Democrats Seek to Create Commission on Marijuana Policy

Democrats Seek to Create Commission on Marijuana Policy

Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., has introduced a bill to form a National Commission on Federal Marijuana Policy.

The commission would be charged with looking at the conflicts between state laws that permit marijuana use and federal law banning the drug.

The bill, introduced Thursday, is co-sponsored by Democratic Reps. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, Sam Farr of California, Jim Moran of Virginia and Jared Polis of Colorado, The Hill reports.

Urgent: ObamaCare Is About to Strike — Are You Prepared?

"Regardless of your views on marijuana, it's important that we understand the impact of current federal policy and address the conflict with those state laws that allow for medicinal or personal use of marijuana," Cohen said in a statement.

"This conflict is only going to continue to grow over the next few years, and we must provide certainty to the millions of individuals and businesses that remain caught in a web of incompatible laws. A national commission would provide us with the information we need to create sensible policy going forward."

Cohen left no doubt where he stands on the issue. A national commission called for decriminalization of marijuana in 1973, he noted. "In the four decades since the Shafer Commission, however, the federal government has only expanded its War on Drugs and continued to prohibit the use marijuana."