Drugs

Drugs are a very important issue faced by our country and even the world, but the way our country handles dealing with drug issues is far behind the rest of the developed world and we need to work to change this.

The DEA is a sinkhole of taxpayer dollars which frankly is more harmful than beneficial. Drug addiction is a sickness, and treating it as a crime only keeps it in the shadows and makes it more profitable for those smuggling drugs in. $2 Billion would be saved by eliminating the DEA, decriminalizing drugs, and we could spend half of that on drug treatment programs and drug education. We'd spend less money on prisons, less money on enforcement, the cartels would lose their power and the result would be people no longer afraid to seek help. To me this is a common sense approach.

Marijuana being legalized for recreational use has been a booming success raising incredible amounts of money through taxation. Why it is still illegal in our state or the rest of the country for that matter is impossible to explain rationally, it has numerous proven health benefits without side effects and quite frankly most people use it or have used it on occasion. It has always baffled me, marijuana is part of our culture prevalent in movies and music and television yet is outlawed.

I will do everything in my power as a member of congress to legalize marijuana and decriminalize drugs.