In Short
Rep. Tancredo has been an outspoken opponent of the DEA’s raids on medical marijuana patients and has consistently voted in favor of legislation to end the raids.
What Rep. Tancredo Has Done:
In every year from 2003 to 2006, Rep. Tancredo voted in support of the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment, which would have ended the federal government’s DEA raids on patients and caregivers.
What Rep. Tancredo Has Said:
On August 18, in Concord, N.H., a GSMM staffer thanked Rep. Tancredo for consistently voting in favor of ending the federal raids on medical marijuana patients and asked if he would end the federal raids if elected. Rep. Tancredo replied, “Oh yeah. Absolutely. This has nothing to do with the federal government. It has absolutely no role in this … It should be left to the states and to the people. To the extent that this experiment goes on throughout the country, I’m all for it. I mean that’s exactly what the states are designed for: labs of democracy … It’s a big issue with me and I have voted against it every time it has come up.”
The following day, on August 19, another GSMM staffer thanked Rep. Tancredo for his support of the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment, which would have ended the federal raids on medical marijuana patients. During this encounter, the congressman restated his strong support for letting states protect medical marijuana patients and added, “I can’t get over it, because even the arguments that are made, that are constantly made, with regard to marijuana, are irrelevant, totally irrelevant in this debate. It’s not about marijuana, it’s about states’ rights. The federal government has no right to interfere when a state makes that kind of decision … The federal government should stay the hell out of it.”