Rodney Davis on Drugs

Strengthen penalties associated with drug-related crimes

Davis indicates support for the following principles to address crime in Illinois.
• Strengthen penalties and sentences associated with drug-related crimes.
• Continue to enforce "truth in sentencing" for violent criminals so they serve their full sentences without parole.
• Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and hiring of additional prison staff.
• Expand and promote "community policing" programs.
• Inform communities when a convicted sex offender moves into the community.
• Implement "enterprise zones" in high crime communities to promote job-creating industries in those areas.
• Prosecute juveniles who commit murder or other serious, violent crimes as adults.
• Provide state funding for military-style "boot-camps" for first-time juvenile felons.
• Impose mandatory curfews for minors in high crime areas.

Exempt industrial hemp from marijuana laws.

Congressional Summary:Amends the Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of "marihuana." Defines "industrial hemp" to mean the plant Cannabis sativa and any part of such plant, whether growing or not, with a THC concentration of not more than 0.3%.

Argument in favor (Sen. Ron Wyden):

Members of Congress hear a lot about how dumb regulations are hurting economic growth and job creation. The current ban on growing industrial hemp is hurting job creation in rural America and increasing our trade deficit. This bill will end this ridiculous regulation. Right now, the US is importing over $10 million in hemp products--a crop that US farmers could be profitably growing right here at home, if not for government rules prohibiting it. Now, even though hemp and marijuana come from the same species of plant, there are major differences between them. The Chihuahua and St. Bernard come from the same species, too, but no one is going to confuse them.

Argument in opposition (Drug Enforcement Agency):

The DEA regulatory opposition to industrial hemp production is based upon:
• The difficulty in distinguishing legitimate hemp with low narcotic concentration from illicit cannabis, and
• the perception that industrial hemp advocates have a hidden agenda of favoring legalization of marijuana.

Argument in opposition (DrugWatch.org 10/30/2013):

• The DEA ban on THC in hemp food products, though characterized as a drug war issue, is, in fact, a food safety issue. No state or country has scientifically established the safety of food products made from hemp.
• Smoking hemp/marijuana with a low THC level of 0.25 percent could result in psychological effects on inexperienced users (children, for example).
• Supporting industrial hemp/marijuana sends an ambivalent and harmful message to youth and others regarding marijuana.