Barney Frank, Ron Paul to Introduce Legislation Thursday to Fully Legalize Marijuana

I'd imagine LEO's and the prison industry wants nothing to do with this either. :|


It's just mind boggling when you think about how many people have interests in maintaining the status quo.
 
http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2011/06/cretin_congressman_from_texas_holds_up_marijuana_r.php#more

Call this deusch and piss off the secretary.

Cretin Congressman From TX Holds Up Marijuana Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Friday, June 24, 2011, at 11:57 am

lamar_smith.jpeg
Photo: America's Voice
Take a gander at this Howdy Doody-looking asswig (Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas). It only takes one moron to hold up the progress of an entire nation of 300 million people, when it comes to ending marijuana prohibition. (If this clown truly represents the 21st District of Texas, I feel sorry for y'all.)
​What's that? You're excited about the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act, are you? You're invigorated by the idea of saving millions of taxpayer dollars, and finally putting law enforcement priorities where they belong?

Maybe you're pumped about the possibility the these United States could finally end the 74-year-old nightmare of cannabis prohibition, and stop putting people in cages for growing and using a demonstrably harmless plant?

Well, simmer down, weed lover. It seems that the opinion of one good-old-boy Congressman from Texas outweighs yours.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), also known for his anti-immigrant policies, has said his House Judiciary panel will not consider the Barney Frank/Ron Paul bill. Period.

Smith's opposition to sane marijuana policies shouldn't come as any surprise. After all, back in 2009 when the Obama Administration announced it would no longer prioritize going after medical marijuana patients and providers in states where it is legal, Smith was against that, too, stridently calling for the Justice Department to "enforce federal marijuana laws."

"By directing federal law enforcement officers to ignore federal drug laws, the Administration is tacitly condoning the use of marijuana in the U.S.," Lamar said at the time. "If we want to win the war on drugs, federal prosecutors have a responsibility to investigate and prosecute all medical marijuana dispensaries [italics added] and not just those that are merely fronts for illegal marijuana distribution."

Apparently in Lamar Smith's ugly little redneck world, it's not OK even for seriously ill patients to smoke that marry-jew-wanna stuff.

So of course it was to be sadly expected that Lamar would say equally asinine things about this legalization bill, too -- and he didn't waste any time in doing so.

"Decriminalizing marijuana will only lead to millions more Americans becoming addicted to drugs and greater profits for drug cartels who fund violence along the U.S.-Mexico boarder," Smith said of the new Frank/Paul legalization bill. "Allowing states to determine their own marijuana policy flies in the face of Supreme Court precedent."

Smith's statement ignores the facts from countries like Portugal and the Netherlands which have relaxed their cannabis laws, only to see usage go down, in the general populace and especially among youth.

And the cowboy Congressman also conveniently ignores history. After alcohol Prohibition was repealed, are the bootlegging gangsters the ones who reaped the profits in a regulated system? Of course not, and the drug cartels wouldn't be reaping profits from legal pot, either.

Just to make a clean sweep of it and make his statement entirely fact-free, Smith was also wrong about the Supreme Court, which has never held that the Constitution requires Congress to criminalize cannabis.

As pointed out on the excellent blog Absurd Results, "Smith has the Constitutional issue exactly backwards." Because a Constitutional amendment was required to outlaw alcohol, it follows that Congress is currently violating the Constitution by criminalizing marijuana without an amendment expressly granting the federal government that power, the current Supreme Court's insane interpretation of the Commerce Clause notwithstanding.

Now, we all know that this half-wit Texan already has his mind made up, so maybe there's not much we can do about that. HOWEVER. What we CAN do is to make every single day of the rest of his life an occasion upon which he was reminded of his rank stupidity.

Here's Rep. Lamar Smith's contact info. Let him know what you think of the fact that he is now, by his own choice, the man responsible for continuing marijuana prohibition in the United States.

You can get started by emailing Lamar (click here), but this "man of the people's" website makes you put in your zip code to do so (handy way to reduce citizen input), so you're going to need to be from the 21st Congressional District of Texas to do that.

Meanwhile, you can call and write his offices:

Washington, DC Office
2409 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
ph: 202-225-4236
fax: 202-225-8628
8:30 am- 6:00 pm EST

San Antonio District Office
1100 NE Loop 410, Suite 640
San Antonio, TX 78209
ph: 210-821-5024
fax: 210-821-5947
8:00 am- 5:00 pm M-F

Kerrville District Office
301 Junction Highway, Suite 346C
Kerrville, TX 78029
ph: 830-896-0154
fax: 830-896-0168
8:00 am- 12:00 pm M-Th

Austin District Office
3532 Bee Cave Road, Suite 100
Austin, TX 78746
ph: 512-306-0439
fax: 512-306-0427
8:00 am-1:00 pm M-Th
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if Lamar Smith is so concerned about drug use, why does he accept so much money from the Liquor industry?

Big Alcohol’s Anti-Marijuana Spokesman on the Hill

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) took to the airwaves Tuesday to decry increases in marijuana use amongst the American public and call for a ramping up of marijuana enforcement nationwide.
At first glance, some might think Smith is genuinely concerned about marijuana use and its impact on public safety. Yet it’s hard to take him at his word when he is in fact receiving money from the alcohol industry, which produces, distributes and promotes a far more harmful substance.

If Smith is so concerned about public safety he should be thrilled that more Americans are making the rational, safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol when they relax and recreate. Unlike marijuana, alcohol use contributes to domestic violence, sexual assaults, and other serious problems. If promoting public safety is his motive, it’s time he explained his reason for preferring adults use alcohol — a substance whose use alone kills more than 30,000 Americans per year — instead of marijuana, which has never resulted in a single death in history.

Another explanation for Smith’s anti-marijuana action could be his ties to the booze industry, which appears to be working to keep marijuana illegal and protect its status as the nation’s sole legal intoxicant. Late last week it was discovered that the alcohol industry is financing a campaign to defeat a marijuana legalization initiative in California, resulting in headlines nationwide and sparking outrage and action amongst supporters of marijuana policy reform.

According to OpenSecrets.org, Smith has received at least $20,000 from the beer, wine, and liquor industry this campaign cycle, including a $10,000 donation from the National Beer Wholesalers Association, a $5,000 contribution from the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America, and $5,000 from Constellation Brands Premium Wine and Spirits Company.

With marijuana legalization becoming increasingly popular, it appears the alcohol industry and its good friends in Washington are beginning to recognize that marijuana legalization is imminent. So it would make sense for them to protect their turf by bashing marijuana and those who support making it legal, and working to scare the public into thinking marijuana is just too dangerous to make legal. (It should also be noted that some alcohol companies are speaking out to ensure consumers know they are NOT part of the anti-marijuana efforts.)

If that’s the fight Big Alcohol wants to pick, so be it. It has an increasingly uphill battle, but the industry has every right to take on the growing movement to reform marijuana laws. But as for Lamar Smith, he should come clean and explain what his motivation is for attacking marijuana policy reform and calling for increased enforcement. If it’s his concern for public safety, he’s a hypocrite who needs to stop and think about the impact of laws that drive Americans to drink by outlawing a safer alternative. And if it’s his ties to booze money, it’s simply unethical.
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http://justsaynow.firedoglake.com/2010/09/22/big-alcohols-anti-marijuana-spokesman-on-the-hill/
 
This today from the conservative newspaper National Review:

While we would support the total demise of federal marijuana laws, this bill simply constrains the federal government to its proper role. The Constitution allows the federal government to restrict interstate commerce, and the federal laws forbidding the interstate transfer of marijuana would remain in effect. The feds would also still intercept drug shipments from other countries.

What would change is that states — if they so chose — could legalize pot that is grown, sold, and consumed within their own borders. The Supreme Court has said that the federal government may regulate not only interstate commerce, but any activity that has a “substantial effect” on interstate commerce. It has further asserted that pot that is never even sold, but grown for personal consumption and never crosses state lines, can in aggregate have such an effect and therefore may be regulated. But the Court has not said, as House Judiciary Committee chairman Lamar Smith wrongly asserted, that Congress must regulate so comprehensively.

In addition to bringing federal pot laws in line with the Constitution and allowing states to pass reasonable marijuana policies, this law would eliminate the frightening discrepancies between state and federal policies regarding “medical marijuana.” In a society under the rule of law, a citizen should be able to predict whether the government will deem his actions illegal. And yet in California and Montana, businesses that sell medical marijuana — an activity that is explicitly sanctioned by state law — have been raided by federal law-enforcement officers.
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http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/270520/right-marijuana-editors

the National Review describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."
 
Government-sanctioned medical marijuana distributors in California get raided by the police?! That's insane.

Fingers crossed for all y'all
 
phrozen said:
I'd imagine LEO's and the prison industry wants nothing to do with this either. :|


It's just mind boggling when you think about how many people have interests in maintaining the status quo.
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I'm not in either of those industries, but I do know that if you give them enough warning prisons can adapt to get the profit margins they're used to and LEO's can definitely find ways to keep their jobs.

For prisons, if you converted some of that space to treatment, it might ultimately be more profitable because you could inflate the cost of treatment and use Obamacare money to foot the bill. And who's to stop the justice system in each state to add new fees and fines everywhere else in order to preserve LEO jobs?
 
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