Trump Names Rabid Cannabis Prohibitionist as Drug Czar
Since 2011, Marino has voted against amendments on three different occasions that would have prohibited the U.S Department of Justice from interfering with state medical cannabis laws and allowed Department of Veterans Affairs doctors to give military veterans medical cannabis recommendations, according to MassRoots.
Additionally, Marino voted against a law to protect state-controlled CBD programs from federal crackdowns and has at least twice opposed industrial hemp legislation. Perhaps the biggest irony here is the fact that Marino, in an October interview with the Sun-Gazette, had the nerve to absurdly claim he’s a “states’ rights guy.”
In the same interview, he noted that the only way he would ever agree to legalizing cannabis would be after “a really in-depth medical scientific study.” Revealing his extreme level of ignorance about the veracity of medicinal cannabis, Marino said:
“If it does help people one way or another, then produce it in pill form … You can’t smoke it for this, but you take a pill. But don’t make an excuse because you want to smoke marijuana. Look what’s happening to states and cities who are legalizing it. They are running into a lot of problems.”
Revealing his extremist views on drug policy in testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee, Marino noted:
“One treatment option I have advocated for years would be placing nondealer, nonviolent drug abusers in a secured hospital-type setting under the constant care of health professionals. Once the person agrees to plead guilty to possession, he or she will be placed in an intensive treatment program until experts determine that they should be released under intense supervision. If this is accomplished, then the charges are dropped against that person. The charges are only filed to have an incentive for that person to enter the hospital-slash-prison, if you want to call it.”