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Politics: Paul-Barney Bill Would Legalize Marijuana Federally
shafty023 writes "It would appear Ron Paul (R-TX) and Barney Frank (D-MA) are going to be presenting a bill to legalize marijuana and thus end the failed war on drugs finally if it gets passed. What chances do you all think this bill has in the Senate and House or even surviving the president's veto pen?" Note that there would still be plenty of drug war left to go around, even if (as this bill sets out to accomplish) the Federal government stops chasing marijuana.
Obama's simply too conservative to sign a bill like this. He should, but he won't. The fact that marijuana is 100% safe isn't enough to sway the screaming, mindless Christians, and Obama needs at least some of their votes.
I don't respond to AC's.
The chances of this bill passing are fairly remote, but it's still important to contact your senator and express your support if you think this is a good idea. Congress should hear that punishing people for marijuana use is a waste of time and money.
Shouldn't the heading read Paul-Frank? Or is Barney just that much more fun to say?
This bill, the "Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011," is broader and bolder than the medical marijuana bills that Congressman Frank has introduced in every Congress since 1995. The bill introduced today would allow states to determine their own marijuana laws -- not just medical marijuana laws -- without federal interference.
Source (and others).
Let's try for some accuracy here. It's not all that hard. You'd think the editors were stoned or something.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
This one will die before it leaves committee.
I believe you've neglected to consider Muslim bashing when stating your claim. Kind of tops out Christians for the top spot of politically-correct hatred by a wide margin.
Look! Is that a Sharia Law behind you? [ducks out]
I don't know how many years on this Earth I got left. I'm going to get real weird with it. - Frank Reynolds
Show your support here...
Marijuana Policy Project Wikipedia Page
Oh for fucks sake. Quit feeling persecuted. To be an American president you at least have to pay lip service to Jesus.
It's infuriating to be always be associated with whiny self righteous Christians constantly bitching about how much everyone discriminates against them and how hard it is to be a christian.
Get some damn perspective.
You mad
Not a high enough cancer rate to be illegal?
Or you could start doing LDS, but that'd just be mormonic.
Way to completely miss the point. It failed because the people running the medicinal marijuana stores (and their associated pet doctors) are making WAY too much money from it to allow it to be legalized. They spent a metric fuckton of money to make sure it got defeated so they could keep their monopoly.
To be fair, the "Religious Right" votes for the same people as those who want to do away with all social programs.
So much for loving thy neighbor.
And if this passed, everything would go swimmingly until someone inserted a provision in the next budget denying highway funding to states that allow recreational marijuana.
This is why we can't have nice things, America.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
The reason that Obama reneged on his promises w/r/t the drug war, is that the drug war is an enormous pork-barrel scheme. It provides a pretext for billions of dollars of spending, as well as providing bribe money at all levels of local and state government, from cops on the beat to mayors, to state legislators.
Besides that, the drug war amounts to universal criminalization: cops can get away with breaking into anyone's home and killing them if they pretend to have done so on the basis of an anonymous tip that there were drugs in the house in question.
I'm not surprised that Dr. Paul is in favor of ending the drug war, but I didn't think Barney Frank had the guts. Good for them.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
uhhh, what?
Oh, yeah, I forgot: Christian-Bashing is the last acceptable and politically-correct form of prejudice and ignorant hatred.
Carry on.
Fat people. Don't forget the fatties. You can slam us... er... them too all you want.
This wont go anywhere even though the wording of the Bill should actually be attractive to states like Texas, Missouri, etc that are decidedly conservative but are currently suing over "obamacare" on the basis of states rights. This simply lifts federal law and puts the issue in the states hands as it should be...but there is far too much money in the "war on drugs". The prison industry and law enforcement agencies at both the state and federal level rely on the war on drugs far to heavily to just let it go without a major fight. People tend to forget that the US has the largest prison population per capita of any country in the world (including all the govt's considered oppressive and anti-human rights) that simply isn't sustainable without the endless war going on.
No, it's pot smokers who are politically acceptable targets of prejudice and ignorant hatred. Come back when you can get thrown in jail if you're caught with a cross.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Are you saying that the decision to not force other people to cough up money to support social programs means "not loving thy neighbor"? That's absurd. Conservatives (and the Religious Right) are far more likely than liberals to give of their **own** money to support "love thy neighbor" programs.
To be fair, the "Religious Right" votes for the same people as those who want to do away with all social programs.
So much for loving thy neighbor.
When the bible talks about "loving thy neighbor" it's talking about the person actually doing it. Not some proxy, government pawn issuing coupons for cheese. Keep "loving thy neighbor" where it should be, in the hands of the populace close to the need, else the government will get to determine what "loving thy neighbor" means.
I can only conclude that pot smokers are too dumb to get pot legalized.
It is not just about pot smokers. Anyone who does not want to live in a society where law enforcement agencies are paramilitary forces, where property is appraised before the property owner is arrested, and where the government is using popular TV shows as a means of spreading propaganda should support ending the war on drugs. Anyone who thinks that it is a problem for the DEA to have the power to declare a drug illegal without congressional action, or for our nuclear command and control system to be used to track drug smugglers should support ending the war on drugs.
Unfortunately, we have been engaged in the war on drugs for so long that nobody can even remember that there was a time when things were not this way.
Palm trees and 8
I'll switch if it does 1080p.
I am a free slashdotter. I will not be modded, blogged, DRM'd, patented, podcasted or RFID'd. My life is my own.
I know I'm a radical in this matter (as in many) but I'd legalize all of them. Yes, if you want to, shoot that heroin up your vein, for all I care everyone has the right to kill himself in the way he prefers. Slow and painful with drugs, hey, if that's your venue, more power to you.
Keep it out of the hands of kids, make sure that school teach about the risks (and please, not the "say no to drugs" bull that's been circulated. Inform, don't try to scare, kids are smarter than that) and if they still want to get hooked after they turn into adults, let them. Who are we to dictate how a person may kill himself? Make sure drugs are available and affordable and if people want to throw their life in the gutter, at least they won't go around mugging others for money to finance it.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
"Are you saying that the decision to not force other people to cough up money to support social programs means "not loving thy neighbor"?"
Yes, Precisely.
"Conservatives (and the Religious Right) are far more likely than liberals to give of their **own** money to support "love thy neighbor" programs."
False. In fact the most generous group is actually atheists. Who, btw, have no afterlife angle there playing. Doing it because you're afraid you will be accountable to your sky wizard is not charity, it's paying for points.
If Jesus was a real person* he defiantly would be for social programs. How you can read your theology and come out any other way is just the height of cognitive dissonance.
Social programs are the cheapest and best way to make a long term positive effect on society. It's sad that people like you take your knee jerk reactionism before actual data and fact. Bunch of self centered whinny Beckerheads.
*highly unlikely.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Christians in the US are insufferable when it comes to claiming that they're persecuted and being attacked from all sides. They're everywhere, you can't walk 100 yards in a straight line without running into a church, they have whole television networks dedicated to their cult, mega-churches seating thousands, and they wield their collective voting power like a giant gold-plated dildo ready to fuck brutally anybody who doesn't vote for what their "jeebus" wants but we're all supposed to believe that they're the constant victims of a world that's out to get them. They want everyone to think the rest of us are still feeding them to lions instead of trying to live our own lives and ignoring them.
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
I hold your freedom to worship as you choose sacred. I hold my freedom to speak my mind about your religion sacred.
Call it malicious if you like, but I think calling Easter 'Zombie Jesus Day' is funny, and will continue to do so.
3. SELLING or BUYING it (or any other naturally occurring psychoactive substance*) should be illegal.
If you attempt to take away my ability to purchase coffee, I WILL KILL YOU!
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
May I suggest the words of the founder of Xianity himself on taxes? "Render on to Caesar what is Caesar's." Like all property not based directly on use or occupation, money is a creation of the state; the state taking its own share back out of what it creates is not "forcing" anyone to do anything. You're free to try to live without state-created money, or state-created 'property rights" to land and the resources extracted from it. Let me know how that works out for you.
Conservatives are far more likely to live in states that receive more from the federal government than they pay out. To some degree, that money that red state conservatives claim as their "own" is coming from the parts of the country that are actually productive -- by and large, the bluer states.
Then there's that fact that donating to a church counts as donating to a charity. And then there's the question of who is giving more: the person who gives up a potentially lucrative career to work in one of the helping professions, or some banker fsckwad who screw people all week long and then donates to charity on Sunday?
Put it all together and yes, its pretty clear that, by and large, the mindless zealotry of the Religious Right and of the modern conservative movement does little to help the poor -- and in fact by rotting away the foundations of our economy, harms them.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
"The Lord above made man to help is neighbor, No matter where, on land, or sea, or foam. The Lord above made man to help his neighbor-but / With a little bit of luck, With a little bit of luck, When he comes around you won't be home! "
I am not a crackpot.
AS soon as all drugs where legalized, the gang problem will go away. Large corporations will grow it, makes in, manufactures cheaper, faster and with precise dosage. Gangs can even hope to keep up.
Tax it, put money into rehap, stop putting non violent offenders in prison.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Strong arm the market? Around here (Vermont) I suspect most stoners would go straight down to their local farmers' market or CSA farm stand or food co-op to buy their weed, just like they do for their vegetables. Or grow their own. Only real dirtbags would seriously go down to 7-11 to buy a pack of Marlboro Greens and a sixer of Bud. And if they do, whatever, their choice. I really don't think it's necessary or effective to make restoring our liberty vis a vis MJ with some sort of crazy socialist anti-industrial agenda. The MJ market will demand a locally grown boutique product. Think of how craft breweries have nabbed such a big share of the beer market despite a huge, well financed, and well entrenched legacy brewing industry.
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
Please explain how it is "perfectly" constitutional. The Congress shall have the Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States. . .” . Are you going to claim that the regulation of plants falls under the general welfare?
Recall that the Constitution grants powers. And only those powers granted by the Constitution are supposed to be exercised by the US government.
Indeed! We've actually reached the point where the American population is more willing to vote for an openly homosexual President than they are to vote for an openly atheist President. This is progress, of a sort, but still - 61% of respondents said that they are less likely to vote for an atheist, compared to 33% saying that they are less likely to vote for a homosexual.
let's act responsibly:
1. get a babysitter. people walk out windows, gouge out their eyeballs, and pick up knives and start swinging when on strong hallucinogens. people have panic attacks and think they are dying. you are highly suggestible, so you can be warded away from a bad trip by a good guide. so you need a sober responsible person who can keep you safe. maybe return the favor. but don't trip alone, and don't trip in groups, and don't trip with irresponsible people as your backup
2. be aware of the phenomenon of flashbacks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysergic_acid_diethylamide#Flashbacks_and_HPPD
i'm not engaging in fear and hysteria. you need a sober understanding of what you are playing with here. go ahead and trip, but understand that these hallucinogens are very powerful. if you have a flashback a few days later while driving, and you are aware of what is going on, you can deescalate the situation. if you don't know about flashbacks, you can freak out and kill yourself or others. knolwedge is power. be educated
because what is the victim of irresponsible drug use? legality is. lsd and magic mushrooms will be legalized someday, but that day will be very far away if irresponsible idiots keep tripping without backups and walk out windows or stab innocent passerbys
be responsible, or you ruin it for the rest of us
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Legalizing it at the federal level allows the states to make it illegal within the state. For example, it is illegal to brew your own beer in Alabama, but the federal government legalized production "for personal or family use," however the great state of Alabama (read as sarcastically as possible) considers this to be dangerous and unhealthy. If you really doubt that, there's a great video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVqnUf8NH6g&feature=player_embedded highlighting some of their debate over a bill to allow homebrewing.
"Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
From the fourth book of Acts
The Believers Share Their Possessions
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.
I think Jesus and his posse were Socialists
You guys drifted slightly form the original comment's theme however, which is :
America's War on Drug is the fault of American Christianity precisely because they codify everything is this ridiculous & stupid religious morality play, public health issues, personal choice issues, medical issues, economic issues, scientific issues, educational issues, everything. If not for American Christianity, the War on Pot would be nothing more than some anti-Mexican racist rhetoric decades ago.
As an aside, I back off from criticizing christianity only when discussing some person like Jimmy Carter, who engages in major charitable works both intelligently & effectively. I respect Carter's motivations, and avoid insulting them, specifically because I respect his works. Yet, most American Christians, even mainlines ones, tacitly support the American Taliban by accepting bullshit Christian moralistic rhetoric, equating Christianity with morality, etc. And there should be no verbal quarter for them. Btw, I've just bough a stuffed velociraptor toy to dress in swaddling clothes as "Baby Velociraptor Jesus" this Halloween. :)
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell