Federal bills introduced to support medical marijuana and decriminalize possession

[DerekWilson]

It's great to see so much support.

For the record, I am highly conservative and active in the Republican party.

Sure, that embarrasses me sometimes, but I'm working on pulling them further away from the "moral majority" "religious right" insanity. There is a sizable contingent in NC and we're making headway. This year was good -- in two years I suspect we'll have at least a couple district chairmen and a majority in the executive committee.

This is an issue for social liberals, strong conservatives and libertarians alike.

This is NOT an issue for moderates.

Moderates are afraid of anything that actually has substance and that would really do anything.

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: NoWhereM
I e-mailed and called my congresswoman's office, Ginny Brown-Waite, in 2007 and asked her to add her name to a list of congressman and congresswomen who were concerned about the DEA going after pain managment specialists before the July 12th Judiciary Committee hearing regarding the DEA. She simply responded that she wasn't a member of the Judiciary Committee, which she didn't need to be to add her name.

If she wasn't concerned about the DEA going after pain management specialists I don't think I can count on her support for legislation regarding medical marijuana.

Don't call Janet Nguyen (orange county rep) cuz she hates medical marijuana. Bitch.

 

[Harvey]

Done, done and done to my two Senators and Congressman. :thumbsup:

 

[newnameman]

Originally posted by: Fern
I see this a "State's Rights" type bill and is in acordance with the Constitution as originally intended.

:thumbsup:

 

[alchemize]

Sent both letters, added a personal message about a friend that died from cancer, made us "criminals" to help him out by providing him with a dried plant.

 

[MovingTarget]

Heh, my senators are probably the ones leading the charge against MJ bill. Sessions/Shelby are real douchecanoes. The representatives may be a little more sympathetic though.

 

[alchemize]

Originally posted by: DerekWilson
It's great to see so much support.

For the record, I am highly conservative and active in the Republican party.

Sure, that embarrasses me sometimes, but I'm working on pulling them further away from the "moral majority" "religious right" insanity. There is a sizable contingent in NC and we're making headway. This year was good -- in two years I suspect we'll have at least a couple district chairmen and a majority in the executive committee.

This is an issue for social liberals, strong conservatives and libertarians alike.

This is NOT an issue for moderates.

Moderates are afraid of anything that actually has substance and that would really do anything.

I disagree. I would guess that most moderates are completely OK with MJ.

This issue is about stupid. While there's more stupid in the republican party, there are plenty of dems that are just as stupid about this as well. If this doesn't pass, it's solely on the dems heads. They have the votes, but do they have the political cajones?

 

[Moonbeam]

Drugs are tremendously dangerous. You can spend hours looking at a tree. Nobody makes any money out of that. People start seeing their lives are a joke and start thinking about being creative. They start thinking that somewhere there might be deeper meaning. A wheel won't turn if the cogs break. Drugs have to be kept illegal. There are billions at stake and we already are building more prisons, prisons for people who break free.

 

[DerekWilson]

Originally posted by: alchemize

Originally posted by: DerekWilson
It's great to see so much support.

For the record, I am highly conservative and active in the Republican party.

Sure, that embarrasses me sometimes, but I'm working on pulling them further away from the "moral majority" "religious right" insanity. There is a sizable contingent in NC and we're making headway. This year was good -- in two years I suspect we'll have at least a couple district chairmen and a majority in the executive committee.

This is an issue for social liberals, strong conservatives and libertarians alike.

This is NOT an issue for moderates.

Moderates are afraid of anything that actually has substance and that would really do anything.

I disagree. I would guess that most moderates are completely OK with MJ.

This issue is about stupid. While there's more stupid in the republican party, there are plenty of dems that are just as stupid about this as well. If this doesn't pass, it's solely on the dems heads. They have the votes, but do they have the political cajones?

I'm still not sold on that idea ... But I do agree that if it doesn't pass it is on the dem's heads since they own the votes.

The thing is that, even if you are "stupid," if you are more ideologically pure you would still have to support decriminalization (if not full legalization/regulation) and medical marijuana.

For the far left, it is a civil rights issue. We are criminalizing people with a medical condition. Drug laws disproportionately impact minorities. We are fighting a war on our people when we could better use those resources for social services, medical care, and helping people rather than packing the jails and giving all our money to private corporations running prisons.

To the far right, it's a constitutionality issue. It's an issue of individual liberty (granted this idea is lost on many republicans that mistakenly think they're conservative). It is an economic issue: rather than allow criminals to rape our profits while people choose to take drugs despite consequences, we could regulate them and allow private (taxable) industry to make loads of cash.

Oddly, I would expect the far right to support legalization and medical marijuana before they would support decriminalization. Decrim hurts the prison and law enforcement industries without taking profits from organized crime. The only reason I would see a republican supporting decrim is as a stepping stone to legalization and regulation.

 

[CPA]

getting the Feds out of anything is a good idea.

 

[Rockinacoustic]

Originally posted by: CPA
getting the Feds out of anything is a good idea.

 

[TruePaige]

Originally posted by: Rockinacoustic

Originally posted by: CPA
getting the Feds out of anything is a good idea.

 

[DerekWilson]

Originally posted by: TruePaige

Originally posted by: Rockinacoustic

Originally posted by: CPA
getting the Feds out of anything is a good idea.

sounds good to me

 

[XZeroII]

no thanks. Sometimes the government has to protect it's citizens from themselves. This is one of those instances, IMO.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: DerekWilson
I'm for whole sale legalization and regulation on the order of alcohol since cannabis is safer than both alcohol and tobacco. But every step towards more sensible drug policy is a step in the right direction.

Where do you get this from?

1 marijuana joint = 6 cigarettes (in terms of tar in your lungs)

Marijuana creates potheads who want to sit around and do nothing. It is also a 'gateway' drug. It is a much greater cause of lung cancer compared to cigarettes in chronic users.

IMO pot is a stupid and childish drug. Whenever I see someone over the age of 25 smoking it, they look as though they have wasted their lives away and have nothing to show for their existence aside from their juvenile habit.

 

[irishScott]

If I do this and it passes, will you people shut up about it?

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: SickBeast

Originally posted by: DerekWilson
I'm for whole sale legalization and regulation on the order of alcohol since cannabis is safer than both alcohol and tobacco. But every step towards more sensible drug policy is a step in the right direction.

Where do you get this from?

1 marijuana joint = 6 cigarettes (in terms of tar in your lungs)

Marijuana creates potheads who want to sit around and do nothing. It is also a 'gateway' drug. It is a much greater cause of lung cancer compared to cigarettes in chronic users.

IMO pot is a stupid and childish drug. Whenever I see someone over the age of 25 smoking it, they look as though they have wasted their lives away and have nothing to show for their existence aside from their juvenile habit.

:laugh:

Thanks, I needed a laugh.

 

[DerekWilson]

Originally posted by: SickBeast

Originally posted by: DerekWilson
I'm for whole sale legalization and regulation on the order of alcohol since cannabis is safer than both alcohol and tobacco. But every step towards more sensible drug policy is a step in the right direction.

Where do you get this from?

1 marijuana joint = 6 cigarettes (in terms of tar in your lungs)

Marijuana creates potheads who want to sit around and do nothing. It is also a 'gateway' drug. It is a much greater cause of lung cancer compared to cigarettes in chronic users.

IMO pot is a stupid and childish drug. Whenever I see someone over the age of 25 smoking it, they look as though they have wasted their lives away and have nothing to show for their existence aside from their juvenile habit.

Yes there is more tar in unfiltered cannabis smoke ... But it is less harmful to you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJmQ16cGBHU

if you're a heavy cannabis smoker, bronchitis is your risk.

Better yet, don't smoke, vaporize -- this eliminates the risks presented by smoking.

There is no such thing as a "gateway drug" ... correlation does not equal causation. The VAST majority of people who smoke cannabis do not go on to harder drugs. Users of harder drugs may also have used cannabis, but I bet they also drink alcohol. Or coffee. Or water. Or fucking breath for that matter.

Just because 99% of people who do activity B also do activity A does not mean activity A /causes/ activity B ...

 

[compuwiz1]

Originally posted by: XZeroII
no thanks. Sometimes the government has to protect it's citizens from themselves. This is one of those instances, IMO.

You're asbolutely correct. We should be signing up for banning alcohol, which is a far more dangerous DRUG!

BTW, you're a fucking moron...k thx, have a nice day. :laugh:

 

[DerekWilson]

Originally posted by: compuwiz1

Originally posted by: XZeroII
no thanks. Sometimes the government has to protect it's citizens from themselves. This is one of those instances, IMO.

You're asbolutely correct. We should be signing up for banning alcohol, which is a far more dangerous DRUG!

BTW, you're a fucking moron...k thx, have a nice day. :laugh:

didn't we try that already? hmmmmm... I wonder how that worked out?

oh yeah!

prohibition made america more DANGEROUS by funding ORGANIZED CRIME and removing government regulation of the QUALITY of alcohol making it LESS safe. the same thing has happened with the prohibition of drugs.

prohibition is NEVER a way to protect citizens. it is a way for politicians to make citizens think they are protecting citizens while creating MORE problems that the government can then "protect" us from by demanding more money to "prevent" crime and increasing the punishments for victimless crimes.

also, cannabis could have decimated the tree pulp paper industry as well as the petro-chemical plastics and fuel industries, thus the government had to quickly demonize it to serve corporate interests.

 

[XZeroII]

Originally posted by: compuwiz1

Originally posted by: XZeroII
no thanks. Sometimes the government has to protect it's citizens from themselves. This is one of those instances, IMO.

You're asbolutely correct. We should be signing up for banning alcohol, which is a far more dangerous DRUG!

BTW, you're a fucking moron...k thx, have a nice day. :laugh:

You remind me of a retarded person. I say something intelligent that is my opinion that you don't understand so you just sit around and giggle. Your argument is a logical fallacy (strawman).

So basically, you called me a moron after using a logical fallacy to defeat my argument (which was actually just my opinion anyway) and then laughed about your superiority. I think I sense some retard there.

 

[SickBeast]

The next thing you know, they will want to legalize cocaine. :roll:

Legalizing pot will not get rid of the gangsters or the underworld. They will always have something illegal to deal in, unfortunately. I agree with the comparisons to prohibition, however legalizing pot will only mitigate the problem; there are too many other drugs out there, and they are way too dangerous to be legalized IMO.

You're also ignoring the fact that by legalizing pot, you make it more accessible, and more people will wind up using it because it's legal.

Here in Canada we have legalized possession and medical marijuana. My neighbors on both sides of me smoke chronically to the point that I cannot enjoy my beautiful patio. We are moving next month, partially because of it. At least if they were drunks I could enjoy my patio without having to smell their fumes.

 

[XZeroII]

Originally posted by: DerekWilson

Originally posted by: compuwiz1

Originally posted by: XZeroII
no thanks. Sometimes the government has to protect it's citizens from themselves. This is one of those instances, IMO.

You're asbolutely correct. We should be signing up for banning alcohol, which is a far more dangerous DRUG!

BTW, you're a fucking moron...k thx, have a nice day. :laugh:

didn't we try that already? hmmmmm... I wonder how that worked out?

oh yeah!

prohibition made america more DANGEROUS by funding ORGANIZED CRIME and removing government regulation of the QUALITY of alcohol making it LESS safe. the same thing has happened with the prohibition of drugs.

prohibition is NEVER a way to protect citizens. it is a way for politicians to make citizens think they are protecting citizens while creating MORE problems that the government can then "protect" us from by demanding more money to "prevent" crime and increasing the punishments for victimless crimes.

also, cannabis could have decimated the tree pulp paper industry as well as the petro-chemical plastics and fuel industries, thus the government had to quickly demonize it to serve corporate interests.

Once again, you're building a strawman. Why don't you people learn how to actually debate? If you aren't going properly reply to my post, don't post at all. I only skimmed your response and didn't fully read it because you're just fueling the strawman that the previous person built which has nothing to do with what I actually posted.

 

[smack Down]

Originally posted by: XZeroII

Originally posted by: DerekWilson

Originally posted by: compuwiz1

Originally posted by: XZeroII
no thanks. Sometimes the government has to protect it's citizens from themselves. This is one of those instances, IMO.

You're asbolutely correct. We should be signing up for banning alcohol, which is a far more dangerous DRUG!

BTW, you're a fucking moron...k thx, have a nice day. :laugh:

didn't we try that already? hmmmmm... I wonder how that worked out?

oh yeah!

prohibition made america more DANGEROUS by funding ORGANIZED CRIME and removing government regulation of the QUALITY of alcohol making it LESS safe. the same thing has happened with the prohibition of drugs.

prohibition is NEVER a way to protect citizens. it is a way for politicians to make citizens think they are protecting citizens while creating MORE problems that the government can then "protect" us from by demanding more money to "prevent" crime and increasing the punishments for victimless crimes.

also, cannabis could have decimated the tree pulp paper industry as well as the petro-chemical plastics and fuel industries, thus the government had to quickly demonize it to serve corporate interests.

Once again, you're building a strawman. Why don't you people learn how to actually debate? If you aren't going properly reply to my post, don't post at all. I only skimmed your response and didn't fully read it because you're just fueling the strawman that the previous person built which has nothing to do with what I actually posted.

Does saying the term strawman make you feel special? By the way you might want to look up the term if you want to sound smart.

 

[ebaycj]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
The next thing you know, they will want to legalize cocaine. :roll:

Legalizing pot will not get rid of the gangsters or the underworld. They will always have something illegal to deal in, unfortunately. I agree with the comparisons to prohibition, however legalizing pot will only mitigate the problem; there are too many other drugs out there, and they are way too dangerous to be legalized IMO.

You're also ignoring the fact that by legalizing pot, you make it more accessible, and more people will wind up using it because it's legal.

Here in Canada we have legalized possession and medical marijuana. My neighbors on both sides of me smoke chronically to the point that I cannot enjoy my beautiful patio. We are moving next month, partially because of it. At least if they were drunks I could enjoy my patio without having to smell their fumes.

Time to call the whaaaaambulance.