RELENTLESS ADVOCACY

California was the first state to legalize medical cannabis back in 1996. Since then, some grassroots organizations and vocal politicians have been pushing to get cannabis legalized for recreational purposes in the state. One of those outspoken politicians is California’s Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. Through Rohrabacher’s first-hand experience with medical cannabis, the Congressman knows how beneficial the plant can be, and he finds it absurd that our resources have been wasted on cannabis prohibition instead of focusing on actual criminals.

Rohrabacher recently chatted with CULTURE about his personal experience with cannabis, in addition to how he foresees his Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment continuing to protect statewide cannabis legislation from the federal government.

How are you doing today, Congressman?

Dana Rohrabacher: Well I wish I could say that I’m doing okay, but I’ve got this arthritis in my shoulders that’s killing me, and so I’m having a shoulder replacement in about two weeks. So I’m doing poorly today, and I would be doing a lot better if there was medical marijuana available to alleviate my pain.

“I’m in severe pain, and the idea that our poor veterans who come back and are in similar pain are not being able to utilize medical marijuana and it’s criminal for many people who are suffering . . . ”

We have read that you have used topical medical cannabis for your arthritis in the past, is that right?

I did and what I have found in almost all the different ones that I’ve used now to try and find the pain reliever is that it takes about 15 minutes for it to act, no matter what kind you’re using. And then for an hour, your pain is relieved, and then it goes away. And so I’m very concerned, very upset, that marijuana has been made illegal all these years, even the medical use of it, and thus there has not been the research then. By the way, if they could have by now found ways of genetically altering the marijuana plant so that the pain relieving elements for people who were suffering would last longer, maybe even 10 hours. But there has been none of that research.

In August, a court ruled to possibly extend your Rohrabacher-Farr amendment. How will this influence the cannabis community?

Extending it just means that the same protections that we’ve had for the last three years under Rohrabacher-Farr, which prohibits the federal government and federal employees who are under the payroll of the federal government, from enforcing stricter federal drug laws in those states where the medical marijuana has been legalized.

“And so I’m very concerned, very upset, that marijuana has been made illegal all these years, even the medical use of it, and thus there has not been the research then.”

The Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment is one of the most important pieces of legislation that has come out to support the cannabis community. Why do you think it’s important to be vocal about your support for cannabis legalization?

It’s a time to recognize number one that people are free to do what they want. And number two, in this particular case that there are many, many positive things about cannabis that people should utilize, not the least of which is making rope for pete’s sake. There is a lot of benefit there, and we have to find what those benefits are. I’m in severe pain, and the idea that our poor veterans who come back and are in similar pain are not being able to utilize medical marijuana and it’s criminal for many people who are suffering to try to cut them off legally from even calculating what can be done to alleviate that pain, much less give it to them in the way of a doctor who might want to prescribe it to someone. This is all about liberty; this is about freedom for me.