Rep. Matt Gaetz Fact-Checks Kellyanne Conway after Cannabis Comments

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]R[/dropcap]ep. Matt Gaetz  took a swipe at White House advisor Kellyanne Conway about her cringe-worthy comments about the negative effects of cannabis on the brain. Gaetz set the record straight on Nov. 23 while speaking on Smerconish on CNN.

Several months ago, Conway made some questionable comments about today’s cannabis. “For all the folks that talk about the benefits and legalities of marijuana, there are many health professionals and employers increasingly concerned that this is not your grandfather’s or your father’s marijuana,” Conway told CNN’s Michael Smerconish last April. “The TCH [sic] components are much stronger.”

When Smerconish asked Gaetz about Conway’s comments last April, the Congressman said,  “I would say, ‘OK, boomer.’ That’s a very boomer approach to marijuana, for no other reason than it’s THC, not TCH, and I think her reflection shows a real ignorance to the science.”  

Gaetz is a member of the House Judiciary Committee—the same committee that recently approved the the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act of 2019, which could spell actual cannabis law reform at the federal level.

Gaetz pointed out that any dangers represented by medical cannabis are far outnumbered by the negative effects of opioid addiction in America. “Her reflection shows a real ignorance to the science demonstrating that in states where there are marijuana programs you see a reduction in Schedule I drug recommendations,” Gaetz said. “You also see a reduction in the types of overdoses that are crippling our country and hollowing out America. If we have a lower acuity anti-pain alternative to heroin and opioids, I think that you’ll see the country do a lot better.”

Gaetz went on to explain that cannabis reform is better explained as a generational issue rather than a partisan issue, as both political parties are signaling support for national cannabis reform.

“This is not an issue that young people are fighting about,” he said. “This is largely generational more than it is partisan because I think more and more young people in the country are saying, ‘let’s just go ahead and let people live better live with a more natural alternative that has a lower propensity for addiction.’” Gaetz was one of only two Republican Congressmen to vote in favor of the MORE Act last week.