Rep Earl Blumenauer predicts end to federal marijuana prohibition in four years or less

This notable new local article reports on notable new comments by a notable long-standing advocate for marijuana reform in Congress. The full headline of the piece is “U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer Says Cannabis May Be De-Regulated Nationwide Within Four Years. ‘If we do our job, it’s game over in 2 years’.” Here are excerpts:

U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) believes the end of the battle to legalize marijuana across the United States is fewer than four years away.

“I made a bet that within five years, every state will be able to treat cannabis like alcohol and there will be universal access to medical marijuana,” he told a crowd of cannabis business owners at Cultivation Classic in Revolution Hall Saturday afternoon. “If we do our job, it’s game over in 2 years.”

Blumenauer, a longtime champion of legal weed, said the 2018 elections could be pivotal to removing cannabis from the federal list of Schedule 1 narcotics, like heroin and methamphetamine. “If Democrats control the House of Representatives in the first months of the next Congress in 2019,” said Blumenauer, “we will be having hearings on de-scheduling.”…

“I don’t second-guess people’s motives if they’re wiling to evolve,” Blumenauer says, “whether its for political expediency, whether it’s that they’ve seen the light, whether they’re fed up with the racial injustice seen in drug laws or if its a commercial opportunity.”

With growing support across the states on both sides of the political aisle, Blumenauer says he sees cannabis being de-regulated very soon. “It will be a sea change and it is within our grasp,” he says.