On Wednesday, Congressman Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, went on air with KHTS to discuss issues affecting the City including illegal marijuana grows, prescription drug access for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and recent nominations of military service academy students.
Garcia discussed several areas of interest with KHTS on air such as ALS prescription drugs, service academy nominations and illegal marijuana grows around the Santa Clarita Valley.
“I ended up going flying with the Sheriff’s Department to see it firsthand about two months ago,” Garcia said. “What I saw during those flights and when we heard from local constituents was absolutely heartbreaking. Thousands of these large nurseries being put up in the Antelope Valley, homes being taken over in Acton and Agua Dulce and I believe Santa Clarita as well, all for the purpose of growing marijuana illegally.”
The Congressman spoke on news of an alleged 23 arrests, seizure of firearms and tens of millions of dollars worth of marijuana uncovered by law enforcement, news previously reported by Sheriff Alex Villenueva.
“Yesterday the sheriffs, in partnership with federal DEA agents and three other counties besides Los Angeles, so four counties, came together with about 500 officers and raided several dozen of these illegal operations in the Antelope Valley and sent a loud and clear message that this is ending,” Garcia said.
See Related: 74 Greenhouses Worth Over $50 Million Bulldozed In Largest Illegal Grow Bust In L.A. County History
Garcia then drew a connection from the illegal marijuana grows to the controversial topic of police funding.
“Something that has been impacting our ability to really deal with this problem is that they’ve been defunding our sheriff’s department,” Garcia said. “These aren’t just words or social media memes anymore, this is real money to the tune of over $100 billion a year being pulled out of our local law enforcement agencies.”
The conversation shifted to a recent bill, co-sponsored by Garcia, making access to prescription drugs easier for those with disorders such as ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
“What’s going on is that the FDA has been slow-rolling the drugs that could potentially mitigate and extend the lives of folks stricken by ALS by a matter of years,” Garcia said. “These drugs have been in clinical trials now for ten years and the FDA is basically holding off on allowing most ALS patients from accessing them because they’re concerned about side effects.”
The new bill, House Resolution 3537, is designed to support research on and expand access to investigational drugs for ALS and for other purposes, according to the bill’s description.
“That’s what this bill does,” Garcia said. “It basically would establish a grant program at the FDA for rare neurodegenerative diseases and hopefully get them off of top dead center and get these drugs approved in a more streamlined and quicker fashion, especially for ALS patients.”
The conversation then turned to the Congressman’s nomination of sixteen graduating high schoolers to military service academies.
“This is now their academy family that they’ll be able to network with over the next four years,” Garcia said. “They’re now heading off to have the honor and privilege of serving in the US armed forces as cadets or midshipmen at West Point, US Naval Academy, Colorado Springs Air Force Academy, as well as the Coast Guard Academy.”
Garcia described his feelings about the nominations and his hopes for their futures.
“It’s just so cool to see these young leaders embarking on the mission of a lifetime and they’re ultimately going to give back to our community, to our nation, and defend all of our way of life.”
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