Once the Super Bowl clears out, cannabis businesspeople, activists and allies gather Feb. 13 and 14 in San Francisco for the International Cannabis Business Conference — an event packed with influential speakers, including former US Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders, and columnist Andrew Sullivan.

ICBC’s organizers announced last week the inclusion of two political leaders on the issue: Congressmen Dana Rohrabacher, R-CA. and Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-OR, both of whom chatted with Smell the Truth about 2016 cannabis legalization, the presidential race, and the message they’ll carry to San Francisco this February.

Rep. Rohrabacher helped make history along with Rep. Sam Farr in 2014 when the two led Congress to a historic, bipartisan ceasefire on state-legal medical marijuana. Their spending provision was renewed with 33% more Republican votes (67 House Republican votes total).

Rep. Blumenauer supported Oregon legalization Measure 91, and has also distinguished himself on this issue nationally. In November, he called for the resignation of the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, after the official said the medical use of cannabis was a “joke”.

In this second of a series of Smell the Truth Q&As with the Congressmen, Reps. Rohrabacher and Blumenauer set expecations for cannabis law reform goals in the 2016 Congress, and emphasized the opportunities for bipartisanship. (Q&A edited for clarity and concision)

Smell the Truth: What are your hopes, if any, for cannabis law reform in Congress in 2016. Won’t the primaries distract from the momentum?

Rep. Rohrabacher: The best we can expect, if we do what’s right, is a one-more-year extension on my amendment.

However, it’s conceivable that we could go even better than that and do not just medical marijuana and state’s rights, but actually have marijuana in general and states’ rights. [Rep. Tom] McClintock [(R-Calif.)] has a bill in that regard, and that’s what I believe in.

Our people, they sort of look at the founding fathers as good folks. They put it right in the constitution. The founding fathers didn’t want the federal government to be policing our lives. … McClintock’s bill lost by 16 votes.

Rep. Blumenauer: We continue to build momentum for the legislative agenda, which is all supported on a bipartisan basis.

We have bipartisan support for both banking reform and for tax reform. I carried this message personally to President Obama, I deal with my colleagues, I could be giving a press interview every hour, and I just finished meeting with advocates both today and yesterday in Southern California. So we’re trying to carry that message personally and have people focus and follow through.

More people are understanding the nature of the challenge and why this is the right public policy position. They understand there’s more and more public support, so I think Congress will reflect it. We are getting more people supporting legislation, getting more votes in support of pieces of this, so I am cautiously optimistic we can still get something enacted in this Congress, and it’s going to play, I think, a larger role on the political landscape this year.

Smell the Truth: Looking at the race to the White House, how do you see the candidates affecting cannabis policy, if at all?

Rep. Rohrabacher: I don’t think that Bernie Sanders [who vowed to end federal pot prohibition] is going to win the presidency, although I like Bernie Sanders, I know Bernie very well, Bernie is a very nice man, and we get along. But I’m not a socialist.

Hey, he wants to eliminate the control the government has on our personal lives in dealing with marijuana, but then he wants the government to control everything else. No, I don’t think so. I don’t think Bernie’s going to get it.

The big fight is between Trump and Cruz, and those are the guys that have the chance now of getting it. I’ve spoken to Cruz, I’ve endorsed Cruz. Everybody knows Cruz always tries to justify it with the constitution, he’s a constitutional lawyer— and I quizzed him about this particular part of the constitution. He is inclined to letting the states handle medical marijuana — meaning, supporting my amendment.

Rep. Blumenauer: I don’t think somebody is going to elected who has a retrograde opinion on this.

I have had a couple of conversations with Secretary Clinton and I’m convinced she would be very helpful in stopping the banking insanity and very sympathetic on the issue of fair taxation. I’ve served with Bernie Sanders in Congress. I think Bernie is sympathetic to that.

I think it is a tremendous advantage for the Democratic candidates that are talking common sense. I think it’s going to — in the course of the campaign, where we have these state contests — it’s going to build more momentum and more support. I think in the next few years it’s not going to be that controversial. It will be treated basically like alcohol. States will be able to do what states want to do. It might look different in Oregon than in Utah, but that’s ok.

Smell the Truth: What was your reaction when President Obama identified criminal justice reform and drug abuse as the leading bipartisan issue to work on this year, during his State of the Union speech?

Rep. Rohrabacher: There’s movement among libertarian conservatives toward criminal justice reform. I don’t know if President Obama will get anything though himself. This is, after all, an election year. I think if he raises the issue and we start the negations, next year, if we get Cruz or someone like that in the presidency, we could have some criminal justice reform.

Obviously our criminal justice system is not working, just like the drug war is not working. I can’t be optimistic about Obama on anything, quite frankly. Look, we’ve got out-of-control prosecutors in this country and you got regulators who are out of control, and they have criminal law behind them. They can come in and put an honest businessman in jail, because he didn’t do his paperwork right. This is insane.

I think there is a coalition among democrats and republicans to try to get control of that and to have some real reform in our prison system, so you get hardcore criminals who are threatening people are punished and put away. But there’s all these other people who haven’t done anything to hurt someone, but made some wrong decisions. I think there’s a lot of room for cooperation there.

Rep. Blumenauer: I think it’s long-been overlooked but is now being more appreciated how unfair the application of drug laws [has been]— in many cases there are things people don’t think should be illegal anymore. We have had people whose lives have been turned upside down.

This is a horribly disproportionate treatment, particularly for young men of color, African-America and Latino — who bear far more of the burden for no good reason, and it can just turn their lives upside down in a way some middle class white girls — she wouldn’t be kicked out of her home or be denied a college education.

The disparities that have been identified, I think, are an important. It’s important to inject some justice into the criminal justice system and to help lives be restored and prevent this damage in the future.

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