Two House Dems on recreational marijuana: Legalize it
When voters in Colorado and Washington state voted to legalize marijuana for recreational use last November, some wondered how the new statewide statutes would square with federal law, which still classifies marijuana as an illegal drug under the Controlled Substances Act.
But Rep. Jared Polis, D-Col., believes that a legal confrontation can be avoided: on Tuesday, along with Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., he introduced a bill legalizing marijuana and regulating it under the renamed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Marijuana, and Firearms.
The "Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act" would charge the renamed bureau with regulating marijuana as it does alcohol and tobacco. States would still be allowed to ban marijuana production and it would remain illegal to transport marijuana to a state where such a ban exists.
"This legislation doesn't force any state to legalize marijuana, but Colorado and the 18 other jurisdictions that have chosen to allow marijuana for medical or recreational use deserve the certainty of knowing that federal agents won't raid state-legal businesses," said Polis in a press release. "Congress should simply allow states to regulate marijuana as they see fit and stop wasting federal tax dollars on the failed drug war."
Blumenauer also introduced a proposal to impose a 50 percent excise tax on the initial sale of marijuana and levy additional tax provisions similar to those on alcohol and tobacco.
Several congressional proposals to change marijuana laws have surfaced in recent years - in 2011, Reps. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Ron Paul, R-Tex., introduced a similar bill that would legalize and tax marijuana for public consumption. And this latest pot proposal is not Polis' first: in 2011, he introduced a bill to allow banks to carry accounts for medical marijuana distributors without fear of prosecution. (Before legalizing marijuana for recreational use, Colorado had already legalized medicinal marijuana.)
The prospect of full, federal legalization - once unthinkable in a country whose drug policy was defined by minimum sentencing requirements and "just say no" - remains a legislative long shot, to be sure. But its mere discussion is emblematic of a sea change in attitudes, public and private, on marijuana use.
A CBS News poll conducted at the end of 2012, after the statewide referenda in Washington and Colorado that legalized recreational pot use, showed the public evenly split on legalization, with 47 percent of respondents in favor and 47 percent opposed. A year previous, however, the split was 51 percent opposed to legalization and 45 percent in favor.
And that shift in public attitudes is slowly making itself felt on Capitol Hill. "Marijuana policy at the state level has shifted abruptly in recent years as states have moved to legalize the drug for both medicinal and recreation use," Blumenauer wrote on his official blog. "Unfortunately, federal marijuana policy remains rooted in the past. ...It is time for Congress to face the facts surrounding marijuana, its use and regulation, and develop a legislative framework that accounts for the inevitable transition of marijuana policy - one that is already well under way."
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These are a prime example of what the government wants you to think. The sad part is that people will actually believe it, our country has become so indoctrinated that anything outside of what the government or media tells us is completely false.
The DEA keeps giving the excuse that there is no evidence of marijuana having any type of medical purpose, then also state that they cannot do research on it because it is a Schedule I drug. Its a vicious circle of propaganda that everyone nods their head at because they've lost the ability to think for themselves.
A lot of people do not have family, friends or god, and if they do they do not always get good advice from them.
Now go hit that graphic.
Equating the way that the government handles the crimes you listed and their policies for handling marijuana cases is a nonsensical argument. I would like to point out that speed limits and seat belt legislation does nothing to restrict an individual from owning and operating a motor vehicle or a manufacturers' ability to produce them. They simply set a standard for the ways that the public is allowed to used them based on hard science and empirical data collected to improve safety standards. The datum surrounding prohibition's legacy shows that this legislation is used to target specific demographics of citizens in our country, and allows the government to incarcerate offenders in corporately owned prisons. Every one of these prisons is in the manufacturing business, producing products ranging from home appliances to military supplies, and now the land of the free incarcerates more people than any other country in written history. Add to that the fact that incarcerated marijuana offenders now outnumber violent offenders, and 88% of those incarcerated for marijuana are there for simple possession, and the real motive of this so-called "protection from ourselves" becomes revealed. If this doesn't strike you as a clear case of back door slavery, then friend, I believe you need your head examined. Don't take my word for it, do the research for yourself!
While the study provides the strongest evidence ever of the link between cannabis use and stroke, the research does come with a catch. Of the 16 percent of stroke patients who were marijuana users, almost all of them smoked tobacco regularly.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/02/06/smoking-marijuana-linked-with-higher-risk-stroke-in-young-adults/#ixzz2K9qPAKGi
That is, as opposed to the tens of millions of people who have been smoking pot in the US for the last several decades, with no apparent problem registered.
Noting also, of course, that tobacco and alcohol kill 500,000 people per year in the US so even if this was ironclad fact, it still wouldn't amount to a pimple on a whale's ass in the overall scheme of things.
Marijuana was outlawed for two major reasons. The first was because "All Mexicans are crazy and marijuana is what makes them crazy." The second was the fear that heroin addiction would lead to the use of marijuana -- exactly the opposite of the nonsense you believe today.
The "gateway" idea was made up in 1951 by Harry Anslinger to justify a budget increase. It came after the head of the Federal addiction research program said that all of the reasons that had been given to outlaw marijuana in 1937 were completely wrong.
In doing so, Anslinger not only contradicted all the evidence, he also directly contradicted his own testimony from 1937.
You can read a good short history of the marijuana laws at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/whiteb1.htm You can read the short history of the gateway myth at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/gateway_myth.htm -- References to original sources are included.
And, BTW, if you ever mention that idea in any college logic or chemistry class you will fail instantly. There is no drug that will give you a craving for completely different drugs you have never had. That is a belief in witchcraft, not science.
https://www.marijuanadoctors.com/blog/medical-marijuana-laws/Medical-Marijuana-Cards-How-to-Get-one-for-Yourself