During a Congressional Hearing that was held last Wednesday, FBI Director Robert Mueller defended the Federal Government’s marijuana laws, trumpeting the familiar “Gateway Drug” Theory that has been a staple among the line of excuses uttered by Drug War Defenders for more than half a century. At least one congressman, however, wasn’t going to let him peddle this tired refrain and get away from it.
In a rare instance of a sitting politician taking on a Drug War Defender, Democratic Congressman Steven Cohen of Tennessee pressed the FBI Director to defend the Federal Government’s marijuana laws. As the above video shows, Mueller stumbled badly in trying to defend these laws and was eventually forced to concede that no adult has ever died from using marijuana. But that didn’t stop him from resorting to the the tired “Gateway Drug” Theory, which Cohen handles masterfully:
MUELLER: The only thing I would say is, you talk to parents that have lost their children to drugs–
COHEN: Right.
MUELLER: –and they will inevitably say that they started off with marijuana.
COHEN: They probably started off with milk and then went on to beer . . . and then went on to bourbon . . . and they might have gone on to marijuana. The Gateway Theory doesn’t work.
Birthplace: San Diego, CA
Birthdate: That’s for me to know
Political Party: Independent
Political Philosophy: Libertarian-liberal