On Thursday Jan. 21, the day after President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Maryland Representative Andy Harris—who as we’re saying here at The Outlaw Report just about every week, is the main reason why there’s no regulated, commercial cannabis in Washington D.C.—set off the Capitol building metal detector because he had a gun on him. According to The Washington Post, Harris set off the metal detectors placed there the day after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, he walked away from the metal detectors and then attempted to give fellow Republican John Katko the gun. Katko refused. Harris then returned without the gun, did not set off the metal detector, and went onto the House floor.
The day after Harris set off metal detectors because he had a gun on him, Maryland Democrats once again called for Harris to resign. Democrats had already did this in the days after the attack on the Capitol because Harris was one of the Republicans who voted to challenge electoral votes—and also, he got into a screaming match on the floor of the House with Democratic Representative Colin Allred of Texas.
“Even after repeated result certification and dismissal by even the most conservative of judges, Representative Harris continued to spout the President’s lies. Yesterday, we saw the results of their inflammatory rhetoric and blatant falsehoods. A terrorist mob stormed our Capitol a the behest of the President,” the Democrats’ statement read in part. “The Republican members of Congress who instigated this violence—including Representative Harris—are complicit in this attempted insurrection. They have blood on their hands.”
While cannabis advocates have long known that Harris is unpredictable, deeply right wing, and often operating in bad faith, it now seems like the rest of the world knows and perhaps, this could be good for further cannabis reform. When one of the main enemies to cannabis reform has been discredited, maybe the longstanding effects of his policies on cannabis can be discredited too.