Representatives Tom McClintock (R-CA) and Jared Polis (D-CO) have introduced an amendment that, if passed, would disallow the Department of Justice to use funds from Congress to enforce federal laws on activities that are legal under state law with regard to marijuana. Ultimately, this amendment seeks to limit the federal government’s ability to intrude in states that have regulated various aspects of marijuana production and access.
Thirty states (and the District of Columbia) permit the medical use of cannabis, while eight states now regulate the plant’s production and sale to all adults. (Washington, DC imposes no penalties on the personal use, possession, and cultivation of the plant, but does not allow for its retail sale.) More than a dozen additional states permit patients to possess a specific anticonvulsant compound found in the marijuana plant, known as cannabidiol. Additionally, more than half of all states permit farmers to cultivate industrial strains of cannabis.
The passage of this bill is especially important with Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. He believes that lawful medical marijuana patients are causing violent crime and contributing to transnational drug trafficking and has asked Congress to allow the Department of Justice to target and prosecute state-licensed medical cannabis facilities. There is no logical reason for such interference by the federal government.
Congressional passage of the McClintock/Polis amendment would allow these states and the citizens who reside in them, to engage in these permitted activities free from any threat of federal interference or prosecution. It is time for Congress to respect these measures and the rights of voters and state lawmakers who support them.
Thanks for all the links!
But wheres the one for the McPolis Act?
Meanwhile here are some good states rights links for MJ in case anybody missed them;
http://norml.org/action-center/item/federal-bipartisan-leaders-reintroduce-the-respect-state-marijuana-laws-act
http://norml.org/action-center/item/federal-support-the-state-marijuana-and-regulatory-tolerance-smart-enforcement-act
Good call Julian – done!
Thank you Tom McClintock proud to have you as my Congregational Representative! Also thank you Jared Polis
Is there anybody left out there who still thinks the Trump administration IS NOT a serious threat to the marijuana legalization movement and the progress we have made? Can we all agree on that, finally?
Please support this common sense approach
The McClintock/Polis Amendment is something the vast majority of America will stand behind. Democrats and Republicans do find common ground here. The time has come for Congress to finally listen to the medical professionals and read the countless university findings that reveal so many breakthroughs from medical marijuana treatment, it is unconscionable to blindly ignore. Finally this is an amendment we can all get behind. I can’t remember when politics was set aside to actually do the people’s will. Please support this legislation here in Arizona and I guarantee we will support you.
I agree there are plenty of Republicans that would stand behind this bill… the trick is getting Chuck Grassley and Paul Ryan on board. The Dems should use the debt ceiling as leverage to pass this bill in December now that Trump just unwittingly gifted the 3 month deal.
My experience has been that Republican support for marijuana legalization, where it exists, is really only about support for marketing Republicanism. It’s about branding and imaging of the Republican party.
It’s similar thinking to the so-called “trickle down” economic arguments: “put us in charge, and we’ll see what we can do for you.” (Like piss on your head.)
But it’s a trick, because the Republican party does not support the underlying principles required for legalization: civil rights, personal freedom, education, science… truth, justice.
For the Republicans, “The People” are not people; they are cattle for financial exploitation.
Mark, the R&B amendment passed with bipartisan support before. The trickery this time was from Pete Sessions lying to other Republicans that if the R&B amendment wasnt brought up in the appropriations bill as it had been passing that he would bring it up in the House Rules. Lies. So not only is Stinky Pete a thief for the sick and wounded in top of that he’s an evil liar… (which all other Republicans should have known by now…)
I dont see any other way for us to leverage this amendment through the House without getting Democrats on board to force the R&B through the Debt Ceiling. Take some video of the raids and dont keep all yer buds in one bowl… were in for war…
I don’t doubt you, Julian; but I can’t help but stare at the spectacle of a Republican (whether they be elected official, or man on the street) who claims to support marijuana legalization, yet still remains loyal to Trump, Sessions, McConnell, Ryan, and right on down the list of prohibitionists. I mean, WTF?
If a person believed in civil rights, would you find them in the KKK? Is it possible to be a Jew-loving Nazi? You wouldn’t think so! It seems to me that these are null set intersections. So too, with the Trump administration, openly dedicated to going back to the bad old days of reefer madness, mandatory minimums and private prisons for profit. As has been said on this blog many times before, you can’t have it both ways.
All I’m saying is, I gotta look at a Republican like that, like they’re either crazy, or lying, or both! I sure as hell don’t trust them.
@Mark;
Youre correct in that there is no such thing as a “Jew-loving Nazi” or Justice in the “Justice” Department” so long as the Controlled Substances Act, USPTO, FDA and NIDA continue to prioritize and subsidize toxic synthetics while prohibiting whole plant medicine and nutrition.
We have to see the forest from the trees in politics… or the field from the hemp if you will. We cant allow anger and fear impede our clinical judgement. Or ambiguous words like “conservative” or “liberal” divide and confuse us.
We have to work with the reasonable politicians we have remaining even if that means we have to research (opensecrets.com) and see the industries behind the Congressman and take the fight to them.
@ Julian,
Okay. Fair enough. That’s pragmatic. That’s harm reduction, which I support.
But when you say “we have to work with” them, my question becomes: What does a Trump supporter like Dana Roh-whatshisface really want in exchange for support? If he wants what Trump wants, which is absolutely corrupt power, that is never a concession we can never make, because we lose it all in such a “deal,” like every other sucker that ever tried to cut a deal with Trump.
What can the marijuana legalization movement possibly offer Trump, or a Trump surrogate, in exchange for support, that doesn’t normalize and enable Nazi white supremacy? As you know, “Nazi” is not just rhetoric anger — they are on the march. We cannot be complicit.
I can think of nothing we can give them that we can afford to lose.
That’s my worry. These are fascists. For them, negotiations are only a sucker ploy. I don’t want the marijuana legalization movement destroyed by a deal with the devil like the Republicans made.
thing is cannabis law reform is now a global reality, advanced societies have or are in
the process of correcting wrong, false,
classifications of cannabis as a ‘highly addictive’ [same categorey as heroin etc]
‘supertoxin’ [same as arsenic, strychnine etc]
ie, within poisons scheduling thus laws..
this artificially created prohibition has and is creating corruption based black market crime
and criminal cartels massive tax free profits
which are used in trading of real narcotics
and in people, and so on – ie, real crime..
canada on your border will, soon, have law
allowing production, sale and use of this
natural god given theraputic herb..
for anyone,, concerned about misuse, start with
the fact that there is virtually zero information in education campaigns etc,
as to – DOSAGE – of cannabis..
thus,, people often, simply overdose,
not knowing how much to use…
then overdosed users are presented and
understood – and by lawmakers – as if
normal cannabis effects..
compare education information as to dose
for alcohol.. consider a lawmaker faced
with people taking a bottle of whiskey
as if thats the normal dose..
politicians are all the same..
brand a, brand b.. corrupt or not..
it does no good, characterising all of them
as nazis or kkk and suchlike..
start with good folk including genuine
believers in gods, letting them be
the vehicle for this god given
naturally therapeutic herb..