Marijuana Opponents ‘Have Lost’ The Debate, GOP Senator Says, Arguing ‘It’s Time’ To Regulate It Like Alcohol And Tobacco

“We’re going to get way down the road without control over inputs, and the next thing the cartels are going to do is figure out how they can put—in the race for potency, once they run out of how you can actually do this through the plants, they’re going to figure out some way to make this more potent and more deadly,” the senator said.

He also said that he feels “very strongly that we need to have a separate meeting about how do we create a construct that, if states want to opt into, they can—not make it legal federally—or this is getting out of control.”

The senator also spent time pressing DEA Special Agent in Charge Los Angeles Field Division Matthew Allen on an issue in his home state, where the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has legalized both medical and adult-use cannabis while the rest of the state remains under a system of broad prohibition.

Despite repeatedly calling for a federal regulatory structure for marijuana, Tillis has consistently taken issue with the policy disconnect between state, federal and tribal governments. However, he said he recognizes “they have a right to sell marijuana, I guess, as a as a recognized tribe.”

“But they’re growing in one place and selling in another place. Not only are they—and let’s face it, folks, it’s a casino operation. It’s a destination. People are buying this stuff,” he said, referring to the Cherokees’ land, called the Qualla Boundary. “You’d have to be out of your mind to think that they’re going to dispose of whatever is not used by the time they leave.”

It’s an “anomaly” that represents “one example of what happens when Congress fails to act on something that I think it’s time for us to act on,” Tillis said.

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Back in February, the senator also raised the issue during a Senate Banking Committee hearing, saying “we should reexamine [federal marijuana laws].” But at the same time, “we damn sure shouldn’t do it by passing” legislation that would simply prevent federal regulators from penalizing banks that work with state-legal cannabis businesses.

“If somebody wants to work on rules of the road and do that—and bank the industry in a cohesive, sustainable way that doesn’t kind of skirt around the fact that it’s still illegal at the federal level—count me in. Happy to do it,” Tillis said.

Tillis also said last December that he’s hopeful Congress will have a “discussion” about potentially creating a federal regulatory framework for marijuana in 2025, though he added that he personally wouldn’t vote to federally legalize cannabis.

Last July, the senator separately said that he supports creating a “comprehensive regulatory framework that treats marijuana just like tobacco,” arguing that “the federal government needs to figure out a safe way to allow this market to occur.”

The latest remarks in the Senate committee hearing come about two months after Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH) once again introduced the Preparing Regulators Effectively for a Post-Prohibition Adult-Use Regulated Environment Act (PREPARE) Act, which would direct the attorney general to create a commission charged with making recommendations on a regulatory system for cannabis that models what’s currently in place for alcohol.