truly regards the 14th amendment equal protection clause which entitles every american the liberty of being able to vote for whoever they want. all thetch prize-winning documentaries in this year's competition, visit studentcam.org. >> live friday on the c-span c-spans, at 10 a.m. on -- at 10:00 a.m. on c-span, the campus summit. coverage of our barbara bush lying in repose in houston, texas. 12:00, former representative patrick kennedy taking part in a forum on u.s. marijuana policy. coming up in one hour, a criminal justice reporter on

changes in legal and social views of marijuana. 8:45, the author of "tyran♪ host: good morning. it is friday, april 20. welcome to washington journal. the house and the senate are out of session this week. -- inesident is coming on florida, but both are coming out of a busy week in the capital. as we review events from the week on this friday, we want to know, what is your top story? here is how to take part in the program. .epublicans, (202) 748-8001 democrats, (202) 748-8000.

independents, (202) 748-8002. you can also weigh in on social media. our twitter handle is @cspanwj. you can also post comments on facebook.com/cspan. it is the jim comey memos handed to congress, said the headline in the washington post this morning. president trump expressed concern about the judgment of his national security adviser michael flynn, weeks before forcing him to resign, according to memos kept by former fbi director james comey. they are recounting detailed efforts by trump to influence the bureaus expanding investigation of russia. they also reveal the extent of trump preoccupation with unproven allegations that he had consorted with prostitutes in moscow in 2013. repeatedly deny the allegations and prodded coming to help disprove them, while also recalling being told by russian president vladimir putin

that russia has the most people prostitutes. were disclosed thursday as the justice department released redacted memos, some of which contained material comey composed in the aftermath of his immediate interaction with trump, a step he took because he was worried about their conversations and was worried the president might one day live about them. he was on the rachel maddow show on innocent bc last evening. [video clip] >> i was concerned that i was going to need a record to show the intelligent security chiefs that were with me but did not stay behind for the second private meeting, and i was worried that i was staying behind to talk to the president about things that related to him and the fbi's personal responsibilities. person,e nature of the as i understood the president-elect, he might not tell the truth of it became an issue, so i needed a record. thingthis the sort of

that fbi officials and special agents and people throughout the as a matter of course you could do you train one another that this is the way to approach your role as a potential witness in an important interaction? >> these are different than what agents would normally do. they would prepare a 302 and make an official record. this was an email to 19 who had team whoe, just -- my had been there, just telling them what was going on. the others were notes for my own memory, not in the way an agent would do, because i was the director. >> you have shared your testimony and in the book about your meetings and directions with president trump. we know what is in some of these memos, congress will learn substantially new information with the president, or do you feel like you commit the most

important stuff to congress? >> i don't know, because i do not -- have not had access to the memos were quite a while. i do not think so, but i have not read them myself. i've ok with transparency. i just assume the department of justice went through the steps to make sure that it was not jeopardizing an ongoing investigation. host: the president is tweeting about this this morning. he said general michael flynn's life can be totally destroyed while shady james comey can leak and lie and make lots of money from a third rate book that should have never been written. is that really the way life in america is supposed to work? i don't think so, says the president. let's your what rory has to say virginia, independent caller. what was the most important thing to you this week? what is really on my mind as i see allender schuett's all the time, parading people for not coming out and defending and going after suppose

ago overreach in the investigation. you have the if aclu on, representative to discuss that. host: we will make a note and take into it. nick, you are on the republican line. hey there. what really impacted me was the lack thereof of a strategy for syria. we still don't have a way forward, and it is kind of appalling. that is one thing i would love to see from this administration. and congress, especially, calling for -- they wanted to be in on the authorization of the we have seen and new bill on the authorization of the use of force, but it would

great to see strategy. where does america want to be? what is our vision for syria? what is our vision for not only our influence in the region, but what we see for other countries and how do we lay that out? host: do you have your own thoughts on how the way the u.s. should approach things in syria this morning at oh -- morning? aller: i do, and it is not popular thought. i think we need to rebuild syria, and not only work with our coalition partners in the united nations, but also russia. they have the majority of the influence in the region. in doing so, i think the biggest problem in the region is not assad's's power, but is really iran and the encroachment they have on israel. the institute of the study of war has some great analyses on ton and how close they are the border of israel, and we have seen the conflicts that have started to spark between iran and israel. prevent further

escalation, which i do not think anybody wants, we need to start paying attention to some of the bigger players in syria. i think rolling out a strategy that would work with russia to the of these -- appease influence they want in the region as well as to ensure that the violence stops against the syrian people. there are 12 million displaced syrians. we need to help stop the violence and create a strategy to rebuild, similar to the marshall plan. host: thank you for calling, nick. we covered a hearing on syria with administration officials is weak. go to c-span.org. if you go into the search bar, that will come up near the top. more about foreign policy, the new york times lead story -- an olive branch by north korea is viewed warily. with korea has dropped its demand that american troops be removed from south korea as a condition for giving up its nuclear weapons.

south korea's president said thursday, presenting the idea to the u.s.. north is aal by the concession on the eve of talks involving the two koreas and the writes inthe times washington, the trump administration privately dismissed the idea that it was a continuation by the north, because american withdrawal -- capitulation by the north because american withdrawal from the south was never on the table. and close to settling claims by federal regulators i managing its fines by as much as $1 billion. this was with the cfpb and the officers of the comptroller of the currency's, and is expected to be announced today. bank's be till the alleged failures to catch and prevent problems, including improper charges to consumers in its mortgage and auto lending businesses. and a teachers union is quitting wells fargo over guns. they say the financial

relationship with gunmakers and the nra has cost the bank its mortgage business with a major u.s. union, the american federation of teachers. they notified wells fargo it is dropping the bank is a recommended mortgage lender. the national education union has 1.7 million members. back to the washington times and the fbi story, mccabe's case referred to federal prosecutors. referred andrew mccabe's case to federal prosecutors to decide to bring a criminal case against him, said on thursday. this represents serious legal trouble for mr. mccabe and could hit him again his form -- pit him against his former boss, james comey. this was also discussed on the rachel maddow show. [video clip] >> tell me what you know about mueller investigation and rudy giuliani? i want to ask you about some news that broke tonight -- rudy giuliani will be

joining the presidents legal legal team.ident's he worked for him in manhattan and later got his job. "there was something about an unwritten code in working of the office of giuliani. in most cases, rudy was the star at the top, and the success of the office flowed in this direction. ode atolated this c your peril. the imbalance was that there was very little oxygen left for others. use -- others." firstu discussed your meeting. i was to stand behind the podium well giuliani spoke to the press. i was not under any circumstances to speak or move. he repeated a line i had were -- heard before -- the most dangerous place in new york is between rudy giuliani and a microphone.

i stood frozen at the back, looking like an extra from a basketball movie who had wandered onto the wrong set. a leader needs the truth, but a number does not consistently .ear it from his underlings my sense in reading that striking description is that you are drawing a comparison between rudy giuliani and donald trump as men and in terms of their leadership styles. is that a fair reading? >> in some ways. this imperial style, the boss is the dominant figure, is consistent in my impression of both of their leadership styles. know about theou mueller investigation and about rudy giuliani from working with him, what is your reaction to the news story that mr. giuliani will join trump's legal team? he said he will join the team to negotiate an end to the mueller

investigation, and has told reporters that he expects he will be able to negotiate that and, will and the mueller investigation in about two weeks. in the media and it struck me as interesting. i do not know what his vision would be for that, and i do not know how it becoming onto the -- legal teamen and working with the president. i just don't know. >> of someone did want to end the mueller investigation, how would they do it? >> i do not think you could accomplish that by firing director mueller. i think you would have to fire everybody in the fbi and the justice department to congress that in practice, given the commitment of the people in those organizations. so i do not know what he has in mind. >> someone new appointed to oversee the investigation orders staff to be on seconded, orders that there be no more investigatory steps taken? somebody in the oversight role that rod rosenstein has now, who

wanted to kill it, could kill it. to kill,ld be hard given the culture of the people in those organizations. maybe not impossible, but very hard to kill. host: a lot coming out of that including this wall street headline -- wall street journal headline there. we will go back to callers. thanks for waiting. caller: good morning. nikki -- i'm with losing it -- host: nikki haley? u.s. ambassador? caller: yes, yes. host: what about her. caller: she is the one person that seems to be credible in this administration, and they seem to want to throw her under the bus.

i am concerned about that. i hope that this administration will not be letting her go, because she is the one person intelligence and credibility. aboutjust want to say donald trump base -- donald trump space -- -- donald trump's base. i'm sick of hearing about donald trump's base. they are a minority in the country. ilya and errors, billionaires who want to be all the ozarks -- millionaires, billionaires who ,ant to be oligarchs, racists and bozos who listen to fox news. host: janet from maryland, republican. what was most important to you

this week news wise? caller: all of the investigations going on. i seem to hear everything about republicans and everything about hear too, but i do not much about we the people anymore, and i think everyone of them work for us. and i am one of donald trump 's base,- donald trump even though i did respect president obama. a republicany am and i am proud of that, but i wish we would all get together and be able to get along, because all of it is starting to get up on -- get on all of our nerves. host: is there a best way to get together? toler: yes, i would think stop all of the arguing and the fighting and acting like children. supposed to be looking up towards us, not down on us. host: thank you, janet.

herbert is in georgia, democratic caller. what is your view on this week? caller: my topic was do you trust comey? i trust comey better, because trump has an agenda. agenda that he has is not good for this country. it does not represent everybody in this country, and that is what you want to show the whole world. the united states of america has a culture of individuals, and we should represent everybody in here and let everybody know that everyone has equal opportunity. i have a black man. talking about making my country andt again, the tea party, i am sure there are fine people in the republican party, but this is not good for the country. even now, 87% of the party is

white. you know how we feel? we feel that when we have trump pushing this agenda that he has, we do not have equal opportunity. if you look at the specifics as to why america has more wealth than two thirds of the world and corporate companies in america are owned by white -- are thealmost majority of white americans. we are not complaining about that, we understand it, but give us equal opportunity to have good positions in the things that you own. and you have these other ones that are in denial or whatever, even the media are owned by white america. we are just saying give us equal opportunity. just open up the door and we will get it ourselves. just give us equal opportunity. and trump does not represent

that to all spaces in america. host: the president tweeting again this morning, james comey memos just out and show clearly that there was no collusion and no obstruction. also, he leaked classified information. wow. will the witchhunt continue? a tweet from one of our viewers, comey was persistent and believable. go team mueller. tammy, democratic caller. caller: good morning. host: what is on your mind? caller: with nikki haley, i she is a does i -- very well-respected person. i like the way that she came back and said i don't get confused. is al like nikki haley leader, and all of this stuff hen and trump,co and the indian prince's name

that has been coming over here with the redhead rap -- read head wrap and all that stuff -- let me tell you a little story. we met a lawyer from south florida who did not live to far is frommp, his wife spain, about democracy, this, about that, but everything that he had said has come to pass. donald trump said last week that there were plenty more lawyers -- yes there are. i do not think they have a good grip on what is going on yet. i think robert mueller, james comey, and even andrew mccabe are all good, reputable people. and robert mueller, by all means -- he came in, the second day on the job, he actually came into a mess, and look at what he has

done for our country and our a man who ise have our commander in chief, who wants to put down our justice department, f the eye, central -- fbi, central intelligence -- i do not understand this. host: thank you for calling, tammy. david has been waiting from lexington, kentucky, republican line. caller: yes. host: good morning. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. host: you're welcome. what is on your mind? know, as a disabled veteran of the united states, i have never compromised when i was overseas. i can't understand how people

who are in washington that compromise the president of the united states like they did, i don't understand it. be so corrupt and self-righteous light comey -- like comey, when we have a president that has got the koreans at the peace table again and they are about to sign a treaty once and for all. i don't understand it. i just wish i could understand this. host: that was david from lexington, kentucky. act of the robert mueller story, things played out with a little bit of drama this week in washington. in the hill.dline grassley, the chairman of the judiciary committee, mcconnell, the leader, does not control my committee. what they are talking about is a

bill that was coming up to protect the special counsel, which got a bit of discussion in committee yesterday. one is mitch mcconnell fox news earlier this week, talking about his approach to any legislation to protect the special counsel. [video clip] is a move afoot among some of your colleagues to make sure the president does not get rid of mueller, to institutionally shield mueller from being fired. how do you feel about that? necessary.not there is no indication that mueller will be fired. i do not think the president is going to do that. even as a practical matter, if we passed it, why would he sign at? >> so you do not think it is something that the president would entertain or should entertain? i do not think you should fire mueller and i do not think he is going to, so this is a piece of legislation that is not necessary in my judgment. >> but your colleagues fear it enough to say it should be in there. tobut i decide what we take

the floor. that is my responsibility as the majority leader, and we will not have that on the floor of the senate. >> would you be shocked if he did fire him? >> yes. i do not think you should and i do not think he will. host: grassley told the sponsors of two competing special counsel tilde that -- bills that they needed to merge their proposals before he brought it up. this would limit president trump uller,lity to fire m but that pits him against mcconnell. here is what senator grassley said that yesterday's meeting of his committee. [video clip] >> some have raised the question of why the committee plans to proceed on the markup, especially after the majority leader said it would not reach, would not be brought up in the senate. i answered this question -- i bet 10 times. the press is always trying to me and theeen president for me and the

majority leader. i do not care to be put in the middle of anything, i just plan on doing the work that this committee ought to do. how do you get things done? you get things done by moving up at a slow pace, through the various steps you go to get there. obviously, the views of the majority leader are important and considered, but they do not govern what happens in the judiciary committee. if consideration on the floor was standard for approving a bill in committee or not, we would not be rapidly moving any bills -- probably moving any bills. host: you can watch that whole meeting yesterday. it is only about 40 or 45 minutes, but go to c-span.org, type in judiciary committee, and you will see it there. we will probably be seeing another meeting next week. in the meantime, tennessee, democratic caller. how are you doing? caller: how are you doing? you can see that mitch mcconnell

hasn't -- has a conflict of interest, because his wife works for trump. first, giuliani -- ain't he a drag queen? host: anything else you want to add, arthur? arthur is gone. robert from florida. caller: yes. let me state i am retired military. i do not understand how people can continue to support someone that is a known liar and ch eat, over and over and over again. just this morning, he tweeted about michael flynn, this supposedly upstanding general, right? i do not like flynn. he was convicted in a court by his peers of a federal crime. we have a president that

continues to go after good glorifyand yet thugs. known thugs. his lawyer, people in his inner circle. donald trump as a cook and it will be bared out. the american people, 79% of the republicans do not support this guy. forget about the north korea supposedly meant that was supposed to happen. where are their moral course? president obama could not have done 1/8 of a percent of what this guy is doing to our country for the kids coming up today. why is this? why can they not see through this guy's bull? i do not get it. 28 years in the military. i sacrificed so much for this country, and our moral standards

are gone. host: robert, thank you for calling. john from columbus, ohio. good morning, good morning. that last caller is right on the button. i'm here in the beautiful state of columbus, ohio, and we have been having easy politicians run. c-span, you have to show these ads in our state. every ad has a guy -- i'm a guns.vative with and donald trump -- the people around here, it is crazy. this is what you all wanted, this is what you all got. whohave a guy from new york we all know from the 1980's and 1990's. he is a liar. we know donald trump to not tell the truth. he reminds me of the guys on the muppet that used to be in the balcony that would criticize

everything. sucks, but we still go. a cheap man. this is what you wanted, we got it. it back and watch the show. get your popcorn, because we all know donald trump is a liar, a croak. .e -- crook he loves prostitutes. he has a wife who is there for the money. she knows what she got. it is so funny that donald trump -- he will look you right in your face and say hey, that kool-aid right there, yes, that is kool-aid. you know that i made the i know theou know ingredients. but this is what you wanted, this is what you got. host: john, thank you for your comments as well. we will do this for about a half hour more. we are reviewing the week in washington. a startt trump getting

to this newsday, tweeting about opec and oil. opec is that it again with record amounts of oil all the the place, including fully loaded ships at sea. oil prices are artificially very high. no good and will not be accepted , tweets the president. adjusts a story that x -- suggests why this matters. trump is attacking opec's work with russia as it seeks to tame -- globalglobal got crude oil glut. trump's, thrive as oil prices with that he spoke about the upcoming meeting looking to be shuttled with the leader of the north koreans. [video clip] >> we have never been in a

position like this without regime, whether it is father, grandfather, or son. i hope to have a successful meeting. if we do not think it will be successful, we will not have it. we won't have it. if i think it is a meeting that is not going to be fruitful, we are not going to go. there,meeting, when i am is not fruitful, i will respectfully leave the meeting. we will continue what we are doing or whatever it is, that will continue, but something will happen. i like always remaining flexible, and will remain flexible here. more of youron to calls. jason, washington, republican. what is your tops torry of the week? week? story of the caller: i am a republican. they used to call me a reagan

republican. it is a disgrace what donald trump is doing up there, but it is the 21st century. i guess that is what we will ride with. the country is going in. we need to stop being so divided. routes,tching the show learning your roots, and it is amazing how so alike we are. the republican and democrat thing, they should have left i believene, and bernie should have been president. we would not be going through this right now. we have a couple years left with trump, but as long as we keep hashtagging. host: nasa has confirmed a new leader. democrats felt he lacked the

necessary scientific background for running the nasa program. mr. wright design is a house republicans from oklahoma and a former, it pilot, was nominated by the president in the fall. his confirmation stalled over objections from both parties. this means he has little chance to affect policy for the agency he will lead. martin is on the line with his top story of the week. hello. thank you for taking my call. i believe it has to be mr. comey and his book tour. host: ok. what is striking you most about the book tour? for askingnk you that question. i am 63 years old, which means i was born when eisenhower was the president. when i think of yesteryear, i think of those two things. there used to be a television show called the fbi, which i saw as a kid, and i do not recall any episodes where the head of abouti wrote a book

revealing things about the president. fbimember there was an director, j edgar hoover, i think he knew a lot of things. i do not recall him ever writing or doing a book tour, revealing all of the whatever conversations he had with the president. a legal scholar, but i imagine that you have to have confidentiality in dealing with the president of the united states. the second point is something i personally do not understand. mr. comey has stated that mr. donald trump, our president, mr. trump, asked mr. comey for his loyalty. mr. comey seems to be upset by that, and my interpretation is that he says his loyalty is to timenited states, but last

i checked, mr. trump was the president of the united states. i can't balance the two. he is for the united states but not for the president of the united states? i i understand -- i understand and of your callers' anger frustration with the president, but you need to accept that he is the president and support the president of the united states. if you are a supporter of the united states. that is my plight. say, an extreme thing to but if you cannot support the president of the united states and are so upended by his policies and the way the country is going, the last time i checked, anybody is allowed to come and go. lots of people are trying to come in. a be we should let those people into the country that wants to be here, and the people that do not want to be in the country, they are free to leave.

we can have an america where the people that want to be here are here, because it seems to be there are a lot of people that are here that are not satisfied. that is their right, but if i like,meplace i did not i would find a better place. mr. comey -- i am just amazed that whatever he is doing -- head of the fbi of the united states of america, he is doing a book tour revealing his -- not that he doesn't have a right to his opinion, but there has to be some confidentiality. i do not think there is another president. if there is, i would like to know about it. host: a couple of points about programming today. barbara bush, the former first

lady, has a live viewing in houston, texas at 1:00. we will join that on c-span. set for noons eastern time tomorrow. we will have that live here on c-span as well. her son, jeb bush, will speak there, the former florida governor, along with her friend historian john meacham. the public viewing us today at 1:00 in the funeral is tomorrow at noon eastern time on this network. greg is calling from north central, democrat. hello. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to point out some historical issues that we do not seem to utilize anymore. back in the 1960's and 1970's, when i was growing up, we addressed all of these -- racism, unequal issues, and i thought we solve them. i mean black people, yellow people, orange people, i meet them every day who i am kind and decent to as a white privileged human being, although i am part

of merit -- part croatian and part american indian. nevermind that. we are all getting along. the only place you can find racism today is on tv. when they call donald trump a racist, it is kind of funny. for 35 years, he was considered to be a smart businessman with acumen in the field of tv. all of a sudden, we elect him as a president and now he is and i haveogynist, never heard him so abuse in my life. along day today, we get and decent human beings and respect each other, but turn on the tv to find out everyone is racist. you are entitled to your personal believe says long as you do not practice them against another human. that is my comment today. have a good day. host: gary on the line, virginia

, republican. what was the most important to you this week? caller: i was reading in the front page of the washington post today about the target on abortion. i am an eisenhower republican. , you know, the feels-like of the party's common plank of the party's common sense. but we outlawed our social abouts from talking abortion to underage girls and maternal girls, girls on drugs, alcohol, etc.. fast-forward 15 years, and i went into a section eight housing unit, and there were three white women who offered to let me spend time alone with their children.

children who were special needs children, which over 70% of the children born to unwed mothers are special needs children, or special times -- or seven times more likely to be assaulted sexually. you have somebody that keeps calling and accusing people who are pro-choice of being a murderer and a baby killer, and i would like to tell that person that at least i do not pander to perverts and pedophiles and support puppy mills for pedophiles, because that is all i have seen of the pro-life movement has given us. thank you for letting me share. gary is talking about is on the front page of the washington post. in many state capitals, republican lawmakers are backing unusually strict antiabortion laws. many are emboldened by president

trump, who has been more supportive of their agenda than any president in decades. conservative lawmakers are also eager to get more restrictions on the books in case november's elections bring a surge of democrats hostile to them. that is in the washington post this morning. in arizona, this front page. teachers are voting to walk out. schools across the state could be forced to close up the -- if the walkout lasts multiple days, and that is thursday, april 26. they're trying to get 30,000 teachers in the state of arizona to get their demand is met. the miami herald has the story stepping downtro as the head of the country. he is still in the head of the communist party in cuba, but has passed the torch. the new leader is 58, turned 58

today. he is the only candidate for the presidency, and they write in the headline that castro passes the torch, but are strings attached? from connecticut. pronounce the name of your town for us? llentown? thank you for letting me speak. i have watched mr. comey last show,on the rachel maddow and i watched fox and i watch cnn. -- hemey is definitely definitely has some psychological issues, in my opinion. he seems to have a complex where he is the moralist for the world, and does not adhere to the rules that the other fbi

agents were indoctrinated in. i may combat military veteran, vietnam. -- im a combat military veteran, vietnam. i have worked all my life. i do not know what his experience was before going into "government public service." i was totally unimpressed with him. he kept shifting his eye glaze, whenooks down an awful lot they were questioning him about specifics, what he expects of fbi agents. it appeared to me that he is a frustrated writer. he is not a writer, but a frustrated film person. but heis a celebrity, has gotten a little more than his 15 minutes. with that, i am enjoying

everyone else. it seems to me that a lot of the males that are calming -- calling do not have a job to get the prevailing attitude today. host: tom, thanks for calling. has says on twitter no one mentioned the pompeo trip to korea as news. the story is mike pompeo, the cia director and the nominee for secretary of state, heidi heitkamp says she will support him. this virtually guarantees and confirmation. part of the story is that the senate foreign relations committee might vote the nomination unfavorably, but still send it to the senate. that is a rare thing for them to do, but they point out that if he is confirmed, height camp -- heidi heitkamp said she would hold mr. pompeo accountable that he supports our embassies and

positions in the world. senator john mccain has been absent from the republicans with a maximum of 49 votes, but senator heitkamp's vote would get them to 50. it is monday evening at 5:00 that the committee will take its vote, so we will see how that finally plays out. you can look for life coverage on c-span of this meeting as they vote, and perhaps it is on the floor soon after. matt is calling from new york, republican. caller: i would like to get my voice in. the last time i never even got to speak. that was technical difficulties. host: i am sorry about that. go ahead, sir. caller: i think the biggest thing this week is the north korea stuff and pompeo. the talk of north korea has -- dropped the demand that we withdraw our

troops. they are talking about denuclearizing. that is big stuff. host: how significant is this to you? caller: pardon? host: how significant is this to you? caller: it is a step to actually denuclearize. that could be another step towards them eventually going to reunification. we still have a war there that is on hold right now. that is big. that, they will not be spreading it either, which they have been known to do in other countries. that is huge. thinkwhat posture do you president trump should take at this upcoming meeting with north korea? caller: i think you should be doing exactly what he has been doing. so all of this vacillating and whatnot has not worked in the past.

repeats itself. when you do not stand up to thugs, they take advantage. when everyone went nuts about the rhetoric he used, i think it planted a seed in the great leader over there that hey, this guy is different. hold, they are willing to talk now, where they weren't before, when we just stayed away from the whole issue. calling,nk you for matt. we have 13, 14 minutes more of calls, but we will find out more about what is happening in some of the state. here is the front page of the hartford current this friday morning in connecticut. after last month's gun control protest, says the headline, students hope to maintain momentum with a walkout friday. that is the headline in the hartford current this morning. joining us now by skype is a student at bridgeville high school in connecticut, who is

the founder of the national school walkout and the starter of the change.org petition. thank you for joining us. guest: good morning, thank you for having me. sure, welcome back. explain the walkout today. you organized this. why did you put this together, and what are your goals? guest: i put this together because i was really tired of how our country has dealt with the gun violence. we have normalized it, and frankly, i was desensitized as well. for me, it is really important that if something is normalized, it means you are accepting it. i do not think we should ever accept gun violence. so i made my petition calling for this walkout, where everyone will walkout at 10:00. forill have registration voters, letter writing, etc. to explain what is going on in this country. host: what support do you have from fellow students, parents, administrators? caller: it is a variety.

a lot of the students are very, very supportive. there are obviously always some outliers. .arents have been interesting i think they are supportive of the empowerment angle, but are not fully understanding of why we are doing it. and that is the disconnect between generations. overall, we have had really, really good support. is your sense currently of change, if any, in the country on the gun issue? change you would like the, maybe especially since parkland or other events, since you have been organizing? guest: i think there are a lot of things that need to be done, and this is an umbrella of the term. what is important is that this is going to not become the lane movement. this is not just what i want. there are so many high schools walking out today, and it is important for us that along with the empowerment angle, we are hearing what they would like to eat and announced certain steps to do so. host: what other events are

happening around the country with similar school walkout? can you give us a sense? the same all have agenda for the day, so we posted online. people are doing similar things hour to hour, which is cool for cohesiveness. some schools are coming together and becoming coalitions, where they all walk out, and five different schools in the area meet in one place, so they have really big crowds. that is an idea that his genius that i did not even think to mention. host: i bet social media has been important to your efforts. have you been able to explain how you have been able to organize so many students in silly places to walk out on guns today? it started with that change.org petition that went viral overnight. but how we really got so much success is keeping with it. so i did not just say oh, i guess we are going to do this now. i made a twitter. i started contacting the press. i started advocating for myself and the students so we could get

this off the ground, and i'm happy to say that i think it paid off. host: what are you hoping to see from the states and perhaps the federal government on the gun issue? what are your biggest hopes here? guest: the best place to start is really with listening. right now, they are not listening. they are watching. and that is not how we should function. history has shown us time and time again, we are at the forefront of change almost every single time. breaking that historical cycle of the generational gap in them not listening to us. host: this is a significant date, april 20, correct? remind us of what happened on this date? thet: yeah, this is anniversary of the columbine shooting in 1999. i chose the state because i was born in 2002. it was before my time. a lot of the same problems that were occurring in 1999 are still around today. not much has changed. for me, it is a really good

example of that. mu --lane murdock, thank you for joining us. there is a headline here from one of the news outlets in san francisco, looking at colorado and columbine. they pointed out that the high school hold a day of service, not walkout today. officials in the school district have asked their students to take part in a day of service rather than join the national will walkout. saidchool superintendent in a letter. he hopes students of columbine will continue to keep volunteering at community organizations today, as they have done in the past. a lot is happening around the country on that gun protest issue. barbara and florida, thank you for waiting. what is your top story of the week? caller: good morning. do withnt has to attorney-client privilege, and i

do not think enough has been said about that. i am an attorney, and when a client comes in to see me, we talk about strategy. if the client has been sued, we talk about the strength of their case, the flaws in their case. we take copious notes about what we talk about. if someone barged into my office files of my the clients and reviewed them, my clients would freak out. i would freak out. we have a duty as attorneys to keep these conferences, notes and so forth confidential, and people do not really realize that when they go to see an attorney, they expect to have some privacy, whether you are a republican or democrat. i think people ought to think twice before they think it is a great idea for the fbi to come into your office and take all of your files. thomas, burlington, iowa, democrat. caller: yeah. i was just wondering, does anyone even think about citizens

united? that is where all the money comes into the government, into each of the house and senate. that is all they want, is money. if we stop that and just have the people, just the people send money and that vote -- in that vote, not the companies that own everything, they are the ones running everything. the koch brothers, all the democrats and republicans are giving billions and billions of dollars. we have no say except for a vote. when they try to put everything on tv in front of everybody, everybody is sitting there looking at what should we do? this?ys we just continue on. i wanted to make a shout out to all the kids in the country. , andter the guns, kids citizens united. the kids need to learn about this so that when they come to vote, they know who to vote for. that is all i have to say, you.

host: rodney, a republican. caller: thank you. there are so many things in the news this week. all of my top subject have been on the news. my heart go out -- goes out to the children who are walking out of schools to try and take the .eapons away from people that is not the problem, but let them walk, let them feel like they are doing something. they areand where coming from, but it is not the guns. it is people. guns don't kill anybody. it is the people that kill people. with that said, i wanted to call fbi has really shown .heir ugly face all the collision -- it is pretty obvious that they have

colluded to stop the real donald trump from being president. it is obvious, so much that the country sees it. the smaller team, if they wanted to save face and give the people the confidence back in this country, mueller would bring this thing to a close. right now.chhunt everybody sees that. i think it would actually bring this thing to a close, they and makee some face those liable, the ones that have , prosecute in lies them. that is the only thing we can do to save our country. host: thank you for calling, rodney. ofn kasich, the governor ohio, his political allies are reaching out to gop mega-donors, seeing if they would back a run against trump in 2020. a say allies have reached out to prominent gop donors to gauge

their interest. willing to back him over trump under certain circumstances. a democratic wave this all could indicate a donors a change is needed at the top of the party. a little bit more about president trump, the new york is moving to speed up weapons sales and expand the market for armed drones, one day after the president promised to slash the red tape in weapons sales. the administration announced a new policy that could expand sales of arms drones, a contentious emblem of the shift towards remotely controlled warfare. in addition to eight newly released update -- a newly released update about the policy of american-made weapons, this is a key priority of mr. trump. you can read more about that in the new york times. tony is calling from burlison, texas. hello. caller: yes, thank you very

much. of this stuff is just a distraction. all the heroin on the streets that seems to be flooding in and all this, it is taking away from how much control of our government that israel seems to have. all of these wars to take our off thef -- sights massive killings in countries like yemen and saudi arabia. i do not understand how we are being so stupid to let israel run our government and cause all these massive killings? it scares me that they have so much power of our government. ok, tony. thank you for calling. from tony to anthony, minneapolis, a republican caller. republican, not a -- ahead, go ahead.

thanks for clarifying. caller: i would like to go along with what tony just said. are we going to have another like in apeople are little barrel where they are being shot at and bond, but there are other things i want to talk about oo. -- too. for 20 years, mr. trump has gotten away with not paying any taxes. i'm sure it will find out it is $3 billion to $4 billion that he has made. and on that tax break? i am a disabled veteran. my wife gets $22 per check extra. that is not any money for anyone out here, you know? is talk aboute cutting these social programs, meals on wheels. peoplere a lot of cheering these things, but someday you might need that. to think more

about our kids, spending so much money on the things we don't need. we do not need to beginning money to israel, which pays for abortions. i do not think a lot of republicans know that, and they are sitting here whining about americans asking for abortions. we need to have more clarity and need to make our politicians -- pass a constitutional amendment to stop them from lying. coming on television, telling bald-faced lies. it should be illegal. host: doris, michigan, independent. caller: hi. i think the whole world just went crazy. host: why do you say that? .aller: i really do they voted in trump. they wantedthey wanted him. they got him. now they don't know what to do with him. ok. host: what is next? caller: i am afraid to even say, truthfully. i would just say that it is a

shame. we could take better care of our prisoners than we do our vets. convicts for life that outon't even let them come that they are dangerous. our vets that served our country, we don't out take goode of them. the convicts get better treatment. it almost makes me want to become a convict because that beats the nursing home. i could go to the present and andthree meals -- prison get three meals a day and not have to worry about paying nothing. feeding all of these inmates that are doing life, life without parole is eating out our money. we should take that money and

put it into our system for our seniorpped for our citizens, and our children. host: thank you for calling in. this is a lot of news to sift through. we barely got through a portion of it. next week is a busy week expected here in washington. you may have seen this happen on the senate floor. here is a picture in the washington post. onesie, tammy carryingh smiling and carin her daughter. she came in after the senate lifted a baby band. -- ban. the change is part of an culture class. she says she does not know what the policy is on duckling

costumes. we have a couple of hours left in this friday's edition of "washington journal." when we come back, reason willine's cj ciaramella discuss changing social views on marijuana. things are changing in washington, d.c. later, author christopher coyne discusses u.s. militarism comes on. this week on newsmakers, we spoke with jim like for, the oklahoma republican, and he discussed efforts by has republicans to impeach deputy generalattorney rob rosenstein. you concerned about comments calling for the impeachment of rob rosenstein? do you think that type of

comment is appropriate? >> everyone can talk for themselves. i am not calling for impeachment. the best thing that could happen for the country is for all individuals investigating to finish investigating. everyone will look at it after the fact to determine whether it was a partisan issue. we need to complete the investigation. changing individuals bitstream does not change the investigation -- midstream does not change the investigation. of offers you think to protect the special counsel against firing by the president? constitutional issues in the legislative branch trying to require the hiring or firing of an individual in the executive branch. the president repeats over and over again that he's not going

to fire these individuals. he has had plenty of opportunity to be able to do it. i don't think he is going to do it. sarah sanders has said over and over again that is not being considered. the president has repeated that. votest becomes a political and a way to smear the president. it is not a publisher think at this point. i want to -- it does not accomplish anything at this point. situation and makes it much worse. firing jim thome he did not stop the investigation. trying to fire the -- james comey did not stop the investigation. trying to fire the special counsel will not stop the investigation. ramallah, the is cjc reason magazine -- cj crm ella

-- ciaramella. let's talk about this national cannabis summit. what is this all about? how did it start? what are the goals? caller: it is part of the national cannabis festival at this been going on since the district legalize marijuana. today, they are having this policy summit, where they will be talking about what we are talking about, which is the legal and social attitudes around marijuana and how they are changing and the effects of legalization and continued criminalization of marijuana. i will be monitoring a panel today on criminal justice and address oration can alleviate the damage caused by

the drug war. the former naacp president will be speaking, members of congress will be giving video addresses or on panels. i think representative barbara lee is going to be there. it is impressive to see this lineup because if you think back to when you were in high school and people talked about marijuana legalization can you had the idea of some guy in a tie-dye shirt standing on a corner. now we have members of congress. this is a big policies on in the nation's capital. -- policy summit in the nation's capital. >> 10:00 a.m. we will cover the first half of the daylong cannabis summit here in washington, d.c. we are speaking with reason magazine's cj ciaramella. for expanding

marijuana laws call (202) 748-8000. if you oppose expanding marijuana laws, call (202) 748-8001. about six in 10 americans now support marijuana legalization. why are things changing? caller: it has been a rapid shift. back in 2000, that number was only 30%. a lot of it has to do with age demographics. older generations tend to be fairly oppose to legalization, but in the younger brackets, that number should stop dramatically. -- shoots up dramatically. we are seeing rising support. there was a quinnipiac poll that came out showing 60% of texas favorednts marijuana legalization. there is still a lot of

opposition among the older set, but across the board in the younger generations, they have wide support for marijuana legalization. wide support for marijuana legalization. host: a couple more facts and figures. the industry is growing like weeds, they say. $25 billion projected in 2025. the headline is that donald trump's perceived green light entices cannabis investors to spend billions. posted $1.5rado billion in sales in 2014. you are seeing similar numbers in places like oregon and washington that have recreational marijuana sales. as far as the green light by donald trump, jeff sessions justiced some obama era department guidance on federal law enforcement dealing with the state marijuana. spooked some people

in the states. senator cory gardner in colorado was not a fan and started to hold up justice department nominees until he got president trump to agree to pump the brakes and say we are not going to. president trump said he would support legislation to keep the feds from interfering in state marijuana programs. i think that is the green light you are referring to. well, campaign trail as donald trump said he supports state rights for marijuana programs. host: let's hear from the attorney general at the federalist society on march 10 talking about what the doj intended to do at that time. [video clip] >> well, we're not going to be desired, to take over state enforcement of routine cases. federal agents are highly paid, highly trained, and they work on

cases involving cartels, international organizations, major distribution networks, large amounts of cash, and the deal with criminal organizations, rico cases, and we are out there prosecuting those cases every day. it is a law of the united states appliesca, and the law in every state of the united states. i am not going to tell colorado or california or somewhere else that possession of marijuana is legal under united states law. i don't think it is healthy either. if i was sick, i would not suggest you take marijuana to clear your cell. i'm not sure it has proven to be particularly helpful. that is where we are. thate sent out a memo

reversed the memorandum of the department of justice. i believe it is a rule of law question. i believe the memorandum conceded and was perceived to have conceded, at least, that states have the ability to determine marijuana policy in their states, and federal law was a very limited effect. i think that was incorrect legally. .e withdrew that memorandum we told our u.s. attorneys to use their resources as they see best. if they have not been working small marijuana cases before, they will not now. host: how do you see this playing out? guest: i think as much as jeff haveons would like to states not continue their own marijuana programs, it is a question of resources as he was

alluding to. the justice department cannot go in and raid every dispensary california. there is also a question of political capital. you have seen the justice department go after sanctuary cities pretty aggressively. that has been one of jeff sessions pushes on the law front. that has a lot of support from his base. there is a lot less political support for cracking down on state marijuana programs then there is for talking tough on sanctuary cities. it is both limited resources and the limited political capital they have to pursue this. host: let's get to our callers. good morning. caller: good morning. expanding these marijuana laws, correct. tell us why. caller: pretty simple.

many pesticides and unknown chemicals are proven to be added to marijuana accessible on the streets and in dispensaries. i feel like many people are getting sick and spending most of their money while asking for food stamps and other benefits. that is putting much it. host: reaction from our guest? an actual issue, quality control and testing of marijuana. that is one of the areas people are looking into with legalization. how do we make sure this is all adhering to proper health standards? i think if you have an emerging legal market where you can establish best practices and have regulation, you would eliminate a lot of the risk for unknown pesticides. this is an open question to the long-term effects of smoking

marijuana that has been treated with who knows what pesticides. that is an open question on a whole generation of marijuana smokers. that is one thing you could alleviate with a lot of better regulations and best practices. cj sierraguest is lla fromm -- ciarame reason magazine. what do you think of this, call er? caller: i am opposed to further expanding it. i am in my late 60's. i remember in the 1970's, my mother was dying of cancer. i was a college student at the time. i felt at that time that people were saying that it could help. marijuana medicinally help her. it at thatvor of

time. i also smoked marijuana in the 1970's. a lot of people who smoked it went on to more drugs. i did not. thank god. i think it is just a gateway to people using drugs further. i am a post to it. -- opposed to it. guest: there have been surveys of teenaged drug use. since we have seen widespread legalization, there has not been a spike in teenage marijuana usage. it has remained steady or dropped in 2014. with medicinal uses, there are a lot of restrictions on studying marijuana in the u.s. there was recently a letter from senator public and of -- senator orrin hatch and kamala harris to speed up the process for

allowing more marijuana to be grown for research. there is a bipartisan push to allow for more research that would be able to tell us what the qualities of marijuana are for therapeutic purposes. i have written profiles of families with children who have rare and biloxi conditions, and epilepsysolute seat -- conditions, and they moved to colorado to get their hands on proven to be has potentially useful for treating this rare form of epilepsy where this kid is wracked with smal hundreds of small seizures each day. this does not involve tons of pills with terrible side effects. there is a lot to hash out. host: in terms of what else is happening in the states.

governing.com has this map of the u.s., one is a darker shade of green, one is lighter, and gray. the darker green talks about medical marijuana probably legalized. -- broadly legalize. the lighter green is legalization for recreational use. what should we know about this map and what else is happening in the country? what is really impressive is the speed at which this is happening. you have the entire west coast legal for marijuana. massachusetts, i believe vermont either did or was going to be one of the first states to legalize through a legislative process, which is interesting. happenedl of these has through ballot initiatives. host: why so fast? guest: it was the changing attitudes. it felt like there was this dam

breaking. it has only been speeding up. like,olorado went, it was we kenexa do this. california was the first state to have medical marijuana in the late 1990's. there was an expansion of that. nobody thought recreational was going to happen. when colorado did it, a lot of the organizers said, we actually have the votes to do this. we have the organization now. organization for a while was not the marijuana legalization grouop' group's strong suit. then they got california, which was the white whale for them for a long time. they had competing ballot measures and disputes within the groups that always sort of led to them narrowly or not so narrowly losing. host: let's hear from the

support line. from california, thank you for waiting. caller: no problem. thank you. good morning. i just wanted to say that i was, at first, against the cannabis push in california. stage breastourth cancer fighter. i am fighting breast cancer in the fourth stage. it is in my lungs and going to my chest. i had all of these operations removing my breasts and uterus. came back positive in my upper left lung. my brother brought me this cbd oil. it is thc. he kept saying try it, try it. i said, i don't want to get high. he said, try. i did, and the pain went away.

i could not believe it. the side effects that i am dealing with now with chemotherapy, canker sores in my mouth, not just. seaus. just -- nau i am very grateful for the cbd oil because it has helped me have some kind of normalcy. host: thank you for sharing your story with us. guest: i think that is another one of the reasons we have seen this rapid shift. people have family members or close friends who went through an experience like this and found some relief through medical marijuana. it improved the quality of their

lives. the science is still out, but when you hear it improved that life, why should it not be allowed? boehner sidinghn that sort of story in his recent -- citing that sort of story and his recent turnaround. the former republican speaker of the house used to be an opponent of legalization, but he cited a story of his friend using marijuana for pain. host: here is the tweet from john boehner, republican of ohio. when you look at the number of people in our penitentiaries who are therefore small amounts of cannabis, you scratch your head. we have literally filled up our jails with people who are nonviolent and frankly do not belong there.

there is a little pushback on his statement about how many people are in jail or prison over marijuana use. can you clarify the facts for us? guest: this is a common trope. our prisons are filled with nonviolent drug users. not actually true. there is a lot of arrests or marijuana. there were nearly 600,000 arrests in 2016 for marijuana. most of them for simple possession. when you get for simple possession, you usually don't go to prison. of state prisoners are there for nonviolent drug offenses, and our prison population has peaked at 2.1 million did. -- nine. that is a lot. the vast majority of prisoners are not nonviolent drug

offenders. host: as we continue talking about this issue, our guest wrote this story recently about the houston da, who will no longer prosecute pot. what happened? guest: this was last year. on aouston da was elected reform platform. trend recentlyis a contested district attorney elections. this is sort of new and unusual. she wrote in and said i am not going to prosecute and throw smalltime marijuana offenders in jail. at the time, they were arresting thousands of people each year. this is having a large impact on local jail populations. the philly district attorney is also on the same wavelength, and the philly joe population has

decreased -- jail population has decreased a significant amount. ciaramellauest, cj of reason magazine. gabriel opposing the expansion of marijuana laws. go ahead. caller: i have a little perspective on it. i am a duke medical student. i have been trained on marijuana to try and understand physiologically what is going on. i will tell you right now, amelia's case, which i think is is very much where most professionals would agree there is the help of marijuana being utilized. those patients in late stage cancer or those patients having problems eating.

anything marijuana can do is reverse nausea. we don't have many that can do that, but we can also increase appetite. definitelyhere is narrow plasticity changes that neuro plasticity changes that happen in patients hat utilize thc or the designer drugs that have much higher potency. it stays in the system. the longestf lasting drugs. you can be intoxicated continuously for days and days. in the adolescent mind, that particular impact is, and this has been shown statistically, it

depresses their ability to reason and critically think and increases the likelihood of schizophrenia. cases thatlesser happens. something that can be used. i see how the general public can accept it and utilize it well, but i would say you have to understand that it will be abused, and the way it will be abused can have lasting impact on the neurological components of its very strange effects. it should be used, and the patient's that it is right for. host: thank you for calling. anything you want to respond to? guest: this is actually a pretty interesting policy debate right now.

there is a pretty broad spectrum of agreement that keeping marijuana illegal has very bad public policy outcomes because we are having hundreds of thousands of people encountering the criminal justice system who otherwise would not. the question becomes, what is the public health impacts of legalization? do we want a sort of colorado free market model where you have billboards for weed everywhere? or do you want this more managed, government controlled legalization? you see a lot of conservatives and liberals coming together on the same may be colorado is not the model for us. colorado was the experiment, the first step in this. now that we had a chance to see how it works, we can say here is what we have to do to keep teenagers from smoking too much.

here is how we have to label packages. i think we will hear a lot more about what you were talking about and a lot more debate about it in the coming years. host: we have stanley from pennsylvania supporting expanding marijuana laws. guest: good morning. host: good morning. guest: i am 67 years old. i have smoked marijuana for 50 years now. i don't even have to take an aspirin every day. i am in really good health. if marijuana has something to do with it, ok, so be it. i looked at the history of marijuana. let's start with prohibition when the government was going around smashing up beer kegs and whiskey. when they legalized alcohol, thousands of men in the government would be out of a job. they started to pick on

marijuana to keep these people working, in my opinion. i don't understand why one state of have legalization marijuana, and two miles away another guy will get arrested for having a little marijuana. i thought this was the united states government indivisible? how can you divide us up? our criminal justice porter for reason magazine, can you explain -- reporter for reason magazine, can you explain? guest: it is very complicated. can you get on a plane and go from one state to another, i don't think so. can you drive from one state to another with marijuana, no. if you get caught, you will have a bad time. we have this patchwork the position, which resulted in all sorts of overlapping and confusing laws.

we are having a lot of legal confusion over that it who has authority -- that. who has authority over what? jeff sessions wishes he had authority to stop this. it creates a confusing situation, especially for sales and regulation. here in the district of onvia, we have -- columbia, we have legalized marijuana, but congress has blocked setting up sales for distribution. you can walk down the street with marijuana. you are not able to purchase it. i could give it to you right now if i had it, but you could not pay me for it. host: chuck schumer has produced a bill to decriminalize marijuana. what is he looking to do? guest: i think he did it today because it is 4/20.

the bigger issue is he is trying to remove marijuana from this schedule of drugs. the dea has their schedule listing of drugs depending on how they are used and if they have medicinal properties. for a long time, marijuana has been a schedule one drug, the most controlled. what he is trying to do is remove it from that schedule -- thatld decriminalize schedule, which would at the federalt level. it would take the federal government out of the picture. likewise, there is a bill in the senate is by cory booker and any sanders just signed on -- bernie withholdand it would funding from states that maintain the mineralization and -- maintain

criminilization and offer expungement. keep theirians fingers to the wind and see this is going to be a big eal. -- deal. host: let's move on to marry in virginia. good morning, mary. expanding these laws. can you expound on the difference of decriminalization and legalization? host: did you hear that? guest: i'm sorry. host: decriminalization versus legalization. guest: decriminalization makes

marijuana not a bounty -- felony offence. in d.c., if you are caught smoking in public, you get a $25 ticket. means theon, that police cannot do anything to you if you are within the laws. you are allowed to carry a certain amount or grow a certain amount of plants. host: explain why you're asking, mary. guest: i have never known -- caller: i have never known the difference. that is why. thank you. host: adam in mississippi. he suupports -- expanding laws. caller: here in mississippi, it

is widely believed that the case against marijuana has been enact voter suppression basically. we keep running into these conflicts with the justice system. i argue for marijuana because i andk here in the south, thedren with america in impoverished areas, you have cases of ptsd. that is clear from the parkland students in florida. it is much more prevalent in and looked over and brushed under the rug nationally. people ignore that because of the violence around them.

i think in mississippi, if you legalize, some of the good things that could come from it, you will start to have conversations and dialogues between parents and children that use it. along the way, you will have equal growth in tomatoes. i personally know about the medical benefits. thank you. one last thing, what is the deal with the legal marijuana field in ole miss? - hase heard that his - been going on for a couple decades. at host: can you speak to that? guest: the only place in the u.s. where marijuana is grown for medical research is in ole

miss. dea licensee sole to grow medical marijuana for research purposes. the dea is expected to expand these licenses, but they have been slow going in the process. as i mentioned, senator hatch and kamala harris have sent the justice department letters to s peed it up. the only place in the u.s. where --is grown is at all miss. ole miss. host: leader mcconnell, it is time the federal government changes the way it looks at hemp. that is why senator ron wyden isng with jeff merkley exploring this promising new market. explain the connections. guest: the connection is the

state of kentucky. kentucky would like to have an industrial hemp project. they have a pilot. senator mitch mcconnell is a conservative guy in a lot of ways. he wants to get his state off the ground with this. is a closehemp relative to marijuana, but it is not psychoactive. it can be used to make a lot of useful things like rope and cloth. they think it could be a pretty good cash crop if it were legal, but it falls under the same rubric of marijuana because it looks so close. i think the reason it got outlawed is because police did not want to have to walk through a field and worry if it is marijuana or hemp. that is why you see the senate republican majority leader hemp.ly ra-raing for

host: we have about seven minutes left in this segment. expanding marijuana laws. done: they have not ever experiments of people that smoke marijuana. i worry about the health consequences such as cancer from inhaling all that smoke for years. when my brother was smoking marijuana in high school, he did not want to get up and go to school. he did not have the energy or desire to do anything. that is what we would be doing to our children because they will just go it is ok to smoke marijuana. just like when president obama was in the white house, i heard some boys say it is ok that we can drink beer because the president drinks beer.

we have to protect our children. host: thank you for calling. are there cancer dangers from smoking marijuana? guest: smoking is not good for you, basically no matter what you are smoking, although the aree of vape which people still studying. generally, smoking is not good for you. not legal for your teenagers to smoke marijuana in colorado and places like that. it is not legal to drink beer either. we have age limits for beer, and we will have the same thing for marijuana. there is a policy debates about how much we should allow marijuana companies to promote and advertise. do we want joe camel for marijuana?

there are questions about andoratization of marijuana what that is going to look like. host: jeff calling from wisconsin, go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i support legalization of marijuana. i have a daughter who suffers from epilepsy. we have gone through all the pharmaceutical drugs to help her with her seizures. now we are to the point where thatoctor says, are next is to send herp to a special hospital in rochester and have them cut open her head and work on her brain. they cannot guarantee me that this is going to work 100%, that she will not be different, that

somehow she will not be disabled over this, that she will not have to rely on the government for her future, and she is a college graduate with a college minors.nd two this is what they are telling her for her future. anyonet understand how would want to put their child to such a thing like this and not guaranteestype of and still making sure that they are indebted to pharmaceutical companies and wanting to push those type of drugs. there are side effects to those drugs. there are more drugs to help out with the side effects and so on. host: thank you for calling. any thoughts? guest: that is what i was talking about earlier.

there are a lot of families going through this that are looking for alternatives and have turned to cbd oil. in a lot of states, it is hard to get. you have seen expansion and availability even in states where there is not medical marijuana. they have passed laws to allow cbd oil. georgia, a pretty red state, has passed a law to allow parents to get cbd oil for their kids. even in very conservative places , legislators have passed laws. host: how have other countries handled marijuana laws? cited portugal is often as having really legalize. uruguay and some south american countries are experimenting heavily.

host: canada has been active. guest: canada is going the nonprofit route. they looked at the colorado model and were like, not for us. i think they are going to try a more nonprofit angle. host: let's hear from phyllis in kansas city. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm opposed to expanding it. i don't mind medical marijuana, but i think when you start getting recreational marijuana, my problem is i don't want a doctor that has been out smoking a few joints, coming back in, operating on me. our nuclear plant operator doing recreational marijuana. how would you control that? i will listen to your comment.

host: thanks. guest: we have the same workplace controls for not operating heavy machinery when you are drunk or on pills. employment and how you deal with that is an ongoing question with marijuana. should employees still be drug tested for marijuana? a lot of companies do that even in places where it is legal just because of hr and liability. i think that will be an emerging question, how you deal with drug testing, especially for sensitive jobs. the fbi started loosening up. one of our intelligence agencies started listening requirements that -- loosening requirements all you not smoke pot at because they cannot find enough qualified applicants. let's do one last call.

devon from washington, d.c. caller: good morning. a lot of people were talking about children and marijuana. legislation is so important is because it controls who has access. a week ago, washington, d c, is not accepting medical marijuana licenses from other states. if you are traveling for business or pleasure, you can see which states qualify. the other thing people are not considering is the amount of money we lose, not only in tax revenue, which states like colorado are realizing, but it's spendingeping -- keeping people locked up and this border wall for keeping

drugs from coming over. that would keep the financial motive away when we legalize nationwide. marijuana really is excellent medicine. i believe it is product is who said-- herodotus who nature is the best medicine. we need to legalize it so people can get health care people need that will not leave them addicted. host: thank you. final thought from our guest. guest: just to address that, i agree that there has been a lot of talk about strict packaging rules. in colorado, you have to strictly label things if it has marijuana. you don't leave tylenol on your counter if you have kids, you should not leave edibles either.

there are massive costs associated with incarceration and the drug war. it is costing us not only in lost revenue from taxation and this huge black market that has existed for decades, but also in .he resources of our police every time a police officer works a marijuana arrest or does a drug investigation, that is time they are not spending investigating other crimes. there are opportunity costs every time we want someone up. up for someone marijuana. is a cj ciaramella reporter for reason magazine. guest: thank you so much. host: let's take a short break and bring out another guest, author chris coyne to discuss the the mystic fate

of u.s. militarism. we will take more of your calls as well. we will be right back. ♪ >> services for barbara bush include the public visitation for saint martin's church in houston today at 1:00 p.m. eastern. that is available on c-span and c-span.org. the funeral service for barbara bush is on saturday. speakers include her son jeb bush and historian jon meacham. watch our coverage on c-span and c-span.org. weekend, live coverage on booktv of the 22nd annual l.a. startingtival of books saturday at 1:00 p.m. eastern with journalists jorge roberts

and his book on the challenge of a latino immigrant in the trunk era. and a book on the view from flyover country, dispatches from forgotten america. withntinue on sunday russian roulette, the inside story of putin's war on america. black lives matter co-founder onrice, colors with her book a black lives matter memoir. and roger simon with his book i know best, how moral narcissism is destroying our republic if it hasn't already. live on c-span twos booktv -- c-span2's booktv. sunday on q&a, former professional basketball player

baton thomas and his book -- etan thomas and his book we matter. >> when i was younger, i was taught about the athletes who use their voice. whether it was kareem abdul-jabbar, those were the athletes i learned about. as i was getting older, i made the connection of how i could follow in their footsteps. i could bring attention to these causes because i am an athlete. i continue to do it. i continued to do it in college and in the pros with the wizards. it became part of me. night on c-span. "washington journal" continues. coyne,ur guest is chris co-author of tyraco