Firebrand - Matt Gaetz - April 29, 2022


Episode 40 LIVE: Burned By Biden – Firebrand with Matt Gaetz


Episode Stats

Length

36 minutes

Words per Minute

139.65993

Word Count

5,065

Sentence Count

284

Misogynist Sentences

3

Hate Speech Sentences

7


Summary

Biden's Military Purge continues, and it's not without reason. Today's episode of The Swamp Dweller is all about how the Vice President is making America less safe and less ready to fight for our country. Plus, a look at the latest in combating Russia and dealing with the conflict in Ukraine, a bizarre racist attack on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and a key update on marijuana policy from Rep. Matt Gaetz's (R-GAETTO) office on marijuana use in the military and law enforcement. Also, we talk about why Joe Biden is a problem in the Democratic Party, and whether or not he should be running for President in 2020. And, of course, we have a special guest, Captain Jordan Carr, from the Air Force, who joins us to talk about the Biden Military purge and why it's a good thing we don't have a Black History Month. Thanks to everyone for all of your support, and stay tuned for more episodes like this one and much more! - Your continued support is greatly appreciated. - Sincerely, - Matt and the Swamp Dwellers. - EJ & the Swamp Crew. - Your support is so appreciated, we'll keep on keeping on keep on keepin' on! - The Swamp Crew - Ej and EJ's Swamp Dwellin' On It's a place where we're all in it together! . -The Swamp Crew, Ej & Swamp Crew -Jon Soro and Swamp Crews -PSA to the Swamp - . . . And much more... Thank you for all the support you're showing us love, support, support and support, EJ/support, and we appreciate your support. Ej& support, love, and respect, and keep on supporting us. -Jon, Jon & Vicky & your support is much more. - Thank you, Jon and Vicky! -Jon & Jameson Thanks Jon and Jameson, and your support & support, Vicky, and all the rest of the Swampers! , Vicky. , and Thank you Jon, and you're a lot of love, Jon, too! -Vicky, Sarah, and Sarah, too. -Josie, Sarah & Sarah -and the Swamp, and the swamp, and thank you so much, and thanks for being here at the Swamp. -- Thank you.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Thank you.
00:04:39.000 Matt Gaetz was one of the very few members in the entire Congress who bothered to stand up against permanent Washington on behalf of his constituents.
00:04:46.000 Matt Gaetz right now, he's a problem in the Democratic Party.
00:04:49.000 He can cause a lot of hiccups in passing applause.
00:04:52.000 So we're going to keep running those stories to get hurt again.
00:04:56.000 If you stand for the flag and kneel in prayer, if you want to build America up and not burn her to the ground, then welcome, my fellow patriots!
00:05:05.000 You are in the right place!
00:05:06.000 This is the movement for you!
00:05:08.000 You ever watch this guy on television?
00:05:11.000 It's like a machine.
00:05:12.000 Matt Gaetz.
00:05:13.000 I'm a canceled man in some corners of the internet.
00:05:16.000 Many days I'm a marked man in Congress, a wanted man by the deep state.
00:05:21.000 They aren't really coming for me.
00:05:23.000 They're coming for you.
00:05:25.000 I'm just in the way.
00:05:30.000 Happy Friday, everyone.
00:05:31.000 This is Congressman Matt Gaetz simulcast streaming our podcast from the Capitol Complex here in Washington, D.C. We've got a lot to talk about.
00:05:40.000 It seems every day we could talk about different failures of the Biden administration, whether that's on domestic policy, foreign policy, military policy, health policy.
00:05:51.000 We got the Comments section going.
00:05:54.000 A shout out to all the folks on Facebook who are letting their voices be heard.
00:05:59.000 Jameson says that Joe Biden has just given us Obama's third term.
00:06:03.000 That's quite something.
00:06:05.000 Vicky wants to know who's going to run for VP. And just keep your comments coming in.
00:06:09.000 I love seeing them.
00:06:10.000 Love getting your perspective.
00:06:12.000 And we got to go over a lot today.
00:06:14.000 We got to go over...
00:06:16.000 A big moment in the House Armed Services Committee where you had the Secretary of Defense directly contradicted by the Secretary of the Air Force on the critical issue of hypersonics.
00:06:26.000 We're going to go over the latest in combating Russia and dealing with the conflict in Ukraine.
00:06:32.000 A bizarre racist attack against Clarence Thomas that played out over the course of a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee Also going to give you a key update on marijuana policy.
00:06:44.000 But first, I want to make sure everyone is well aware of a show we did earlier in the week, Biden's Military Purge, episode 33. We talked to three terrific service members for the United States Armed Forces,
00:07:00.000 two Air Force folks, one medical doctor who's serving in the Army, and one One of the individuals, Captain Jordan Carr from the Air Force, she created a Twitter account to try to share the content from that interview, to create a platform for people who wanted information about how our military is dealing with these mandates.
00:07:21.000 And like, almost within, I guess within like what, 24 hours of her being...
00:07:26.000 Less than seven hours I'm hearing from our staff.
00:07:29.000 She's on Twitter.
00:07:30.000 She's already facing bans, deplatforms.
00:07:33.000 And, I mean, if we live in a country where our own military can't share their experiences on matters like this in their own personal capacity as Americans, Then that directly contributes to the problems we have in military recruitment.
00:07:49.000 I mean, right now, you look at the United States Air Force, we don't have the number of pilots we need.
00:07:53.000 We need more pilots.
00:07:54.000 You think these vaccine mandates are helping you get more pilots while you're driving some of them out of the Air Force?
00:07:59.000 You think that embracing white rage at our Service academies and in the diversity, equity, inclusion portions of the military is attracting more people to want to wear the uniform and what get smeared as racists.
00:08:13.000 It's ridiculous and it's making America less safe and less ready.
00:08:17.000 You know, the Obama administration did all they could to starve our military of the resources for body armor, for technology, for the pacing challenge of China.
00:08:27.000 It took a lot for the Trump administration to really rebuild that and to get us back on track.
00:08:33.000 And now the Biden administration is choosing this different tool.
00:08:36.000 They're not attacking our military by defunding it as much as the Obama administration.
00:08:41.000 They're attacking our military through these purges.
00:08:44.000 Purges on mandates.
00:08:46.000 Purges through wokeism.
00:08:47.000 Go check out the Biden military purge.
00:08:50.000 And as you watch Captain Carr, think about whether or not this is someone who ought to be able to have a voice in a democracy, in a republic such as ours.
00:08:58.000 Very important.
00:08:59.000 So staying on, the matter of the military.
00:09:02.000 Many of you will remember that when Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin came to give testimony, I sort of juxtaposed the embrace of wokeism against some of the degradations in America's standing in In very competitive areas of weapons development, particularly hypersonics.
00:09:21.000 I'm very interested in hypersonics because hypersonic munition systems can carry different types of payloads.
00:09:28.000 They can carry the types of payloads that we see being used in the Russia-Ukraine conflict right now.
00:09:34.000 I mean, Russia used the first hypersonic weapon in combat ever during this conflict.
00:09:40.000 That's going to make them more capable.
00:09:42.000 Everybody learns from utilizations like this.
00:09:46.000 They can also carry nuclear payloads.
00:09:48.000 We're seeing right now the impact and the influence of nuclear deterrence.
00:09:56.000 And other countries, the Gulf monarchies, others could see this as a real opportunity for a nuclear arms race, for proliferation.
00:10:07.000 We don't want to see that type of prolif.
00:10:09.000 We don't want to see that happen.
00:10:11.000 That will make the world less safe.
00:10:13.000 But it's hard not to see how the immense resources being developed in some areas of the world aren't going to pair with technology solutions like hypersonics and like nuclear.
00:10:26.000 And so if that happens, the United States of America must be at the front edge of hypersonics.
00:10:33.000 We have to have the best offensive systems for deterrence.
00:10:36.000 We have to have the best defensive systems to protect the homeland.
00:10:40.000 And that means research, development, testing.
00:10:44.000 That means having the size of a force being sufficient, the capability.
00:10:49.000 It means being able to hit different sized targets, moving targets, targets that could be an aircraft carrier under some circumstances.
00:10:58.000 And so because we need that really wide suite of capabilities, There's a whole lot to do to keep up with a country like China that's very invested and very aggressive.
00:11:10.000 So I asked the Secretary of Defense, gosh, why are we doing the critical race theory and the pronoun stuff and not doing the really important work Of keeping pace with China and hypersonics.
00:11:23.000 And the Secretary of Defense, you're going to get the clip in just a minute, but he responds that I'm wrong, that we're not really behind in hypersonics.
00:11:30.000 There's no basis that I would have to ever make a claim that the United States would be behind in hypersonics.
00:11:37.000 I mean, he was just lying to us.
00:11:39.000 Or, I mean, just as bad as lying would be if he was ignorant to what was going on in our military from a research standpoint, from a fielding weapon systems standpoint.
00:11:54.000 And so I knew the time would come when someone else from the military would come in, give us a more technical briefing, a deeper dive with the Air Force and munitions, and I knew that I would have the opportunity to ask the question, who's ahead?
00:12:08.000 And lo and behold, it was this week.
00:12:10.000 We had the Secretary of the Air Force, the top civilian in the Air Force, Admitting that what the Secretary of Defense said was total nonsense.
00:12:21.000 Take a look at them back-to-back, side-by-side.
00:12:24.000 We'll come back and we'll share some more perspective.
00:12:28.000 Take a listen.
00:12:30.000 We're behind in hypersonics.
00:12:32.000 We failed to deter Russia.
00:12:33.000 Last year...
00:12:34.000 What do you mean we're behind in hypersonics?
00:12:37.000 Okay, who's ahead in hypersonics?
00:12:39.000 How do you make that assessment?
00:12:43.000 China has moved to deploy hypersonic weapons more aggressively than the United States has, definitely.
00:12:49.000 They have fielded more capability than we have, and they have fairly aggressive development programs in a number of areas.
00:12:56.000 I wouldn't put a number...
00:12:56.000 More aggressive than ours.
00:12:57.000 They're testing and developing more.
00:12:59.000 They're fielding more and they're more capable.
00:13:02.000 Right?
00:13:03.000 That's the essence of this thing?
00:13:05.000 They have invested more and they are more capable, but you have to be very careful about these comparisons.
00:13:09.000 Thank you.
00:13:10.000 That is just like exactly the opposite of what Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
00:13:13.000 How do you make that assessment?
00:13:16.000 I don't know.
00:13:17.000 I make that assessment because China is fielding hypersonic weapons systems and we are still developing them.
00:13:22.000 I make that assessment because Russia actually used one.
00:13:25.000 By the way, your own people Brief us that we are behind and that China is winning.
00:13:30.000 Are you aware of the briefings we get on hypersonics?
00:13:33.000 I am certainly aware of briefings that we provide to Congress.
00:13:38.000 No, no.
00:13:39.000 I don't think you are aware, actually, Mr. Secretary.
00:13:42.000 That was really something.
00:13:44.000 And I guess we do have to find out whether or not it was a purposeful lie for some sort of theatrical moment or whether or not there really is an inability for the Secretary of Defense to focus on this critical area of technology that the Chinese are advancing aggressively and where we're behind.
00:14:02.000 So we need to catch up.
00:14:03.000 We need to...
00:14:05.000 Do that by building out our range capabilities.
00:14:08.000 I don't think we should be testing and developing hypersonics over the Pacific Rim for obvious reasons.
00:14:14.000 There are a whole lot of eyes and ears out there over the Pacific Rim, but goodness gracious, over in different ranges in the Atlantic.
00:14:21.000 In the Gulf of Mexico test range, which Floridians are well aware of, we could have better telemetry, we could have better radar, better sensing systems.
00:14:31.000 Build those up, have a great envelope for testing, and make sure that America always holds the high ground.
00:14:39.000 And one reason we have to do that is because we are increasingly seeing Russia engage in malign influence.
00:14:45.000 And so I want to take a moment to get into Russia, what we see vis-a-vis their malign activities in Ukraine and that we've seen around the world.
00:14:54.000 You know, they engage in espionage and they get people into countries and those people are spies and then they do their naughty business and that doesn't facilitate a rules-based order that I think every reasonable person So that you don't just have might makes right and these horrific images that continue to bombard us from Ukraine.
00:15:16.000 But that system requires us being a little bit smarter and a little bit tougher.
00:15:24.000 And we hear from Democrats all the time, oh, you know, Trump was, oh, he was so soft on Putin and Matt Gaetz because he defended Trump.
00:15:32.000 He was like Putin's lawyer.
00:15:34.000 We heard all that nonsense.
00:15:38.000 A key metric in how tough we are, how many diplomats we're willing to expel.
00:15:45.000 So go ahead and put that graphic up.
00:15:47.000 And this is a real comparison right here from Obama expelling 35 Russian diplomats, Trump expelling 60, and Biden only expelling 12. So for all the saber-rattling, for all of Joe Biden saying that he's for regime change in Russia, I don't even know if that was a senior moment or if they've walked that back considerably, but he's only expelled 12 Russian diplomats.
00:16:12.000 And so maybe like before we're interested in getting Russia out of Ukraine, we ought to be interested in getting Russia out of the United States where they could be harming our businesses, setting up cyber attacks that would impact quality of life here in America.
00:16:26.000 There is a whole lot to talk about regarding what Biden does want to do.
00:16:32.000 If he doesn't want to expel these diplomats from the United States at the same rate of certainly not Trump and not even like Obama, We shouldn't be sending $33 billion to Ukraine, as the administration has proposed.
00:16:48.000 And I really see this as a circumstance where cash is finding its way to a money laundering mecca.
00:16:55.000 And Ukraine, before this conflict, was widely known as a place where a lot of people went to wash their ill-gotten gains.
00:17:04.000 And so since that infrastructure of money laundering is well established and set up in Ukraine, you now see Based on this conflict, the desire for some in D.C. to send $33 billion in all kinds of different forms, in weapons, in food, in cash.
00:17:25.000 And that's really troubling to me, especially when I think about how hard we had to work to get any real money for our own border, for the wall.
00:17:36.000 When we wanted the resources to go out there and Protect American families and the American economy and American national security.
00:17:45.000 The Democrats put us through the ringer on it.
00:17:47.000 And now we're just going to like at the snap of a finger send $33 billion to Ukraine?
00:17:52.000 I held a telephone digital town hall meeting last evening.
00:17:57.000 We've got that link available on Rumble.
00:17:59.000 And you can see the constituents I represent in Northwest Florida to the tune of like greater than 80% are not on board with this notion of Just sending unlimited resources, seemingly, to a government that we certainly want to win.
00:18:16.000 We want Ukraine to win and we want Russia to lose.
00:18:19.000 But at what expense?
00:18:21.000 Also, there was a vote this last week on whether or not the money and assistance we supply to Ukraine should ever be paid back.
00:18:30.000 Now, there are a lot of Russian oligarchs out there with a lot of assets, and I actually voted for legislation that would facilitate the seizure of those assets for the benefit of Ukraine.
00:18:39.000 I think that's reasonable.
00:18:41.000 If Russian oligarchs are supporting Putin, he's engaged in this brutal war, maybe they ought to be a part of repaying Ukraine or helping to rebuild Ukraine more than, say, other folks like us, like my constituents in northwest Florida.
00:18:56.000 So I'm for seizing the Russian assets and seizing the assets of the oligarchs.
00:19:01.000 What I'm not for is saying that there's a blank check for Ukraine aid and that we would never expect payback.
00:19:09.000 Now, down the road, it might be part of a global deal.
00:19:13.000 It might be part of some circumstance to get a resolution that stops violence for us to say that we're going to forgive debt.
00:19:20.000 But why at this point would we go out there and say, no matter what weapons, no matter what aid, America, we don't want to be paid back.
00:19:27.000 That just seems foolish.
00:19:28.000 That doesn't seem like what your leaders should be doing to represent you.
00:19:32.000 I'm shocked that almost all the Republicans are clawing over one another to vote for any bill that makes them look anti-Russia and pro-Ukraine.
00:19:42.000 But I believe that Americans actually deserve discerning leaders who will read and review the bills and the legislation and evaluate their second and third order effects.
00:19:51.000 As bad as the Russia-Ukraine conflict is, I don't think that Americans should be shouldering suffering for it.
00:19:59.000 Whether it's the farmers that are seeing fertilizer increase, whether it's people who drive to and from work, sometimes farther distances, just getting crushed by gas prices.
00:20:09.000 When you see the price of your grocery cart, when you check out at the supermarket, You know, I don't think that Americans should be shouldering that burden.
00:20:17.000 And there are smart ways to do this by putting pressure on Putin and the oligarchs.
00:20:22.000 But the notion that we're going to flood Ukraine with cash and weapons for anyone that's willing to shoot at a Russian, I mean, didn't we do that in Afghanistan?
00:20:31.000 Wasn't the American posture in Afghanistan essentially, if you're willing to shoot at a Russian, we'll give you all the arms, all the weapons, all the aid, and we'll never look back.
00:20:38.000 And it didn't exactly turn out well for us.
00:20:41.000 So we can be more discerning, we can be smarter, and we can still be tough on Russia.
00:20:46.000 And I think that certainly we need to have strong Republican opposition to this Biden plan for the $33 billion.
00:20:55.000 Much more on Russia to come.
00:20:58.000 I do have to shift gears a little bit here and go to what happened in the House Judiciary Committee with racist attacks on full display against Clarence Thomas.
00:21:09.000 First, I'm going to go to the comments section.
00:21:11.000 Alex says, thank you, Mr. Gates.
00:21:13.000 Margaret says, I do not believe in Brandon.
00:21:16.000 And Sherry said that watching the show and seeing our perspective has helped give her hope.
00:21:23.000 And We do want hope because we can make this stuff better, but we have to get down to some of the root causes for the pain that our fellow Americans are feeling and how that's directly linked to the policy choices of the Biden administration.
00:21:37.000 So back to the House Judiciary Committee.
00:21:39.000 You see a very coordinated, well-funded effort to destroy Clarence Thomas as the result of views held by his spouse.
00:21:49.000 I mean, sometimes you can't even make this stuff up.
00:21:52.000 But what Democrats know is that they're way overreaching on the mandates, on the medical tyranny, on the January 6th committee, with what they've done with a lot of January 6th defendants.
00:22:05.000 With the utilization of the national security apparatus to target a political movement they fear.
00:22:10.000 And what they're trying to do is clear the decks on the Supreme Court for one of America's greatest public servants, Clarence Thomas.
00:22:19.000 I think Clarence Thomas is my favorite member of the court.
00:22:23.000 And they're trying to do everything they can to discredit him, to get him to recuse himself, maybe even to impeach Clarence Thomas.
00:22:31.000 I wouldn't put it past these Democrats to fashion up articles of impeachment against Clarence Thomas because this is the type of bare-knuckles politics they play.
00:22:40.000 When they can't win by smearing Clarence Thomas in his confirmation hearings, when they can't win against Gorsuch or with their terrible smears against Kavanaugh, Well, they just go to the next opportunity to try to destroy someone, to try to remove them, to try to seize that power for themselves.
00:22:59.000 And so that's what's on display with Clarence Thomas.
00:23:02.000 And what I found interesting and what this hearing revealed is that Benny Thompson, the Democrat chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, The Democrat chairman of the January 6th committee actually launched a racist trope at Clarence Thomas.
00:23:20.000 Take a listen to what we learned.
00:23:23.000 When someone calls a black person an Uncle Tom, is that a racist attack?
00:23:28.000 Yeah, I think it is.
00:23:29.000 I think it's a disgusting attack.
00:23:31.000 Do any of the other panelists dispute that testimony?
00:23:35.000 Does anyone think that there's a non-racist way to call a black person an Uncle Tom?
00:23:44.000 How should we think about the fact that the chairman of the January 6th Committee, the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, used what all of you concede as a racist attack against Justice Thomas?
00:23:59.000 Congressman Jeffries asked me for an example.
00:24:01.000 I gave it to him.
00:24:01.000 I'll let others address it, but I just think it is indicative of the hatred that is That is directed towards Justice Thomas for his views, which, in fact, if you look, I wrote an article on this of comparing Justice Jackson and Justice Thomas's views on a number of issues in terms of polling.
00:24:26.000 And by and large, black rank and file, black Americans rank and file Agree, I think, on abortion, on guns, on voter ID, across the board.
00:24:41.000 And yet somehow he's portrayed as being an Uncle Tom or a sellout or whatever the disgusting characterizations are.
00:24:48.000 And it's just this continual attack on Justice Thomas.
00:24:52.000 And thank God he's had the backbone to never bend in the face of these attacks.
00:24:57.000 And I think And I think this hearing today is a continuation of that.
00:25:02.000 Everyone's focused on Justice Thomas.
00:25:04.000 And let me just address the January 6th case where, you know, that case has to do with Executive privilege over internal White House documents between the president and his closest advisers, they have nothing whatsoever to do with Jeannie Thomas' communications with Mark Meadows.
00:25:20.000 Those wouldn't be covered by executive privilege.
00:25:23.000 So Justice Thomas was voting on documents that were not at all related to his wife.
00:25:33.000 That's why I say, up until this point, there could be cases down in the future, as every justice does.
00:25:38.000 When the case comes before the court and they look at the litigants, they look at the parties, they look at what's at issue, they decide whether they recuse it.
00:25:45.000 So that I understand your testimony.
00:25:46.000 You believe it's a racist trope to designate Justice Thomas as uniquely unintelligent or persuadable?
00:25:53.000 You believe it's a racist trope to call him an Uncle Tom?
00:25:56.000 And you believe that this committee is a continuation of that effort?
00:25:59.000 Yes.
00:26:00.000 I believe it started when he first came to town in 1980. Let's hope it ends.
00:26:08.000 I yield back.
00:26:11.000 Wow.
00:26:12.000 I mean, what the cameras didn't show there is that on that panel, you had people that were white and black.
00:26:18.000 You had witnesses that were called by the Democrats and witnesses that were called by the Republicans.
00:26:24.000 And it's undisputed that Benny Thompson, who is himself black, Called Clarence Thomas an Uncle Tom.
00:26:32.000 And regardless of race, regardless of party affiliation, every person on that panel agreed that what Benny Thompson did was racist.
00:26:43.000 That was a racist thing to do.
00:26:46.000 And it aligns with these other tropes that they've intended to use against Clarence Thomas.
00:26:52.000 So I was glad to be there to ripen the testimony of the witnesses that were able to bring into sharp relief the effort that is truly underway and how important it is that we stand with Clarence Thomas, that he preserve his seat on the court, and that he have the opportunity To issue important rulings on the matters of the day.
00:27:12.000 So you're joining us here on Firebrand Live.
00:27:15.000 I'm in my Washington office.
00:27:16.000 We're simulcast streaming on Getter, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Rumble.
00:27:23.000 We hope you subscribe and you've got to have the notifications turned on because here's the thing about doing a live show out of our congressional office.
00:27:31.000 You never know when Nancy Pelosi is going to call a vote.
00:27:35.000 We oftentimes have hearings that run during the day.
00:27:38.000 So we're trying to squeeze in these important reports direct to you without the filter of the mainstream media at every opportunity we get.
00:27:47.000 But sometimes it might be, you know, at 11 o'clock or noon.
00:27:49.000 We try to keep it around noon.
00:27:51.000 But look, they could push later into the afternoon.
00:27:53.000 And if you want to get the live action, If you want to know exactly what's happening here, I will tell it to you.
00:27:59.000 But you're going to have to have the notifications turned on.
00:28:01.000 You want to be subscribed.
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00:28:07.000 Tell us what you think of the show and what you'd like to see us talk about.
00:28:10.000 It always helps more people get our content.
00:28:13.000 Some content that is not coming out of the Biden White House is marijuana reform.
00:28:19.000 And so I want to take a moment...
00:28:21.000 To really highlight an important study that might give us a lot of information about value for adult use laws as an alternative to Big Pharma.
00:28:33.000 So last week, Shyam Rahman, who's a doctoral student at the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, And Indiana University doctoral student Ashley Bradford published their research in health economics.
00:28:47.000 That research finds that recreational marijuana access reduces demand for prescription drugs.
00:28:54.000 Bad news for Big Pharma.
00:28:56.000 And while the impacts of substituting cannabis for prescription drugs have been examined in states with medical cannabis laws, this study is different because it considers the effect that cannabis substitution has in states with fully recreationally legal adult use laws.
00:29:16.000 Doctors and the medical system are, in my opinion, the safest way to administer and consume any medication.
00:29:22.000 However, this study shows and illustrates that in the absence of available research over the last decade, individual behavior, self-medicating, individual agency, It's been sufficient enough to replace the imperfect prescription drugs that in many cases are addicting us and killing us at a far higher rate than marijuana ever could.
00:29:46.000 So the study used quarterly data from all Medicaid prescriptions from 2011 to 2019 to investigate the effect of state-level adult-use recreational marijuana laws on prescription drug utilization.
00:30:02.000 It found significant reductions in the volume of prescriptions with the drug classes that align with medical indications for pain, depression, anxiety, sleep disorder, psychosis, and seizures.
00:30:15.000 The findings indicate that in addition to the lethal opioid crisis, cannabis is proving to be a medical alternative to prescription drugs for many other conditions.
00:30:26.000 It occurs that this is safest when patients have legal adult use access to cannabis without the risk of big governments incarceration or prosecution.
00:30:37.000 I support the medical cannabis system including in Florida where I wrote a bunch of those laws.
00:30:42.000 And in Florida we stand to benefit from streamlined research grants at large scale to learn more and help more people unlock potential.
00:30:52.000 However, the conclusion of this study, that recreational cannabis use is weaning people off of prescription drugs, it's just hard to ignore.
00:31:02.000 Unfortunately, there's this tumultuous road ahead.
00:31:05.000 Even with legitimate research and factual basis and evidence at hand, the cultural stigma hangover of the boomer era weighs heavy.
00:31:15.000 Take a listen to this clip from The Briar Show.
00:31:19.000 Opioids are prescribed principally as a chronic pain solution, right?
00:31:23.000 Correct.
00:31:24.000 The National Academy of Sciences issued a report in 2017 entitled The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids.
00:31:30.000 Are you familiar with that work product?
00:31:32.000 No, sir.
00:31:33.000 I'll quote from it.
00:31:35.000 It says, there is conclusive or substantial evidence that cannabis or cannabinoids are effective for treatment of chronic pain in adults.
00:31:44.000 Do you have any basis scientifically or from any evidentiary standpoint to disagree with that conclusion?
00:31:51.000 Again, this is why I think we always talk about the research of the benefits of marijuana.
00:31:56.000 So you support research into medical marijuana?
00:31:58.000 We've said that all along, that we support the research of marijuana.
00:32:01.000 And after you implemented a rule in August of 2016 pushing the Department of Justice to create more research-based cannabis, they haven't issued any more of those permits, have they?
00:32:12.000 Or haven't granted any?
00:32:13.000 So they haven't been granted, but I think there's an important distinction that has to be understood.
00:32:18.000 So when we put that rule out, it was in the efforts to help the research community.
00:32:25.000 But if none of the research permits have been granted, how has it helped them?
00:32:28.000 Because there is an issue with how we put that solicitation out or that rule out.
00:32:34.000 So you're the acting administrator of the DEA. You cannot cite a single study that indicates that medical marijuana creates a greater challenge with opioids, and you're unaware of the studies, including studies from the National Academy of Sciences, that demonstrate that medical marijuana can be an acceptable alternative to opioids.
00:32:53.000 Is that what I'm understanding?
00:32:54.000 Yes.
00:32:56.000 That was President Trump's acting head of the DEA and it was just shocking to me that the people who have impact and influence over drug policy seem to be like purposefully ignorant of some of this research and particularly the study I'm highlighting today.
00:33:12.000 It's like now we live in a world where 37 states and the District of Columbia currently permit the use of medical marijuana with a prescription While 18 states have this circumstance where there's adult use.
00:33:25.000 It's regulated, but it's adult use even without the medical complex.
00:33:29.000 So let's make it 50 states for both.
00:33:31.000 I was one of three Republicans this month to vote for the MORE Act.
00:33:36.000 I was joined by Congressman McClintock of California and Congressman Mast, my fellow Florida man from down on the Atlantic coast of Florida.
00:33:45.000 And the Moore Act would have descheduled cannabis, making it federally not illegal to the same degree that it is today.
00:33:52.000 That would have allowed states to be able to flourish under their system.
00:33:56.000 It would have allowed expungement of criminal convictions for non-violent cannabis possession, among a number of other things.
00:34:03.000 But best of all, the Congressional Budget Office says that this bill would actually reduce the deficit by $2.88 billion over the next 10 years.
00:34:11.000 Deficit reduction through marijuana reform.
00:34:13.000 Imagine that.
00:34:15.000 So there are much larger priorities of the United States federal government than to go around arresting people for inhaling a plant material or even for self-medicating in some circumstances based on the data in this study.
00:34:27.000 Oftentimes, folks are safely in the environment of their own homes.
00:34:31.000 So the real issue here is Joe Biden's betrayal on marijuana.
00:34:38.000 If you go to JoeBiden.com backslash Black America, as part of Joe Biden's fundraising website, you will see a page entitled, Lift Every Voice, The Biden Plan for Black America.
00:34:51.000 In Biden's list of his unaccomplished plans for Black America, he says, quote, Biden will work with Congress to reform federal sentencing and provide incentives to state and local systems to do the same.
00:35:05.000 He will end, once and for all, the federal crack and powder cocaine disparity and decriminalize the use of cannabis and automatically expunge all prior cannabis convictions and end all incarceration for drug use alone and instead divert individuals to drug courts and treatment.
00:35:25.000 Joe Biden, where are you at?
00:35:28.000 The House has passed legislation that fits one of your presidential demands, and it's headed to a death in the Senate.
00:35:36.000 And I'm here to remind you, and Kamala, you're missing a critical moment for a policy accomplishment.
00:35:44.000 Do what you said you would do and by the stroke of the president's pen we could have substantial marijuana reform in this country.
00:35:52.000 Instead, unfortunately, Joe Biden is like Thank you so much for joining us on Firebrand today on Friday.
00:36:11.000 So next week, we've got a district work period.
00:36:13.000 So it might be a little while, but it gives you the opportunity.