Congressman says weed is just a performance-enhancing drug in hot dog competitions

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While discussing a new bill to update the federal government’s racially motivated drug condemnation policy, a legislature took time to criticize US sports officials for banning Sha’carri Richardson from attending the Olympics.

Richardson was suspended from the U.S. Olympic team earlier this month for testing positive for THC, preventing them from participating in the Tokyo Olympics. Richardson said at the time that she used cannabis to deal with her mother’s recent death, but despite massive support from lawmakers, celebrities and the public, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) is sticking to her decision.

During a recent session of the House Judiciary Committee to discuss a law condemning cocaine, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) took a moment to criticize Richardson’s suspension and the war on drugs in general. Cohen argued that banning athletes from using cannabis weeks before a sports event was completely hypocritical, especially since athletes are allowed to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, or use other drugs that can cleanse the system faster than cannabis.

“If she’d gotten rid of margaritas, Red Bull or whatever you’re drinking out there these days – lager – she’d have been fine because it wouldn’t have appeared in her system,” lawmakers said on Marijuana Moment. “She should have run anyway. But for marijuana it could have been 20 days ago, and just a puff or two, it’s gone. “

“Marijuana is not a performance-enhancing drug unless you compete in the Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4th,” he quipped. “Her right to appear and take away her dream is absurd, and this Congress should see to it that we do not have these problems in the future.”

Cohen continued to criticize the catastrophic failure of American drug policies and advocate new bills that would end the federal cannabis ban once and for all. “Let’s get real. The war on drugs is a total failure, ”he said, reporting Marijuana Moment. “Nancy Reagan was wrong. Everyone who followed her and the others who said, ‘Just say no’, we’re wrong because that wasn’t enough. “

The bill that the Justice Committee debated has nothing to do with weed at all, but it does address the racial inequality enshrined in US drug laws directly. The EQUAL Act aims to end the extreme differences in judgment between people caught selling or using crack or cocaine powder. In 1986, Congress passed law that imposed a compulsory minimum five-year sentence for anyone caught with 5 grams of crack – but someone caught with cocaine powder would not receive the same sentence unless they were 500 grams or more more.

This excessive inequality of 100: 1 did nothing to lower the crime rate, but it ushered in an era of racially disproportionate mass incarceration that continues to this day. Thanks to these extreme laws, one in three black boys is expected to be incarcerated at some point in their life, compared to one in 17 white boys. In 2010, Congress reduced the sentencing inequality to 18: 1, but the EQUAL Act would make the sentencing thresholds the same. This bill has just passed the Justice Committee 36-5 with strong bipartisan support.

“This war on drugs is as big – and I would be a bigger – failure than Afghanistan,” Cohen said, arguing that if America can pull out of this war, “we can get out of the war on drugs, too.”

While Richardson’s ban from the Olympics remains in place, it is likely that public outrage over her suspension will see sports officials finally updating their outdated cannabis guidelines. The USADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, and even the White House have proposed rethinking their cannabis policies, and state sports commissions are also easing cannabis bans.

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