By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Rep. Early Blumenauer called for the resignation Wednesday of the acting DEA chief Chuck Rosenberg for saying it’s a “joke” to suggest that marijuana has medicinal benefits, the Huffington Post reports.
“Rosenberg is clearly not the right fit for the DEA in this administration,” Blumenauer said during a speech on the House floor Wednesday morning.
Rosenberg made the comments earlier this month.
“What really bothers me is the notion that marijuana is also medicinal — because it’s not,” Rosenberg said. “We can have an intellectually honest debate about whether we should legalize something that is bad and dangerous, but don’t call it medicine — that is a joke.”
Blumenauer fired back.
“What is a joke is the job Rosenberg is doing as acting DEA administrator,” he said. “He’s an example of the inept, misinformed zealot who has mismanaged America’s failed policy of marijuana prohibition.”
He added: “Rosenberg’s claim that more research is necessary is true, but it reeks of hypocrisy because the DEA under his leadership has made badly needed cannabis research difficult, often impossible.”