A Democratic congressman says that he believes there could be “very bipartisan support” for recently filed marijuana-related amendments to a defense bill, including his proposal to prevent the denial of security clearances for federal jobs based solely on prior cannabis use.
In an interview with MSNBC on Sunday, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) was asked about his amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which is one of multiple drug policy measures that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle submitted and are up for consideration by the House Rules Committee this week.
The congressman said that the status quo is “shameful” and dramatically reduces the pool of eligible candidates for federal positions based on an activity that has been legalized in nearly half of the states in the country, including his home state of California.
“There are 155 million Americans that live in these states that could have issues with security clearance, could have issues with serving in the military, could have issues working in places like the Justice Department or any of our agencies because of cannabis use that is actually legal in their state,” he said. “It’s time that we right this wrong—this damage that we have
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