Mr. MICA. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding time.

For 5 years in the Senate, I was a staffer under Senator Hawkins, who chaired the Drug Policy Committee on the Senate side. I have served most of my time in the House on the Criminal Justice Drug Policy Subcommittee or one of its predecessors. I chaired Criminal Justice Drug Policy.

I point that out to tell you, in the nearly two decades, I have never heard one credible source that said that there is a need for medical prescription and use of marijuana, not one credible source through dozens and dozens of hearings.

In fact, we have heard the other side say, let the doctor decide, and in fact, the experts, and there is no bigger association than the American Medical Association of doctors. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has opposed this. The American Glaucoma Society has opposed it. The American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Cancer Society have all opposed this type of use.

Millions of dollars have been spent in an effort to try to push this agenda, and we know Mr. Soros has spent millions.

In 1979, Keith Stroup, the NORML founder, announced that NORML would be using the issue of medical marijuana as a red herring, not my term, red herring to give marijuana a good name.

You have heard the testimony. In over half the instances of use of cocaine and marijuana, the gateway drug that is used, in fact, is marijuana.