Rep Polis (CO) makes DEA Chief look dumber than a box of rocks

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

Linflas

Lifer
Jan 30, 2001
15,395
78
91
She should be fired. Not for failing to answer that question, but for not having the ability to turn that line of questioning around and completely embarrassing that grandstanding prick.

"So congressman, are you saying that the illegal/legal demarcation line is determined by health risk?"

"So congressman, following your line of questioning, which is the bigger health risk, pot or tobacco?"

"So congressman, how much money have you taken from tobacco coalitions to finance your campaigns?"

Watch that douchebag empty suit ask for a recess faster than the speed of light.

Given this quote from him: "Tobacco use is the single largest cause of preventable death in our country. Yet it continues to receive less regulation than a head of lettuce." along with the fact that his mother died of cancer caused by smoking I suspect he would have slammed that one right back into her face which is why you don't toss out questions like that in hearings unless you already are certain of the answer.
 

Wreckem

Diamond Member
Sep 23, 2006
9,565
1,152
126
Given this quote from him: "Tobacco use is the single largest cause of preventable death in our country. Yet it continues to receive less regulation than a head of lettuce." along with the fact that his mother died of cancer caused by smoking I suspect he would have slammed that one right back into her face which is why you don't toss out questions like that in hearings unless you already are certain of the answer.

Hearings are dog and pony shows. Typically anyone speaking at a hearing gets the list of questions going to be asked. Also, typically anyone speaking also has to file what they are going to say before the hearing.
 

TechBoyJK

Lifer
Oct 17, 2002
16,699
60
91
She should be fired. Not for failing to answer that question, but for not having the ability to turn that line of questioning around and completely embarrassing that grandstanding prick.

"So congressman, are you saying that the illegal/legal demarcation line is determined by health risk?"

"So congressman, following your line of questioning, which is the bigger health risk, pot or tobacco?"

"So congressman, how much money have you taken from tobacco coalitions to finance your campaigns?"

Watch that douchebag empty suit ask for a recess faster than the speed of light.

Honestly, Polis is hardly an empty suit grandstanding for attention. That was a good way to call out the hypocrisy of the DEA.
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,407
8,595
126
Honestly, Polis is hardly an empty suit grandstanding for attention. That was a good way to call out the hypocrisy of the DEA.

the DEA can't encourage mmj as part of an effort to combat prescription drug abuse. it's not in the law. the DEA has to follow the law to the extent possible. that line of questioning was bogus.
 

TechBoyJK

Lifer
Oct 17, 2002
16,699
60
91
the DEA can't encourage mmj as part of an effort to combat prescription drug abuse. it's not in the law. the DEA has to follow the law to the extent possible. that line of questioning was bogus.

I think that's why he did it. It would show how bogus it is. Polis is a smart guy.
 

Ns1

No Lifer
Jun 17, 2001
55,420
1,600
126
the DEA can't encourage mmj as part of an effort to combat prescription drug abuse. it's not in the law. the DEA has to follow the law to the extent possible. that line of questioning was bogus.

the point is valid though.

DEA doesn't encourage MMJ but forces people to use prescription meds with side effects FAR WORSE than MMJ.
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,407
8,595
126
the point is valid though.

DEA doesn't encourage MMJ but forces people to use prescription meds with side effects FAR WORSE than MMJ.

the DEA doesn't do that. the laws passed by congress do that.
 

pelov

Diamond Member
Dec 6, 2011
3,510
6
0
She can't answer that question and that makes her look stupider than she is. She can't come out and say "No" otherwise she'll lose her job. She's stuck between a rock and a really hard Polis.
 

Ns1

No Lifer
Jun 17, 2001
55,420
1,600
126
She can't answer that question and that makes her look stupider than she is. She can't come out and say "No" otherwise she'll lose her job. She's stuck between a rock and a really hard Polis.

lol
 

OutHouse

Lifer
Jun 5, 2000
36,410
616
126
so what was the point in this line of questions? I dont get what polis was after. the DEA enforces the laws CONGRESS passes. If Polis has a problem with MMJ being a controlled drug change the law.
 

TechBoyJK

Lifer
Oct 17, 2002
16,699
60
91
so what was the point in this line of questions? I dont get what polis was after. the DEA enforces the laws CONGRESS passes. If Polis has a problem with MMJ being a controlled drug change the law.

I'm pretty sure he was confronting the Chief of the agency tasked with enforcing the laws and doing so in a way to shed light on how hard it is for the chief to actually defend enforcement without looking like a clown.
 

pelov

Diamond Member
Dec 6, 2011
3,510
6
0
so what was the point in this line of questions? I dont get what polis was after. the DEA enforces the laws CONGRESS passes. If Polis has a problem with MMJ being a controlled drug change the law.

Nothing other than some public reaming and a way for a Congressman to make a point at the expense of someone else's humiliation. She can't sway from her position as chief of the DEA by admitting she knows the answers to those questions or she'd get it up the butt from the other end of the spectrum with people claiming she's too light on drugs.

Like I said, she was stuck between a rock and a really hard Polis.
 

slayer202

Lifer
Nov 27, 2005
13,679
119
106
What is the reason she couldn't admit that heroin is worse than marijuana? Admitting that wouldn't require any change. I imagine that MJ laws(while insanely extreme) are still more lax than the harder drugs. The line of questioning was fine. If she can't answer those questions honestly it clearly shows that changes need to be made.
 

Ns1

No Lifer
Jun 17, 2001
55,420
1,600
126
What is the reason she couldn't admit that heroin is worse than marijuana? Admitting that wouldn't require any change. I imagine that MJ laws(while insanely extreme) are still more lax than the harder drugs. The line of questioning was fine. If she can't answer those questions honestly it clearly shows that changes need to be made.

Probably didn't want to admit that MMJ as a sch1 drug is ridiculous.
 

Childs

Lifer
Jul 9, 2000
11,313
7
81
I would fire her. She could have simply said one is worse than the other, but they pursue all illegal drugs. Its his job to determine what is and isnt illegal. Cops dont make laws, they just enforce them. Granted its easier to collect your thoughts at home vs a Congressional hearing, but come on.
 

OutHouse

Lifer
Jun 5, 2000
36,410
616
126
I would fire her. She could have simply said one is worse than the other, but they pursue all illegal drugs. Its his job to determine what is and isnt illegal. Cops dont make laws, they just enforce them. Granted its easier to collect your thoughts at home vs a Congressional hearing, but come on.

no she cant. as the head of the DEA that is not her place. both are schedule 1 drugs and in the eye of the law both are equal. Polis was a dick and put her in a bad spot.

its whos job to determine whats legal or not? if you mean Polis, no its not his job, the law already says what is legal and what is not, he makes the law not interpret the law, its teh DEA job to enforce the law that the law makers put on the books. if he does not know that then he needs to step down as a law maker.
 

TechBoyJK

Lifer
Oct 17, 2002
16,699
60
91
no she cant. as the head of the DEA that is not her place. both are schedule 1 drugs and in the eye of the law both are equal. Polis was a dick and put her in a bad spot.

its whos job to determine whats legal or not? if you mean Polis, no its not his job, the law already says what is legal and what is not, he makes the law not interpret the law, its teh DEA job to enforce the law that the law makers put on the books. if he does not know that then he needs to step down as a law maker.

I'm sure Polis is well aware of the DEA's position in regards to how drugs are scheduled. He was put her in the hard spot on purpose to show how ridiculous the entire situation is.
 

Childs

Lifer
Jul 9, 2000
11,313
7
81
no she cant. as the head of the DEA that is not her place. both are schedule 1 drugs and in the eye of the law both are equal. Polis was a dick and put her in a bad spot.

its whos job to determine whats legal or not? if you mean Polis, no its not his job, the law already says what is legal and what is not, he makes the law not interpret the law, its teh DEA job to enforce the law that the law makers put on the books. if he does not know that then he needs to step down as a law maker.

He was asking if one was had worse health effects than the other. To her it shouldnt matter, its schedule 1 and they enforce them all. Polis is Congress, and if he wants weed decriminalized it needs to go through Congress. She could have turned this on him fairly easily, unless he had prepared a flow chart with responses or something.
 

drebo

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2006
7,034
1
81
What a dumb fucking bitch. No wonder our "War on Drugs" is such a farce if this is the dumb bitch that's heading it all.

Wonder who's gob she knobbed to get that appointment.
 

bfdd

Lifer
Feb 3, 2007
13,312
1
0
no she cant. as the head of the DEA that is not her place. both are schedule 1 drugs and in the eye of the law both are equal. Polis was a dick and put her in a bad spot.

its whos job to determine whats legal or not? if you mean Polis, no its not his job, the law already says what is legal and what is not, he makes the law not interpret the law, its teh DEA job to enforce the law that the law makers put on the books. if he does not know that then he needs to step down as a law maker.

Polis did what is expected of him by his constituency. They are pro-cannabis in Colorado and the DEA is anti-cannabis. He put them on blast just as he should. She just isn't capable enough or fast witted enough or informed enough to have made any sort of decent response. The "yes there is information showing that these other drugs posses other potentially more dangerous side effects, that doesn't have anything to do with how we enforce. nor do we make the laws, that's on you congressman and you're peers."
 
Oct 16, 1999
10,490
4
0
the DEA doesn't do that. the laws passed by congress do that.

The DEA has the authority to reschedule a drug without an act of congress. If they rescheduled marijuana down from schedule 1 it could be distributed like morhpine, oxycodone, etc. ie. by prescription. Which is why Polis perused this line of question, and why Leonhart had to make herself look like an idiot with her non-answers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removal_of_cannabis_from_Schedule_I_of_the_Controlled_Substances_Act