) Eric Goepel, Founder and CEO of Veterans Cannabis Coalition Keeda Haynes, Senior Legal Advisor of Free Hearts Amber Littlejohn, Senior Policy Advisor for Global Alliance for Cannabis Commerce Jillian Snider, Policy Director of Criminal Justice & Civil Liberties, R Street Institute. Ultimately, the subcommittee members and witnesses finsished their meeting by concluding that the federal government should establish protocols to regulate cannabis as it does alcohol—including by removing cannabis from the list of controlled substances. But it was during the meeting that Texas Republican Representative Pete Sessions caused a stir with his bizzare and highly offensive correlation between cannabis legalization and slavery. Sessions, who is white, spoke about cannabis, saying, “The product is being marketed. The product is being sold. The product has been advocated by people who were in it to make money. Slavery made money also and was a terrible circumstance that this country and the world went through for many, many years.". Other committee members were quick to call out Sessions for his offensive comments. South Carolina Republican Representative Nancy Mace was the first to do so, calling Sessions’ remarks “a disgusting comparison.” Maryland Democratic Representative Jaime Raskin, who chaired the committee, agreed with Mace, saying, “I would begin by associating myself entirely with [her] remarks,” and added, “I think we can all disavow that, and we apologize that that the lectern was used for that purpose at some moment today.” Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, spoke after Sessions. Mayor Woodfin was at the meeting to testify on how he pardoned several thousand Birmingham residents of their misdemeanor marijuana convictions, spoke after Sessions’ statement. Mayor Woodfin said, “While I’m on record, I would just like to say to you directly, your committee members, that putting cannabis and slavery in the same category is patently offensive and flagrant.” Twitter user Luke Sheppard used humor to discredit Sessions, by pointing out that Session’s argument about cannabis being used to “make money” could be applied to virtually anything. He wrote, “Hamburger is being advocated by people who are in it to make money. Television is being advocated by people who are in it to make money. Wallpaper is being advocated by people who are in it to make money. Ivermectin is being advocated by people who are in it to make money.” And reporter Zack Linly, of NewsOne, wrote about how Sessions statement smacked of hypocrisy, writing, “It’s just wild how Republicans are pro-capitalism and pro-“the past is the past” in regard to slavery until it’s time to make erroneous arguments like this.” Linley also added that this was, “the dumbest anti-cannabis argument heard since Fox News’ Laura Ingraham tried to blame marijuana use for school shootings.” The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws’ Political Director Morgan Fox summed up the whole mess with a tweet, calling Sessions statement, “shameful,” and asked, “Texas, when are you going to send Pete Sessions packing?” Comments are closed.
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