Rep. Jared Polis: DEA Agent's Logic on Marijuana Is "Weird"

If potential water damage to growers' homes is the biggest argument against legalizing medicinal marijuana, Rep. Jared Polis says opponents are "running out of excuses."

The Colorado congressman, who is gay, is getting attention for using Twitter and his personal Facebook page Wednesday to call out Barbra Roach, Denver's new head of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Polis said Roach had some "weird" reasons for opposing medicinal marijuana, even tellingThe Denver Post that she refused to live in Denver because of dispensaries in the area.

"There is no medical proof it has any benefit," she told the Post. "People are not taking into account what can happen to those who are growing it. There are homes with mold and water damage in the hundreds of thousands and there are children in there too."

Polis found that reasoning "strange," he said on Facebook.

"If you are dumb enough to flood your basement or create hundreds of thousands of dollars of mold damage, that is entirely your own fault and federal law enforcement should NOT be in the business of preventing you from ruining your basement," he wrote. "The fact that an opponent of medical marijuana uses arguments like 'it causes water damage to homes' shows how bankrupt that side is of facts."

The congressman favors legalizing marijuana and even launched something called the Fearless Campaign last year to press for legalization. So while he wished Roach well in fighting drug lords, he didn't sound enthusiastic about her mission: "Ironically, Colorado's legalized and regulated marijuana industry has probably done more damage to large drug trafficking organizations than her work will ever accomplish."