While not personally in favor of legal, recreational marijuana, Amodei has not stood in the way of legislation like the SAFE Banking Act of 2019, and has been a proponent for giving marijuana businesses banking access. He supports regulating the industry the safe way as alcohol, and would like to see reform happen to increase the level of transparency in the industry. Amodei was an advocate for medical marijuana in 2016.
Holds office U.S. House District 2
Candidate in race for U.S. House District 2 on Tuesday, June 11, 2024
H.R.2093 - STATES Act 2019-2020
H.R.1595 - SAFE Banking Act of 2019
"Since 1973, many states, including Nevada, have taken action to legalize or decriminalize penalties associated with the possession of marijuana. However, today's legislation goes far beyond those actions, as it has the potential to allow bad actors and criminal organizations to further exploit America's addiction crisis. Additionally, in a time of record deficits, I cannot support legislation that directs tax revenue from marijuana sales toward indeterminate social engineering. My concern is further heightened by Nevada's recent track record where recreational marijuana tax revenues were supposed to fund our public education system. That goal, from many viewpoints, has not materialized.
"Instead of focusing on legislation that will not be signed into law before the end of this Congress, House leadership should be focused on prioritizing relief for families, businesses of all sizes, and our medical providers who are still struggling amid the ongoing pandemic." (12/4/20)
Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., says he opposed legalizing recreational use of marijuana but now supports giving those businesses safe access to financial institutions.
“It wasn’t my cup of tea,” he told the Carson Chamber of Commerce Monday morning. “I voted against it.”
But he said the voters approved the decriminalization and now, prohibiting banks from accepting pot businesses as customers means those businesses “are dealing with large amounts of cash.”
"So when you talk about, 'Should it be an option for medical treatment? Yes," Amodei said. "We established that (legal medical marijuana) in Nevada. I support that. But the caveat is, it needs to be ti-rated (made into a pill). So if there is a use for it, fine. But let's not be handing people dime bags and telling them to spark it up to smoke their medicine." (10/6/16)
Email: Amodei4Nevada02@gmail.com
Phone: 202-225-6155
104 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515