President Barack Obama signed spending legislation into law on Tuesday that includes provisions limiting the Justice Department’s ability to take criminal action against state-licensed individuals or operations that are acting are in full compliance with the medical marijuana laws of their states.
Specifically, an amendment sponsored by California Reps. Dana Rohrbacher and Sam Farr to the $1.1 trillion spending bill states, “None of the funds made available in this act to the Department of Justice may be used … to prevent … states … from implementing their own state laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.”
Said Farr following Congress’ passage of the legislation: “The federal government will finally respect the decisions made by the majority of states that passed medical marijuana laws. This is great day for common sense because now our federal dollars will be spent more wisely on prosecuting criminals and not sick patients.”
Similar language prohibiting the Justice Department from undermining state-sanctioned hemp cultivation programs was also included in the bill.
Also contained in the appropriations measure is a rider sponsored by Maryland Republican Andy Harris that seeks to limit DC officials’ ability to fully implement a November 2014 municipal initiative depenalizing the personal adult possession and cultivation of cannabis. At this time however, it remains unclear whether the enacted language is written in a manner that can actually do so. On Saturday, The Washington Post reported that DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson “plans to ignore the provision” and that he will “send a bill implementing Initiative 71 to Congress in January for a 30-day review, during which federal lawmakers can veto it or let it stand.” Such a review is necessary before any DC initiative can become law.
Washington DC’s Initiative 71, which was approved by 70 percent of District voters, removes criminal and civil penalties regarding the adult possession of up to two ounces of cannabis and/or the cultivation of up to six plants.
Congratulations NORML! What a proud day to be an American. This is what progress looks like.
http://www.howtogrowweed420.com/1762.html
I have been an enthusiast since the early 80s and started reading High Times Magazine where i was introduced to Norml. We have come a long way and I truly believe that if not for this organization the laws would not be changing in our favor. Thanks for all of the hard work and dedication… http://www.howtogrowweed420.com/1762.html
Our elected leaders did the right thing regarding medical marijuana – finally. I know that there are some in Congress that will do everything in their power to stop the will of the people regarding marijuana however.
Andy Harris, the Republican Congressman from Maryland, is doing everything he can to stop anyone and everyone from using marijuana for any reason. He is in bed with Kevin Sabet of SAM. It’s disgusting! Here is a link to check out to see the truth of my words:
http://www.heritage.org/events/2014/12/marijuana
If you live in Maryland, you all need to do everything in your power, like voting, calling Mr. Harris, writing him, emailing him, and etc because he wants to shut you down. I say, let’s shut him down. He does not have your best interest or wishes at heart. He wants to send you either to prison or to a rehab clinic if you’re caught with any amount. It’s ridiculous and this kind of reefer madness needs to end!
Andy Harris – Salute (middle finger only).
Don’t let Harris get away with this unpunished.
I JUST WANT TO THANK NORM 1 & 430 and everyone that put it down and got the Job done the best and the brightest iam so proud of u guys and ladies thank u all for your hard work Now we have to get the other 26 More State to get cannabis legal.and r voiced heard. And Stop this madness I make pain OIL and it’s a MEDICAL oil A & E Organic Pain Oil. Thank u so so much
Of course this measure will not stop ‘federal interference’ when it is claimed the cannabis in question is not for ‘medical’ purposes. But at least the feds will think twice since they will no doubt have to prove they are acting on good evidence and will not want to get on the wrong side of this bill.
Another very important step that should see most states legalising medical cannabis.
(cannabis has so many medical uses so pretty much anyone should have legal access to cannabis if they want it !!!)
Why doesn’t the President reschedule on these grounds:
Cannabis cures cancer. Cancer kills 586,000 Americans every year. Every Prohibitionist is complicit in mass murder.
Looks like the kind of divided government we voted in the last several elections.
The pro-medical marijuana + pro-hemp amendments ring beautifully to my ear. Real nice to see both D’s and R’s behind the names elsewhere on line.
The anti-legalization amendment reads like a rich, powerful, self-righteous white guy stomping on the voting rights of a supermajority of an entire city’s black voters.
We have to end prohibition.
The Prohibitionists are involved in mass murder. The Reagan administration tried to suppress the finding that cannabis is effective against cancer. You can look it up. Of course the Democrats did nothing when they had a chance. Every Prohibitionist is complicit in mass murder.
Think you very much NORM. We are starting to win.
It looks like one of the big players in the next presidential election will be Republican Jeb Bush. He is totally against marijuana for any reason including medical. The Repub’s are idiots if they think the nation is going to vote for him – LOL! 🙂
I’d vote for Jerry Seinfeld over him 🙂
It would require zero thought to choose Hilary over Jeb 🙂
The only Republican that has any real chance at winning the hearts of Freedom Loving Americans is Rand Paul. Jeb Bush is just an ignorant dinosaur.
The government can no longer claim legitimacy. It has for some time now been nothing more than a criminal enterprise. A collusion between corporate and political. The Rubicon has been crossed!
Try living in NJ where you have to half dead to get it. I was in the hospital last month with a very painful ailment. When I ask for marijuana for pain the nurse laughed at me and said the doctor said you can have morphine then they sent me home with Oxycontin. Those pills make me sick to my stomach. I had to break the law to feel better then I had to worry about getting hurt at work and failing a drug test. It’s a joke. But my hats off to normal they are slowly turning the tables
Try living in NJ where you have to half dead to get it. I was in the hospital last month with a very painful ailment. When I ask for marijuana for pain the nurse laughed at me and said the doctor said you can have morphine then they sent me home with Oxycontin. Those pills make me sick to my stomach. I had to break the law to feel better then I had to worry about getting hurt at work and failing a drug test. It’s a joke. But my hats off to normal they are slowly turning the tables Governor Christie is again marijuana also
Miles says:
December 16, 2014 at 1:15 pm
The Republican are hard at it already and they haven’t even been installed:
http://news.yahoo.com/fight-over-marijuana-more-risky-states-dc-081641478.html
BTW agree with you on Rand Paul.
NORML, do be prepared, to pitch in two dollars, for Mendelson to transmit I-71, to Congress:
http://www.rollcall.com/news/dc_council_chairman_marijuana_rider_doesnt_block_transmittal_to_congress-238798-1.html
It’s been a long, hard day.
Ok,Barry signs it into law, so does this law then get the IRS out of the cannabis community’s hair?
It seems to me that it only stops the feds from raiding medical marijuana operations, but does it keep the IRS out of their hair, too?
I mean, why should the IRS give the MMJ community shit if the DOJ will not prosecute?
Thanks you NORML and everybody!
Thank you, Barry!
I just hope that cannabis banking is de facto legal soon, in addition to getting the IRS off our backs.
Anyone know? Does this solve the IRS problem?
How can this ease the transition to legal cannabis banking in even adult recreational?
Not to be a nay-sayer, but here is a rebuttal regarding the same subject that had some insight into this “historical” event.
It is somewhat depressing, but honest.
http://www.theweedblog.com/on-marijuana-congress-giveth-and-congress-taketh-away/
[Paul Armentano responds: Phil Smith’s commentary is little different than NORML’s: “Whether Congress has successfully blocked pot legalization in DC clearly remains to be seen. What is not in dispute, though, is that has successfully blocked the Justice Department from any further assaults on medical marijuana in states where it is legal. That’s a big deal.”]
“historic”*
Prohibition will be over sooner than most believe it will. America is wide awake to the violation of rights, the immoral unjust, corrupt results of cannabis prohibition aka the war on drugs.
If our country were serious about the following topics cannabis would be legal as it directly addresses all.
1. Debt – taxes or not (we know there will be taxes)cannabis will invigorate our economy and already is.
2. Immigration – Once there is no profit to be made south of our border from the largest cash crop – cannabis, see how the violence drops and the victims slow their jaunt North, not to mention the real trickle down effect which actually creates jobs and stability in those countries as well.
3. Environment – Fuel, food, clothing, sustainability. Questions?
4. Justice – Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal should be publicly shamed continually until the world knows someone is imprisoned in his state presently for possessing 2 cannabis cigarettes. The term is what? 12 years? There are people in prison for life because of cannabis prohibition. How can we as citizens sit by while cannabis is legal in one state while another citizen is imprisoned in another state for said cannabis? While an extreme example of injustice, many others are just as egregious. The fact that the prison, drug treatment and LEO lobbies use cannabis prohibition for profit and population control is obviously an affront to all americans. Be careful because once it all goes legal they will need a new whipping boy er target.
5. Income Inequality – Cannabis prohibition hinders many in multiple ways from gainful employment or other positive economic positions even business creation.
6. Public Health – Obviously a population using less alcohol, not smoking nicotine laced cigarettes, and suddenly accessing legal, pollutant free, inspected, tested cannabis will be a healthier – more productive population leading to MANY positive outcomes.
We can go on and on, bottom line is those staunch supporters of prohibition have been wrong, are wrong now, and will always be wrong. They have caused much harm to this society and these times. We should be in a much better position in all areas of life and we will once Marijuana is simply legalized.
Lot’s of smart people all over the place these days, yes the 60’s and 70’s are far gone and like I have said before – it will all be over sooner than you think.
This country needs to get real regarding cannabis. For god’s sake baby cream poisonings get more calls to poison control and don’t even get me started with toothpaste. Pick up a tube–yep, right on the label, POISON.
The worst that can happen with so-called “overdose,” is a stomachache and MAYBE vomiting in worse cases? This country REALLY needs to get real. (Although I will admit that Christmas shopping while stoned has caused me to turn my credit cards over to my wife.)
I’ve felt for several months now that something’s gotta give on the fed level very soon. As I’ve written before, I think this law will have a dramatic effect on the CA case regarding constitutionality of Schedule 1 status.
I think one of the reasons that led me to use cannabis was the counterculture of it all. The more kids see grandma using cannabis, the more mainstream it becomes, the less alure it will have with the teens. And those teens who DO use it, often use INSTEAD of drinking. We can all agree for those teens hell bent on experimenting, you can’t get much more benign than cannabis.
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/490470215641646945/
Taken from this url from Nathaniel Grant –
http://www.theweedblog.com/on-marijuana-congress-giveth-and-congress-taketh-away/
“In light of recent events in Ferguson and New York, it would be particularly disturbing if Congress has chosen to overturn the will of the voters in a majority black city,” said Dr. Malik Burnett, DPA policy manager and vice-chair of the DC Cannabis Coalition, the group that got Measure 71 passed.”
“DC voters chose to reform their marijuana laws, which have a direct impact on how communities of color interact with police. Congress should not undermine that.”
Sums it up nicely.
guys and gals at NORML we can see the light at the end of the tunnel…..or bowl LOL
@Miles
Harris is my Representative. Every Representative I’ve had since moving to Harford, Co., MD was a far-right Republican. Dr. Harris is NOT going anywhere; the Republicans have a lock on this area and its Representative.
Harris emails display a remarkable lack of independent thought, as if he’s just a puppet for the national GOP. In other words, he’ll get the money he needs to be re-elected.
In light of recent events like Ferguson, to me the big story with this DC amendment is a rich, powerful, sanctimonious white guy thwarting the will of a super majority of black voters.
From:
http://www.theweedblog.com/on-marijuana-congress-giveth-and-congress-taketh-away/
wowFAD • a day ago
I’m sorry I have to be the constant bearer of bad news, but Section 538, the one that restricts the DOJ from spending funds, will not stop interference by the DEA or US Attorneys in medical cannabis states.
Why? Because Section 538 restricts funds given to the DOJ from being spent in such a way, but the DEA is funded through the ONDCP to the tune of $2.4 billion and the ONDCP has $70 million set aside in their budget to pay US Attorneys to continue prosecuting for the DEA. Section 538 of the spending bill has no language to prevent it. Yes, it’s a cheat. No, I don’t like it.
The DOJ’s budget is $27 billion, but the ONDCP’s is $25 billion — $7.7 of which funds domestic law enforcement, including the DEA.
DC’s voters were sold out for nothing because nobody wants to admit how the Drug War is actually funded. Restricting the funds allotted to the DOJ will hardly slow down the DEA or the US Attorneys. The amendment should have restricted the DOJ and the ONDCP from spending funds. That would have worked.
So we need to stop spiking the football while we’re standing in the other team’s end zone. It just makes us look stupid.
just curious where exactly does it say to prevent prosecution or enforcement . for i do not see the words other then to limit any legal protection…
in SEC. 538. None of the funds made available in this Act to the Department of Justice may be used, with respect to the States of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.
so everyone misses how the first part adds the last line …
or
in Quote:
SEC. 809. (a) None of the Federal funds contained in this Act may be used to enact or carry out any law, rule, or regulation to legalize or otherwise reduce penalties associated with the possession, use, or distribution of any schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.) or any tetrahydrocannabinols derivative.
(b) None of the funds contained in this Act may be used to enact any law, rule, or regulation to legalize or otherwise reduce penalties associated with the possession, use, or distribution of any schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.) or any tetrahydrocannabinols derivative for recreational purposes.
where does it limit proscution or enforcement as i read it is the same shit on a different note .except it tries to remove the states abilities to enforce their own laws . as per scotus to commandeer the states abilities is unconstitutional .
Quote:
the Supreme Court indicated in Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 41 U.S. 539 (1842),that the states cannot be compelled to use state law enforcement resources to enforce federal law. The Supreme Court reaffirmed this principle in cases such as Printz v. United States, 521 U.S. 898 (1997)and New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144 (1992), which held that the
federal government may not enact a regulatory program that “commandeers” the state’s legislative and administrative mechanisms to enforce federal law. States therefore may refuse to use their legislative or administrative resources to enforce federal law. This should be distinguished from nullification. States that withhold their enforcement assistance, but do not declare the federal law unconstitutional or forbid its enforcement, are not challenging the validity of the federal law and therefore are not engaging in nullification. As Prigg held, the federal law still is valid and federal authorities may enforce it within the state. The states in this situation, rather than attempting to legally nullify federal law, are attempting to make enforcement of
federal law more difficult by refusing to make available their legislative and administrative resources.
i find this is a wolf in sheeps clothing and vast amount americans are blind n do not comprehend the literal words … i see no change here other then an attempt of andy harris n his cronies trying to over ride states abilities . no where does it block doj from enforcement or prosecution but rather tries to blocks states their soveriegn powers to regulate n legislate ..
In the words of Gov. Hickenloooper of Colorado, “Don’t break out the Cheetos and Goldfish just yet”. This new amendment only frees up the DOJ and DEA to interfere with RECREATIONAL marijuana in the few states which have legalized its use. Get ready for their “blitz” while we are all lulled into a utopian farce that freedom has landed.
I just want to burn a big phatty in peace. I’m not going to see the days when people get over their irrational fear of someone who smokes pot. That took years of fear mongering and that will take years to get over. People would probably have a better relationship with police if the government would try a treatment approach to the drug issue. At least allow people to be productive members of society while they deal with their problem.
President Obama to Commute Sentences for 8 in Drug Cases. That is a very good thing!
However, what about the thousands of others that are in prison or jail for doing as much (or less) than you did you your youth Mr. President? Do you find it easier to just let them rot their lives away?
It is a major mistake to let Congress take the lead on just about anything; especially marijuana policy. It needs to be removed from the controlled substances list altogether and made legal. Anything less is just stupid, ignorant, and cowardly.
It does not prevent them from raiding shops and growers. Read it…Just no money to prevent Politicians/reformers from writing laws. It does nothing but keep it vague for the DOJ. It does nothing to prevent the DOJ to find ways around this legislative comment. Top down hindrance no, bottom up arrests yes…
@Stupid American,
Your analysis of the excessive mobility in this bill is correct, however you may not be looking at how that can benefit us in the marijuana movement, particularly in states with governors who are up for reelection in 2016, and while President Obama is in office and clearly willing to use his executive authority to further along the process of legal regulation of cannabis. Flexibility in legislation works both ways. 🙂
There’s a growing bandwagon of legalization now in Congress. Our votes, our voice and our movement are being heard loud and clear, and for the first time prohibitionists know they are on the losing end of this momentum. California, Nevada and Maine are all poised to legalize and take us over the %50 of states with legal medicinal marijuana laws in the U.S.
As we reach the climax of our movement, the polls will come rolling in showing declines in violence, domestic abuse or even harder drug and alcohol abuse as the marijuana movement educates American society. Check out this link from two days ago in the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/12/16/teen-marijuana-use-falls-as-more-states-legalize/
N.I.D.A. funded this research with the University of Michigan. Two years after Colorado and Washigton legalize marijuana and teens are using WHAT? What was THAT Kevin Sabet? I thought you said teens would use MORE drugs and alcohol if we started legalizing marijuana? How do you even RESPOND to that?!
There is nothing good about prohibition, and to those who want to keep it.
about time they get told to back off
Thank you Mr. Obama
This Harris guy is a pain in the ass. He strikes me as the kind of doctor who had the lowest passing grade on his medical exam. Plus he seems to have delusions of godhood as the privileged wealthy in medicine all too frequently do. He’s just another rich bastard trying to tell everybody what to do, how to live their lives. He knows better than the everyman because he’s a doctor. He knows better than the everyman because he’s got more money. How about do no harm? Prohibition does more harm than legalization. He’s just another rich bastard who thinks that everybody is going to live their lives his way or you’re getting arrested. Are you fucking kicking me? You’re never going to arrest your way out of it. You don’t have enough jail cells, and you don’t have enough money or public support to raise taxes enough to even come close to building enough prisons. Instead, you continue to piss away public monies on cannabis prohibition enforcement and ruin untold numbers of lives by tearing apart families, disenfranchising people from voting and good jobs by giving them a record. People like him perpetuate the cannabis Jim Crow. They maintain an unnecessarily larger number of people in the unemployed and underemployed categories because they can’t make it past pre-employment drug screenings, when that need not be the case anymore because cannabis consumers CAN BE gainfully employed responsible employees and citizens.
You’re not going to arrest your way out of people using cannabis.
It is clear cannabis is not going away.
Personally, I toil away at my thankless shit job, with no room for advancement, take a lot of shit, doing the work people like Harris would never stoop to doing, and then I have to put up with prohibitionist shit. I put up with a lot of shit, and have to take a lot of shit with a smile and just take it to pay my bills. Harris, just worry about yourself, and let everybody else live their own lives. My life is often so miserable I’d like to have a few of life’s small pleasures. And, since I’ve been battling cancer for a number of years now and do NOT live in an MMJ state because of assholes like Harris my life is even more miserable than it has to be. Not everyone can just pick up and move.
I hope people in decision-making positions simply ignore Harris and legalize anyway in DC. I was so looking forward to legal weed on the East Coast, finally a choice of medicine!
Republican Andy Harris of Maryland is a disgrace to the Harris Name and to the Republican party. I’m pretty sure he is the kind of guy who would be very uncomfortable at a party and would prefer to sit in a corner by himself since he has nothing in common with anyone but Kevin Sabet; and Kevin is busy elsewhere with his prohibitionist agenda.
To be honest, I don’t see any of these riders having any effect.
I see this more as a wake up call to congress that they are actually going to have to stop ignoring marijuana any longer. Oh, and that it is Okay to vote for marijuana and still have public support! This is literally just practice to help teach Congress not to auto-reject legalization.
I don’t see how these laws actually Prohibit the DEA from continuing to interfere with States with Medical Marijuana Programs as these riders just control the monies in this spending bill. They have already have millions of dollars to continue raids and prosecutions.
“N.I.D.A. funded this research with the University of Michigan. Two years after Colorado and Washington legalize marijuana and teens are using WHAT? What was THAT Kevin Sabet? I thought you said teens would use MORE drugs and alcohol if we started legalizing marijuana? How do you even RESPOND to that?!”
Like the drug addled loony he is, he’ll just dis-associate and say, “That’s not true, children now have better access to marijuana and legalization does represent a serious health threat to our children’s cognitive development. Legalized Medical Marijuana has been demonstrated to help prevent children from becoming productive citizens over and over.”
Cannabis. Need s to free for. Us. All not just some states and tribes.
Now Its discrimination . Is a huge factor
One state can’t be free. And the other. Be cannabis slaves
Jim Crow laws. Have. To go.
End. Prohibition now.
Miles says:
December 16, 2014 at 1:15 pm
The Republican rank and file are none too happy about Jeb.
What is weird is, if Florida would have won in the election. It would have become federally legal anyway. Florida would have been the 25th state to legalize medical. An unless I’m wrong if half of the states legalize it becomes federally legal also. And that means not only are they going to have to reclassify it because they are contradicting themselves as a scedual 1. But also because 20 of the state’s have decriminalization now and that is almost to the halfway point as well.
The hard truth is that wether or not what you do with the plant is positive or negative. The plant itself is neither. The plant is innocent in the equation. But it is not normally viewed that way when it comes to the debate of legalization.
Each step brings us closer!
Matt, “What is weird is, if Florida would have won in the election. It would have become federally legal anyway. Florida would have been the 25th state to legalize medical. An unless I’m wrong if half of the states legalize it becomes federally legal also.”
There is no such legal mechanism. Once it is legal is half the state, it is legal in half the state and not legal in half the states. While the pigs have an orgy of bogus arrests for something that is not a crime. The pig feeding is seen as a beautiful thing by pigs.
This is great. But I live in PA and have no $. It is a big hassle to get green so we drive to another state to get “k-2.” It gets so intense that you might have a bad trip anytime you think bad thoughts on it. Although I’ll take a bad k-2 trip over my norml life anyday! Pleasure in my world since i lost a good job includes eating good food… taking a good shit, not too hard and not too slimy… playing with my cats… and the first 10-20 seconds I get in bed at night. Sounds good for someone who never took a drug. It is pathetic! I have’nt had a good bag of weed since May 2013(a little over an ounce of good mids from someone in the black mafia who was in jail for 15 years for literally being a hit man and killing someone for money. He’s a nice guy, but don’t make any mistakes or criticize him to his face and he’ll give a good deal and not kill you too). My life stinks now and would take a bad LSD trip over this never-ending drudgery anyday. At least the music would sound better! Sorry to be a downer but I need to smoke weed in my life and hardly ever have any. Why hast God forsaken me?! If I ever had the money, I’d move to Colorado or Alaska. Might just be a pipe dream.
I am a disabled gulf-war veteran currently rated at 90% and seeking full disability status at this time. I am also a member of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program. Medical marijuana has been crucial in helping to relieve symptoms of Gulf-War Syndrome (specifically fibromyalgia), PTSD, chronic back pain, arthritis, neuropathy, and a number of other symptoms I suffer from. Recently my ex-wife had me brought up on charges under false allegations. I was not able to retain my freedom without accepting a plea deal in which I received 36 months of probation. These charges were unrelated to drugs or alcohol. Since I am on probation I am not able to use medical marijuana because I must obey all federal laws while on probation. This greatly effects my level of pain and discomfort and I am having a very difficult time each and every day. I am prescribed a multitude of medications for my symptoms through the VA, yet they do not provide the amount of relief medical marijuana provided. As a disabled veteran I should have access to the proper medications that help the most with my symptoms. Medical marijuana is a medication and does provide a substantial amount of relief for me. I should have the right to use the medications most beneficial to my military disabilities without restrictions from law enforcement.
Does anyone know how this might effect my situation?
I am a disabled gulf-war veteran currently rated at 90% and seeking full disability status at this time. I am also a member of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program. Medical marijuana has been crucial in helping to relieve symptoms of Gulf-War Syndrome (specifically fibromyalgia), PTSD, chronic back pain, arthritis, neuropathy, and a number of other symptoms I suffer from. Recently my ex-wife had me brought up on charges under false allegations. I was not able to retain my freedom without accepting a plea deal in which I received 36 months of probation. These charges were unrelated to drugs or alcohol. Since I am on probation I am not able to use medical marijuana because I must obey all federal laws while on probation. This greatly effects my level of pain and discomfort and I am having a very difficult time each and every day. I am prescribed a multitude of medications for my symptoms through the VA, yet they do not provide the amount of relief medical marijuana provided. As a disabled veteran I should have access to the proper medications that help the most with my symptoms. Medical marijuana is a medication and does provide a substantial amount of relief for me. I should have the right to use the medications most beneficial to my military disabilities without restrictions from law enforcement.
Does anyone know how this might affect my current situation?
I forgot to add 2 great pleasures: Taking a hot shower when heater is working correctly, and smoking the days first cigarette when we have those. What is so bad about people feeling good off weed? Paranoia? You know people feel that anyway with or without drugs. People with anxiety, paranoid schizophrenia or when a motorcyclist is revving at you? We want to feel good off dope, weed, mary jane and marijuana. There’s nothing wrong with that. Plus,… we could make money! Sounds like the coke brothers are trying to keep us hooked on alcohol: Earth’s worst drug; bad for you, numbs you to life, can kill an alcoholic if they don’t have it; the only drug known to do that and it tastes bad.
ALERT!
VA against MMJ! the VA just told me to choose, if you use cannabis VA will not give you pain medication. VA San Diego CA.
Still really doesn’t matter says:
December 23, 2014 at 2:00 pm
The Koch Bros support legalization. They also support a lot of candidates who don’t their primary interest is balancing the budget.
Still really doesn’t matter says:
December 23, 2014 at 2:00 pm
The Koch Bros support legalization. They also support a lot of candidates who don’t their primary interest is balancing the budget.
I just noticed that the language in the medical marijuana amendment prevents the DOJ from preventing states from “implementing their own state laws” regarding medical marijuana. Does anyone realize what this MEANS for the N.I.D.A. and the legalization of cannabis? No WONDER they supported the research with the U. of Michigan that reported less marijuana use among teens in states that legalized marijuana… The language in this amendment is cutting N.I.D.A.’s ability to fund propaganda in ANY state that wishes to pass medical marijuana laws!
For nearly half a century now N.I.D.A. has used our tax dollars to deny the medical efficacy of marijuana in any research, legislation or legal dispute that attempts to defy the main doctrine of marijuana’s scheduling in the Controlled Substance Act, which defines marijuana in the schedule 1 category stating it has “no known medical value.” Imagine what this means for the pending Federal verdict in the U.S. government v. Picard, et al, which is currently challenging the scheduling of marijuana based on recent evidence of its medical use. Imagine what this means in States like Nebraska and Oklahoma which are suing Colorado for “damages” from legalization, or Texas where the new Governor Greg Abbott will now have to rely on his own state funds to counter any medical marijuana legislation in the state next year. This amendment clearly states the DOJ, which includes states Attorneys Generals and District Attorneys from using Federal funds to suppress medical marijuana legalization.
Then there is California, Maine and Nevada which are gearing up their campaigns to legalize. This amendment means only state funds can be used to stop these laws from implementation!
We know (or at least hope) Gov. Brown of California isn’t going to use state funds to prevent marijuana legalization in his state. California alone has the population to pass us over the %50 mark of the U.S. population with pro-medical marijuana law, changing the game entirely for the Supreme Court and any pending hearings the Justices wish to hear regarding the scheduling of marijuana.
This amendment just paved the way for the descheduling of marijuana.
I find it very important to point out the hypocrisy and sudden shift in N.I.D.A., which has been at the rotten root of prohibition by funding the lies that marijuana has no medical use for the last 45 years. I don’t know if it was “anonymous,” “Still doesn’t matter” or “MSimon” who posted the comment about the Koch Brothers supporting legalization, but there is a very important economic factor to the hypocrisy of prohibition we all need to understand, which Koch Industries illustrates with excess hubris. Behind N.I.D.A., behind prohibition all these years, have been industries that have patented and profited from keeping cannabis of all kinds from the lands of small local farmers. On one hand, Koch Industries donates a sum to legalization efforts to attract libertarian votes away from Democrats, while the Lion’s share of their money goes to Super Pacs that support anarchistic prohibitionist policies in the Republican Tea Party. It’s a ruse; a ploy for the uneducated that don’t understand that Libertarians want to GET RID OF PUBLIC EDUCATION, Democracy and Income tax all together. “Yeah, we’re for marijuana legalization,” says David Koch, while at the same time he owns patents from stainmaster carpets, lycra, oil for asphalt and petrochemical plastics… all of which would compete and lower in value with a flourishing domestic hemp industry. Remember that %98 of the “eradication” of cannabis by the DEA’s cannabis eradication program over the last four decades has been hemp, not marijuana. When the hemp amendment to the Farm Bill passed early this year, the Koch Brothers shut down the government using their Tea Party cronies in order to maximize their oil subsidies and pass their own evil amendments, such as placing a useless cap on the EPA at %10 for ethanol production of ANY vegetable matter, not just corn, which real Republican legalization proponents like Grover Norquist wanted mainly to protect Iowa corn subsidies. Now, even though we are finally poised for legalizing hemp thanks to this Spending Bill, we have to convince the government to allow for production of %100 ethanol engines using hemp, as Ford and Diesel intended when they originally produced the first engines more than a century ago… Engines that weren’t even combustion engines… they worked of the low temperature electrolysis of pure hemp fuels and oils.
Henry Ford’s first model T off the assembly line was built and fueled entirely of hemp, all the way up to the cellulose plastic windshields. (hempcar.org) But it was the pertrochemical industry with their oil well Tycoons that pushed GM and Congress to create corrosive gasoline combustion engines, nylon, and other patentable synthetics in order to increase the value of oil wells and petrochemical patents, owned by companies like DuPont. For all of Anslinger’s racist propaganda that “marijuana made darkies think they were better than white men” or would “rape white women,” Anslinger was in bed with families that ran the Forestry Department that had control of U.S. timber, which would also decrease in value if a domestic hemp industry created paper products and building materials. Instead of distributing sustainable wealth to small farmers in the form of legal hemp production, Petrochemical and agriculturally engineered patents maintain a few in power at the price of American farmers, precious resources such as fresh water top soil, agricultural sustainability and even Democratic principle. Feral American Hemp uses half the water required by cotton while producing twice the cellulose and much more protein than genetically engineered corn.
Racism is an Economic engine fueled by lack of education, hatred, fear and Prohibition.
Today, Koch Industries owns the patents that originally passed the Marijuana Stamp Act of 1937, sold to them by DuPont in 2004. Today, Koch Industries owns Georgia Pacific, and those same timber patents that cut and erode the northwest to the southeastern forests for paper and building materials we could more efficiently and more sustainably create from hemp, all while sustaining our fresh water and top soil instead of eroding and contaminating it.
With the money made from these timber and petrochemical patents alone, and then the prohibitive support of pharmaceutical patents, private drug testing and private prisons with Federal quotas to maintain, and a corrupt arms and drug cartel running through our DOJ under the C.S.Act and the A.T.F.’s legal right not to disclose serial tracking numbers of the sale of U.S. weapons, it is absolutely stunning that our marijuana movement is making progress at all.
Never before have we seen such an Apollonian-Dionysian conflict of Good over evil at this scale, not even since slavery or since the corruption rings that made Colonel Custer the Secretary of Indian Affairs that distributed food and funds to Indian Reservations… At least in those days the oppressed could grow some hemp and die fighting for what they believed in… (I should add that slave revolts and Indian success in battle were much more prevalent than our American textbooks allow us to believe, in large part due to the agricultural success of hemp production… but that’s another book for another time…)
The Prohibition of cannabis we face today is far worse of a violation of human rights than we have ever seen in history as it exists on a much greater scale where the international influence of American Drug Policy has such a deep impact on our climate and the whole world’s agricultural sustainability…
Cannabis prohibition is an even greater violation of our civil rights than outright slavery or genocide, because it succeeds in accomplishing both while deceiving us into the politics of blaming racism and fear on the very same socioeconomic inequality created by prohibition of cannabis itself…
We may know of the hypocrisy of our laws, such as the Department of Health and Human Services that both threatens to take custody of our children for marijuana consumption while owning patent #6630507 for cannabinoids as neuroprotectants.
But what is more subtle, more deceptive and perhaps most evil from prohibition, is we all unwittingly or willingly choose to purchase the products that which purchase our own freedom and further the patents of prohibition. Every time we pay at the pump, every time we purchase synthetic foods from Kraft, cigarettes or Starbucks from the Altria corporation; Every time we purchase anything unsustainable made from finite petrochemical products or timber we could maintain more sustainably by older slash and burn methods and regrowth of mast, fruit and hemp than the clear-cutting industrial methods we have implemented by using paper and building materials from monocultured pine forests instead of hemp provided by small farmers… We are trading our own flesh and precious topsoil for a genetically engineered monoculture that robs us of our own human identity and sustainability.
There is enough arable land in the United States to grow enough hemp to supply and sustain all of our food, fuel, shelter, medicine and energy needs. We can build our vehicles and homes entirely out of hemp, all while retaining and building top soil, instead of washing it all out to sea by using the excess pesticides, fertilizers and precious ground water that genetically engineered and subsidized cotton and corn are taking from the land, all while hemp remains prohibited for domestic commercial use. Improper subsidy, patent and zoning have contributed to the loss of our staple products, so that it is safer to eat corn grown in a rural area of Mexico than the feed corn and wheat that has contaminated and cross-pollinated the corn products we eat that fatten us in the way it was intended to fatten cattle. The hemp that 45 years of eradication has contaminated has been modified… not engineered… and yet through all those decades of prohibition our government has been preventing us from using the one crop, cannabis, that can save us from the monoculture of genetic patent and engineering from companies like Monsantos and DuPont.
But not anymore.
This amendment signed by the President and passed by Congress prevents the DOJ from interfering from the implementation of state hemp laws. This leaves private industries like Koch Industries, DuPont and Monsantos more vulnerable to exposure from the now pro-marijuana media… because we can now distinguish private and Federal prohibition dollars… because even the Washington Post defends legalization, where traditionally they were run only up until recently by a family with their own prohibitionist policies of propaganda… but we’re not all about selling paper anymore, are we? We’re typing and texting electronically, which took a huge profit out of the paper industry, and threatened to cripple the free press, until the syndicated press learned to find new ways to advertise and subscribe professional journalism to educate the American public. (Although truthfully, I could find a lot of uses subscribing to a newspaper that distributed their print out of hemp… insulation, homewrap, compressed lumber… sigh… It’ll come down in price eventually…).
The most wonderful thing that has happened in the information age has been the ability to google a problem, find a great non-for profit or PAC like NORML, write a Congressman and donate to the cause all on a lunch break and go right back to whatever we were doing, (Even if it includes purchasing petroleum-based finite products).
We can educate ourselves. We can educate our children. We can tell the TRUTH. And if there was ever a foundation of Democracy against the Plutocracy of Prohibition we continue to face toe-to toe, Education must be it.
I’VEHADASTROKE 5YEARSAGO& MARIJUAJA IS THEONLYTHINGTHATWILLPRO LONG THEPAIN RELIEF THAT THE PAIN DRUGS GIVE ME!ITHASSAVEDMY MARIGE;ALONG WITH MY,LIFE IN THE FUTURE,SINCE,IWILL,NOLONGER HAVETOO DEALWITH,NONTAXPAYING,THUGS
Julian says:
December 28, 2014 at 2:46 pm
Rand Paul is TEA Party and opposes Prohibition.
In fact of all the candidates R or D currently in the run for 2016 he is the most opposed to Prohibition.
Rand Paul: Drug war targets minorities
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/06/24/rand-paul-marijuana-arrests-column/2452259/
Robby; Keep using the Green; I would suggest adding some type of daily cup of Tea; I would ask your dietician which Tea would be best; I have read:”Black Tea reduces Cortisol levels”.
PS I applaud President Barry O’ !!!
Anne says:
December 31, 2014 at 10:05 am
PS I applaud President Barry O’ !!!
Nothing is keeping him from rescheduling. Other than he doesn’t want to.
Better than all the other Presidents on Cannabis? Sure.
Good enough? No where near.
THANK YOU JULIAN!!!
Quite cogent and well written. I’m so sick of people (I’m pointing at you MSimon) defending hypocrites like Rand Paul and the Koch Bros. Classic case of cognitive dissonance.
I would love to share your post with others.
erin says:
January 1, 2015 at 5:52 am
I’m not defending the Koch Bros. But I hate to see misinformation. The bros. favor legalization. Very unfortunately they have a higher priority (balanced budget) which makes them support candidates who don’t.
As to candidates for 2016? Rand Paul is only mildly anti-Prohibition. But give me one other name that is more anti-Prohibition than he is.
Name me one other candidate who has spoken out about drug war racism.
Rand Paul: Drug war targets minorities
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/06/24/rand-paul-marijuana-arrests-column/2452259/
As to our “wonderful President” ? Why hasn’t he rescheduled? Cannabis cures cancer. Cancer kills 586,000 Americans every year. Every Prohibitionist is complicit in mass murder. Pass it on.
You want my opinion about what is going on? Slow motion for legalization. High taxes. – The government is owned by the cartels. That is why you see proposals to decriminalize users but keep it illegal to grow or sell.
No more taxed than tomatoes.
@ MSimon: “I agree with you on this; nothing is stopping Pres. O’from rescheduling! thanks!
People like Mike Idaho really need their weed!
MSimon: In regards to Obama, I’m happy that he showed some backbone on a number of issues. However, on the issue of cannabis, I have been and still am sorely disappointed.
Cannabis was jammed in to the CSA by Executive Order against the prevailing medical advice.
Obama could deschedule or cause the descheduling by the same means.
On this matter, he has shown himself to be a gutless, two-faced *@&#.
Even more disappointing is that the ” word on the street” is that he has said he will not do anything more on this issue for the remaining time he has left.
@ MSimon: I would say to Obama: If your daughter had a disease which MJ could “cure”; would you re-schedule the herb then? Why then are our children less important than yours? A
On top of all that – suppose you grow and give it away under a high tax regime? Then Wickard vs Filburn kicks in as exemplified by Raich. You are affecting interstate commerce by giving it away. They could definitely jail you for that. In the extreme they could shoot you.
What we need is to get the government out of the business altogether. No more taxed or regulated than tomatoes. At any level. We don’t want illegal cartels. We don’t want legal cartels.
We definitely don’t want to have to depend on GW Pharmaceuticals and similar type companies for our medicine. We don’t want government and doctors controlling who gets medicine.
We have done enough begging on our knees to make our point. It is now time to stand on our feet and demand what Eric Garner demanded. “It stops today.” – “Don’t touch me.” – “Just leave me alone.”
Msimon, Rand Paul is a Libertarian that hangs out in the Republican party as you can’t win elections if you’re not aligned with the Rebubs or Demos. “Tea Party” doesn’t mean anything but losers and mental cases. For a couple of weeks there was a “tea party” and then it got purchased by some rich people went to shit faster than any polical movement in history. Turned into a bowl movement practically overnight. Maybe someday, we’ll get another shot at having a “tea party”.
Frankly, I’d rather vote for a green party or a marijuana party; at least you know what they are about. While “tea partiers” blabble about freedom meaning people can poison you with anything and you can’t do anything about it. When there are no regulations, will they support you when you shoot the guy that gave your daughter brain cancer? Ot blow up the factory where they manfucture poison carpets? Or will they call you a criminal and a terrorist?
@Julian
Well said!!!