Getting ready to open a show in Chicago Saturday, which has kept me busy and on the road, and the NSA leaks story has been getting a lot of my attention, so I don’t have much today.
Should Pot Be Legal in Barrons.
Whether Congress realizes it or not, a good number of citizens want the problem fixed. The same Pew study that found a majority of people favoring legalization also found that 60% of Americans think the federal government should not enforce its prohibition in states that permit marijuana use. And 72% agreed with the proposition that federal enforcement of marijuana laws is not worth the cost.
Rep. Rohrabacher’s plan is as good a fix as any. It’s straightforward and sensible: The federal government can help enforce antipot laws in states that want them, but it must mind its own business in states that don’t want marijuana to be criminal.
Eventually, the federal government may repeal all of its laws against pot use, pot production, and pot dealing.
They could be replaced by laws no tougher than those that apply to liquor. Just as it was with the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Congress could allow states to continue pot prohibition by local option, or to draft their own regulatory systems.
Given the unwillingness of many in Congress to even talk about marijuana, the day of full repeal is probably far off. But tending to the clumsy conflicts between state and federal governments is something that can and should be addressed right now.
We’ve been talking about Patrick Kennedy. Here’s another article about him.
Recovering drug addict Patrick Kennedy now leads fight against legalizing marijuana
By year’s end, Project SAM expects to be operating in 13 states, said Kevin Sabet, the group’s executive director and a former White House drug policy adviser. It already has affiliates in North Carolina, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Vermont and Rhode Island.
Kennedy’s trips will take him to two big pro-marijuana states: In 1996, California became the first of 18 to legalize medical marijuana, and in November Washington joined Colorado as the first to approve marijuana for recreational use. Kennedy will announce new affiliates July 1 in San Diego and July 10 in Seattle. After that, Sabet said, more affiliates will follow in Missouri, New York, Oregon, New Hampshire, Indiana and Maine.
I sure am curious to know where their funding comes from.
Shucks,,I was hoping dick-with-ears was going to come to TX and buy some support,,our economy needs the money.
And I need someone close enough too choke.
Speaking of Texas, we have one of the worst impediments to cannabis law reform in Lamar Smith. As chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, any bill designed to remove cannabis prohibition at the federal level has to be anointed with his approval. He has staunchly disallowed any pro cannabis bill to even be voted on. Definitely one of the worst politicians from Texas. And that’s saying something.
True,,and I think he is up for re-election this next time,,I hope NORML has members there that can keep us posted and I now have him on my search for any chance to let his constituents know who his campaign funding is from.
I expect a long/loud campaign for these prohib supporters like Lamar just because we are now a majority,,that factor is starting to make people angry,,angered by being ignored by our legislators,,not a good platform strategy to support the policies that continue spending money like water keeping marijuana illegal and cutting social programs left and right.
Bob Goodlatte is Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
NYT addresses mandatory minimums. Not earth-shattering, but nice that they haven’t forgotten about this topic.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/24/opinion/needed-a-new-safety-valve.html?hp&_r=0&gwh=69072393D6CC6E3D07F6FF55EAA3B074
the same article kennedy is at the tacoma rag:http://tinyurl.com/m8sb4f8. some interesting comments. i only hope they can get the people to listen; then the people will know how unhinged kennedy and sabot are. my smart approach to cannabis involves a shovel and a waterng can, not a gun and a flash bang in the baby’s crib.
One of my favorite quips:
We,the people can remove 60% of the drug cartels income and do more harm to them than our government has spending over two trillion dollars and criminalizing millions of citizens,,we don’t need helicopters,assault weapons or federal funding,,we can do it with a watercan and a hoe.
i love the smell of frying prohibitchinist brains in the morning.
“I sure am curious to know where their funding comes from.”
Yes we all are curious. Is there a way of finding that out?
‘“Added Kennedy: ‘If we didn’t like Joe Camel, believe me, we’re not going to like what Big Marijuana is already doing.â€â€™
What Big Marijuana? Show me the Big Marijuana. In fact, let me smoke the Big Marijuana.
Big Marijuana exists only in Congressman Kennedy’s OxiContinized brain cells, unless you count the weed that comes across the border from Mexico. The facts in this case are that Kennedy works to keep the cartels in business by working to keep pot illegal.
Patrick Kennedy once said the marijuana legalization movement was a 350-mile-per-hour freight train heading down the tracks. Why would someone like Kennedy want to stand in front of a moving bullet train? Is that some new form of the Kennedy Curse?
Jimmy Carter’s support for Project SAM was a big surprise. Maybe he joined Project SAM because he’s finally found at least one Kennedy who likes him.
Among the facts, according to Patrick Kennedy, are that marijuana is a gateway drug (jacet sepultus), and it causes teens to lose IQ points they’ll never recover. All of this sounds eerily reminiscent of President Ronald Reagan’s claim that smoking marijuana leads to permanent memory loss.
The IQ study is preliminary, and rests on the assumption of accuracy of IQ testing. Meanwhile, intelligence testing remains a hotly contested research topic that should probably incorporate multiple aspects of personality, like emotional IQ. Did the researchers check for emotional IQ? Maybe a few young pot smokers in the study are more socially oriented than their more studious peers, and it shows up in testing. More research is needed before claims like those made by Congressman Kennedy can be taken seriously.
US Conference of Mayors Unanimously Pass Resolution Calling for the Feds to Respect Local Marijuana Laws
by Erik Altieri, NORML Communications Director
June 24, 2013
The US Conference of Mayors unanimously approved a resolution this morning that calls on the federal government to respect local marijuana laws. Resolution No. 32 “reaffirms the USCM’s support of fair and effective criminal justice and drug policies, states that federal laws, including the Controlled Substance Act, should be amended to explicitly allow states to set their own marijuana policies without federal interference; and that until such time as federal law is changed, The United States Conference of Mayors urges the President of the United States to reexamine the priorities of federal agencies to prevent the expenditure of resources on actions that undermine the duly enacted marijuana laws of states.â€
This just took a huge slice of prohibitions “shadow” support away from them.
Posted the following in the previous post’s comment section, it more properly belongs here:
My local city’s Mayor has informed the U.S. Conference of Mayors that she is happy to add her name as a co-sponsor of the resolution in support of states setting their own marijuana policies without federal interference.
Fun satire site, taking aim at Project SAM:
http://smartapproaches.com/
Pingback: Marijuana opponents leveraging Patrick Kennedy – Bellingham Herald | ganjatimes.com
☮ National Brand of Retail Cannabis
☮ George Zimmer fired from company he founded
☮ US Conference of Mayors Tells Feds to Respect Local Marijuana Laws
☮ BC Drug Report Says Harm Reduction Better Than War On Drugs
☮ Swiss recipe for dealing with drug addiction proves a success
☮ Profiting From Pain
☮ Marijuana: What happens to medical shops whose towns have banned recreational pot?
☮ Lindsey Rinehart: “My Children Were Taken From Me Because I Am An Activistâ€
☮ Cops Raid Home of Idaho Marijuana Activists; Seize Child
Drug harm-reduction strategy cuts number of injection users
Produced by scientists from the Urban Health Research Initiative of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and the UBC Division of AIDS, the 2013 Drug Situation in Vancouver report to be released today shows liberal harm-reduction policies are effective at reducing illicit drug use and improving public safety.