Former anti-drug crusader U.S. Attorney Mel McDonald, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, appears to be very serious about defending Arizona's medical-marijuana law as a citizen and father of a patient who uses medical marijuana.
You may have seen the video McDonald recorded a couple months ago, giving a glowing review of medical marijuana, but now we've found McDonald at the state capitol, telling legislators how outrageous it is to propose that authorities destroy any seized medical marijuana, even if it were wrongly seized.
See also:
-Medical Marijuana Supported by Former Anti-Drug, Reagan-Appointed U.S. Attorney
The reasoning, according to those supporting Senate Bill 1441, is that law enforcement officers could be prosecuted under federal law for giving back marijuana that was wrongly seized.
McDonald called bullshit, as you can see in the video below.
McDonald referred to that as "utter nonsense," and said it's just an attempt to backdoor legislation against the will of the voters.
"Mr. Leonardo, who used to work in my office is now the U.S. Attorney, [and] the Department of Justice, [have] more issues on their plate than worrying about a deputy sheriff turning back to a lady marijuana that should've never been seized in the first place," he said.
With the video he previously recorded, and now with his appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, we wondered whether (or really, who) pays McDonald for this. McDonald claimed he's "absolutely not" getting paid for speaking in defense of the medical-marijuana law.
McDonald continued to say that this proposed law is the Legislature's attempt to overrule voters and the Court of Appeals, and when it came time for questions for McDonald, everyone remained silent.
The bill passed the committee, by a vote of 5-3. Perhaps in comparison, out of the entire 30-member Senate, there were only three "no" votes total, when it passed the bill a couple weeks ago.
