 It is my distinct honor to emcee and in total trauma working with Ethan on it, but nevertheless an honor because I get to introduce a real and true leader in Washington. We often hear that people don't do anything, that it's stagnated, but it takes a man, not only a man perhaps, from a state where the mighty ducks are represented, who could do the kind of incredible work that Earl Blumenauer has done. Representing Oregon's third district since 1996, he has been a leading voice in the fight for marijuana legalization. He called for the firing of DEA administrator Chuck Rosenberg. He's championed, that's right, applaud for that. He's championed legislation to expunge federal marijuana offenses and he's championed legislation to legalize in his own home state where it is legal. Representative Blumenauer has made ending marijuana prohibition one of the causes of his political career and he is here with us today. We are so blessed to have him in this fight. Join me in giving him a drug policy reformist. Welcome to Earl Blumenauer. Wow. Wow. Do we have an amen? Thank you so very much. I welcome you here as part of what is truly a global effort to try and reframe and reform failed and destructive drug policies that have captured the imagination of politicians for far too long. It is true. This has been an area that I've been involved with literally since I was a child legislator before any of you were born in 1973 voted to legalize adult use of marijuana in the Oregon legislature and that was the same time that Oregon became the first state that decriminalized marijuana and from that moment forward it has been absolutely clear to me that we're wasting lives, we're wasting resources on a failed policy of prohibition that distracts from things that we can do together. You are here at a fascinating time in our nation's capital. Now ignore the goofiness today on Capitol Hill on the floor where there are some of my Republican colleagues that would have us turn our back on the very victims from the slaughter that is occurring in Paris or in the Middle East. Hopefully we're better than that. But below the surface there is an area that you are watching bipartisan support growing. We have had 13 amendments approved in Congress or in committee in the last two years moving forward marijuana reform. We've enacted into law the FAR Roarbacher Amendment to get the federal government off the backs of state legal medical marijuana. We've enacted into law unraveling the prohibition against hemp. Think what Thomas Jefferson and George Washington must think today where what they grew on their farms 350 years ago is illegal? Give me a break. We have a working group of Republicans and Democrats alike that have introduced over 16 pieces of legislation and you just saw my friend and colleague Corey Brooker. It's as Barney Frank reminded me this summer we were having dinner. It's finally being introduced in the Senate. We think that's progress in the Senate. You are here at a time to help advance this cause. We hope that you will take time to visit with other friends and colleagues to point out that this effort of drug reform is tied directly to the major issues that confront us here in terms of racial disparity in criminal justice, in terms of wasting federal dollars, in terms of a health problem, an epidemic of opioid deaths and we can't allow the VA to deal with medical marijuana for our veterans. This is Goofy. We ask you to help us focus attention on Capitol Hill and at home. The time is now to reform these marijuana laws. I look forward to working with you as we unroll our program in Oregon, as we move to other states and as we will make more progress at the federal level. With your help, in five years we will have completely turned this back to the states to deal with as they see fit, like alcohol, and we'll be able to move forward with other major reforms in justice and drug reform. Nothing is more critical for us to show real progress for real lives moving on, capturing this moment in history. We need your help. We look forward to working with you. Things lie ahead.