Presidency. Ms. Davidson josh, five seconds to add to that. I can say in five seconds, i do not think i can improve on what bill and back just said. Jet and mack just said. Ms. Davidson think you for taking part in this meeting. [applause] [indistinct conversation] tonight, on the how the fccs, could change under the Trump Administration and a look at the tech and telecommunication issues we could be facing. We will start to tackle those. What is the future of the internet Going Beyond Network neutrality and what does it mean with Artificial Intelligence and a jobs and the consolidation and commercialization . Plans werethat what ,eed up for Data Services and unanimity and consensus among the democrats is probably not going to get off the ground. Watch the communicators, tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspan two. President obamas legacy on civil rights. Joshua dubois, the director for the Obama Administration, looks to the 2016 election and racial conflicts in the u. S. Here is more. I think we have been handed an xray and we can see all of the cancers that are in our body as a country right now, and that is shocking, a destabilizing thing. I think, i agree. We have not achieved the level of hope and change, this shift in public discourse, the sense of unity as a country that president obama articulated so beautifully in 2008. I think what we may be missing, something really important about that. I believe personally the reason we have not achieved it, and blm and others have done an amazing job pointing it out, the primary obstacle to hope and change as we now see it is white fragility and white supremacy. That is on the table now. That is out for everyone to see. We have the xray. We can see the trump supporters. We can see the tea party movement. We can see the issues with race and a bias in policing, and we cannot do surgery without that xray. I think it probably took the country too long and maybe the president too long to be able to identify these things. A lot of folks in this room knew that already, right . Heldst some of the remarks looking at president obamas civil rights legacy. You can watch the entire program tonight at 9 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan two. Here are some of our future programs thursday. Thanksgiving day on cspan. Just after 11 00 a. M. Eastern, nebraska senator ben on american values, the founding fathers, and the purpose of government. Civicre is a huge mindedness in american history, but it is not compelled by the government. Followed at noon with former on healthy harkin food and the rise of obesity in the u. S. Everything from monster , toers with 1420 calories 20 ounce cokes and pepsis and 12 to 15 teaspoons of sugar, feeding an epidemic of childhood obesity. Jimmy will talk about the evolution of the online encyclopedia and the challenge of providing Global Access to information. There is 1000 entries. I know there is a Small Community there and five to 10 really active users and another 20 to 30 that they know a little bit and they think of themselves as a community. A little after 7 00 eastern, a look at the years long effort to restore the capitol dome. At 8 00, Justice Kagan reflects on her life and career. Thesis, whichnior was a great thing to have done, it taught me an incredible amount, but it taught me what it was like to be a serious historian and sit in archives all day every day, and i realized it just was not for me. Followed by Justice Thomas at 9 00. Genius is not putting a two dollar idea in a 20 idea in aing a 20 two dollar sentence without any loss of meaning. Just after 10 00, at an exquisite ceremony in the white house, president obama will present the middle of freedom, the highest civilian award, to nba star Michael Jordan, singer Bruce Springsteen, address sicily tyson, and bill and melinda gates. Watch on cspan and www. Cspan. Org or listen on the free cspan radio app. Is steve fox,now the cofounder of the National Cannabis industry association. He deals with issues with regards to marijuana. How is marijuana used recreationally or medically . Guest it was a big election. We had nine initiatives on the ballot and five of them were for all adult use and four were related to medical marijuana and eight out of nine ended up passing including four out of five of the adult use measures, with the initiatives passing in california, maine, massachusetts, and nevada. The medical marijuana states that passed were arkansas, the first state in the south to pass a medical marijuana measure, florida, north dakota, and montana expended upon its existing medical marijuana program. Host why do you think there is a change not only in the states you talked about but other states that have gone down this road as well . Guest this has been evolving for decades, starting with the first medical marijuana initiatives that passed in california in 1996. We have just seen support for reforming marijuana laws increase just about one or two points a year to the point where and gallupcent pew surveys have support for organizations at 57 and 60 , so there has been a tremendous increase, based on the fact that people understand that marijuana is not as bad as it was made out to be. Not saying it is without some Harms Associated with it, but overall, given the grand scope of various substances and so on, they just realized that it is not worth punishing individuals for using marijuana, and basically, the changes in the law have followed that. Now that the changes are made in the statewide level, how much influence does the federal government have over the statewide decisions . Guest there is significant federal involvement potentially, and what we have had over the past, i guess, three years, inicially, there have been, 2012, colorado and washington past legalization measures in those states. In response, the Obama Administration issued guidance in august. 2013. That said if you are acting in compliance with state laws, you will not be a federal Law Enforcement priority, and that in thosendividuals states as well as the medical marijuana states to understand that if they were operating in strict compliance with state law , that they could move forward without concern of federal interference, and that now is the question moving forward with the trump organization. Host what is the question . Guest the question is whether that will continue and whether saying be there on paper two operators that if you are acting in compliance with state law, that you will not be a federal Law Enforcement priority. Host we will continue with this conversation but if you have questions or our guest concerning this idea of marijuana, not only what is happening on the statewide level, but what it means for the federal administration, you can call in to give questions and comments on this topic. Lines for democrats, republicans, and independents. Sessions stance, if any is taken, on marijuana. Host guest if you were to look up the record, you would see he has pretty strong antimarijuana statements in the past. He does not seem to be much in favor of the use of marijuana, and we will have to see where that goes. I mean, he has also had stance is were supportive of federalism and the idea that states should be able to determine their own laws, so there will be a balance there and we will see where it comes down. Host if he were interested in doing something about it, give us what he could do as attorney general when it comes to what is happening on the state level. Guest when you come down to it, despite all of this action at the state level, where we now the districts plus of columbia that have made the medical use of marijuana legal, along with the now eight states plus the District Of Columbia that have made adult use legal, marijuana is still illegal at the federal level. That has not changed. The department of justice has the ability to prosecute individuals who are engaged in marijuanarelated activity, you are hoping they will not, but it is possible. When you ask what is possible, really, anything is on the table, but the question is whether the state laws will be respected. T someone is offering operating a dispensary and the government can come shut it down . Guest yes. Host do you think donald trump is interested in doing that . Guest he has said he is not. He said this was a state issue when asked specifically by a report in colorado whether he would allow his attorney general to go after state legal businesses. He had said that it was a states issue and he would not his attorney general going after it, so we will have to see how that plays out. We hope he is true to his word on that. Joining us, the cofounder of the National Cannabis industry association. Tell us the people you represent under that association . Cannabise natural industry represents more than 1000 businesses that are engaged in the cannabis industry in some capacity. That may be people who are dispensaries, cultivators, producers, but also many other businesses, from law firms, including the one where i work, to give the plug there, and Accounting Firms and many other ancillary businesses. Host we have calls lined up for you. Bernie,t one comes from in new york. Independent mind. You are on with our guests, steve fox. Go ahead with your question or comment. Caller good morning. Amazed that we continue to have a federal law in conflict with state law. When is the federal law going to be changed, and why has it not already been addressed . Guest that is an excellent question. I mean, part of the answer is that things weve slowly at the federal level best things move things move slowly at the federal level. We have seen progress. Riders,re appropriations rider which can limit the way federal funds are spent, and we have had one appropriations rider which actually passed and as part of the current appropriations bill, which prohibits the federal government from spending any money to interfere with state medical marijuana laws, so you have had that kind of movement. We also have Seen Movement in both chambers in favor of helping banks work with cannabis industry companies, so we see movement along the way, but it takes a little effort to get full legislation passed to make it legal on the state level as well as the federal level. Salisbury,e from maryland. Democrat line. Good morning. Caller good morning. I am a former addiction counselor and i think legalization of marijuana is a terrible idea. It is an extremely dangerous drug. It causes all sorts of things. It causes sterility, all sorts of things, interrupt the menstrual process. I have treated people who have lost jobs, lost loved ones, lost their lives to marijuana use and i think you ought to be ashamed of yourself for even thinking about legalizing such a dangerous chemical. Thank you. Guest sure, i know some people feel that marijuanas harms are too extreme to justify making it legal, but i disagree. In this basic sense, this is probably the best way of explaining it, it is that by basically every objective measure, and this has been a conclusion of numerous, basically, every government study ever done, is that marijuana is objectively less harmful than alcohol, a substance that is excepted in our society and widely used in our society. Maybe some people think it should not be, but it clearly is, and marijuana is us addictive than alcohol, less toxic than alcohol, less likely to be associated with acts of violence, and we can bleed on any reason we should punish adults who prefer to use the less harmful of the two substances, and that is the bottom line of where we come from. Host twice you have mentioned the harms. What are the harms as you sue it . You see it . Guest i mean, obviously, you dont want people driving after consuming it. It can impair judgment. Inhaling smoke is not necessarily good for anyone, in any sense, but you know, beyond that, a lot of lisa posted harms a lot of the supposed heart that have been talked about in the past, we can go down the line about whether it killed brain cells. If you do the research, marijuana actually protects brain cells, and that is why it can slow the progression of alzheimers, parkinsons, and its very useful for people with epilepsy. There used to be claims that marijuana causes cancer, but longterm studies that have been done have shown that actually, it can reduce incidence of cancer, that there is no increased risk even of lung cancer. Study and itsk proved not to be true. , to concede to some people who may seem to say it may have harms, that it may have some harms. Is not absolutely harmless. In the grand scheme of things compared to alcohol, cigarettes, fast food, and so on, the longterm harm it seems to be limited. Host are we seeing more powerful strains of marijuana created . Is that a concern . Guest easy strain higher in thc content, the intoxicating part, but we have not seen any studies that really show that that is causing a significant increase in harm. I mean, in some ways, people know to measure their dose and if it is stronger, they will simply have less, which in the sense of inhaling smoke, i suppose is a good thing. As it has become stronger over time and it is widely used in our society, we have not seen incidences of Mental Illness increase because of that. Host let us hear from keep in toledo, ohio. Republican line. You are on. Caller good morning. I agree with everything this man is saying. I am very much promarijuana. I have a concern with the new election, as it will be harder for the states. It is still against federal. I wonder, maybe, if they will of thethe scheduling drug. I am not you know, it should be legal. , to incarcerate people that smoke this is ridiculous. It does not help our society whatsoever and even though smoking marijuana, cigarettes, alcohol, i think it would be better if nobody did any of it, but none of it should be illegal. Host thanks. Guest i just want to mention the scheduling. That does come up. One thing to note is that marijuana, the penalties associated with marijuana at the federal level, are not connected to what schedule it is an, so you could move marijuana to schedule to, schedule 3 , andule ii, schedule iii you would still have those penalties associated with marijuana. We need to remove it from the controlled substances act entirely and treat it like alcohol at the federal level. People feel like it should be treated as a medicine or dietary supplement. These are things that need to be figured out and showed. One other thing i would mention related to what he said, is he said, there is no reason to arrest or punish individuals for using marijuana, and obviously, we agree, but we really want to make sure that there is a larger point being made here, and that is that tens of millions of americans do use marijuana, sometimes as an alternative to alcohol, sometimes because they enjoy it. They need to get it somewhere or they do get it somewhere, and that is what these states are doing. It is not just making marijuana legal for adults, it is also setting up systems of distribution and sale that are regulated and monitored, tracking, and they tested the marijuana to measure it is clean and pure and sold and taxed, which generates revenue for the states. Colorado last year took in 135 million in tax revenue at the state level. It will take in more than 150 million this year. That is money going to Public School construction, Public Education programs, antibullying programs, addressing homelessness issues, and so on. These are problems that can really be addressed. If the government shuts this down, it means all of this revenue is growing that underground and towards criminals and cartels. From washington, independent line. Caller thanks for taking my call. The previous color hits the head of the nail. Law is a revenuegenerating that is used at local, county, state and federal. Why do you think we have forprofit prison systems that must operate at 90 capacity . Laws to these little generate money for profit for wall street. Now, i think that the glut for profit in america is becoming really shameful because it is eating the people. Marijuana is something that, when it is not being abused, is very helpful, so i think the , itt is, it is for profit is for greedy people, it is for wall street, and who gives a damn about who gets hurt . Thank you for the call. I know there is a lot of intelligent people out here. Check into this. You will see. Guest thank you for the call. Yeah, i guess, a number of issues potentially to address there. But i guess i would like to focus on where he said that getting hurt by using marijuana. It is an opportunity to talk about the people that do use marijuana. You are seeing articles about players in the nfl, more than a in surveynterviews said they would want to be able to use marijuana in many cases because it is a better way for them to help treat their pain. We have seen studies now that show that where medical marijuana is legal, you have about a 25 reduction it seems in opioid use, which is obviously a real serious drug problem in this country. We also see that veterans frequently use marijuana to help alleviate ptsd symptoms and help them sleep at night. It is also something that middleaged people use to help them sleep when they are feeling stressed or have insomnia or whatever. We need toly change the way people think of marijuana users. Stereotypes in the past about what a typical marijuana user looks like, but it is really not the case and all kinds of people use marijuana and they should not be punished for doing so. Host mike from ellicott city, maryland. Caller how are you doing . I agree with the other calls. I have a question. Thatnt it make more sense if the states legalize marijuana, that they would make it affordable for people so that the average drug dealer, you would take a lot of things away from people that sell street thats all drugs on the street. No matter how many dispensaries you have, they can get marijuana anywhere. The only people that pay are the people that get pulled over, lose their job, but at the end of the day, you can get marijuana anywhere. People get marijuana everywhere. My whole thing is i agree with the dispensaries and things like that, but what do you do, why do you make it so spencer that the average person make it so expensive that the average person could buy it cheaper . Take over the industry and knock out the violence that comes with it because there will be no more drugs because who can compete with the state . Thank you. Guest that is an interesting issue that has come up in the states wher