# Members of Congress demand an end



## LowRider (Jul 30, 2008)

hxxp://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/30/frank.marijuana/#cnnSTCVideo

Source Norml.org

July 30, 2008, Washington, D.C,: Today something rather historic on a number of counts occurred in the nations capital. Firstly, Congress is for the first time in a generation (1978) taking a serious look at reforming components of cannabis prohibition laws. In todays Congress, the support of the Congressional Black Caucus is pivotal to passing any substantive cannabis law reform. So I was so very heartened that Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and William Lacy Clay (D-MO) joined us on this very hot and oppressively humid day in DC, along with the always jocose Barney Frank (D-MA), the bills primary sponsor (along with Rep. Ron Paul, R-TX).

Second, the media attending todays press conference on HR 5843, a bill that would decriminalize marijuana possession and use for responsible adults, fairly captured the events narrative, i.e., it makes no sense to treat cannabis consumers like criminals and why not start controlling cannabis in the same way society (and government agencies) already control alcohol products? with no double entendre or goofy stoner stupidisms. You can view a CNN video of the press conference here. Also, you can check out some YouTube footage here of my opening remarks.

Bill Piper from the Drug Policy Alliance spoke about the collateral effects that happen to citizens arrested for minor amounts of cannabis including, but not limited to: loss of student loans; denial to public housing, food stamps and job training; and denial of entry into the military and some government service jobs.

Rob Kampia from the Marijuana Policy Project discussed the broader implications of the federal government passing decriminalization legislation and how it could affect state efforts to reform cannabis laws, notably this Novembers decriminalization initiative on the ballot in Massachusetts.

As has been noted by others who attended todays press conference, there was a certain air of desperation coming from the part of the government who is responsible for supposedly controlling currently illicit drugs. The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)chief propagandist David Murray attended the press conference, making himself available for questions afterwards and handing out his latest anti-cannabis handywork, and he seemed absolutely befuddled that anyone on the face of the planet could possibly compare cannabis and alcohol policies, and that there is no such thing as the responsible use of cannabis. Period. Even for medical purposes with a physicians recommendation. Period.

Wow. Can you say, flat earth?

Indeed, there is much work to be done in cannabis law reform in the Executive Branch (which, astonishingly, is where ONDCP resides) and so-called anti-drug agencies. The tale Hercules and the cleansing of the Augean stables immediately comes to mind

As Chairman Frank noted in his prepared remarks, HR 5843 (and similar legislation HR 5842, which regards medical marijuana rescheduling) are not likely to come a full committee for vote until well into 2009. Given this candid assessment by Rep. Frank, for NORML members and advocates of cannabis law reform, there are still important phases that we can all help accomplish that will hasten passage of these important and reform-minded bills.

Rep. Frank and the other current co-sponsors of HR 5843 will be sending around a Dear Colleague letter soon encouraging other members of the House to join them early on in support of their bill for the decriminalization of cannabis for responsible adult use and, therefore, like all legislation in the Congress, the more co-sponsors of a legislative bill, the better chance the bills chance of passage.

With the change of presidency in the wings and a likely increase in the number of Democratic members being elected to the House of Representatives, NORMLs expectations for HR 5843 is for there to be both subcommittee and full committee votes on Judiciary regarding this important legislation late into 2009.

Importantly, NORML members and advocates of cannabis law reform, for the next six months, need to truly concentrate their advocacy efforts on actively recruiting each of our elected members of Congress to become co-sponsors of HR 5843. Of the many lobbying and advocacy efforts one can employ to advance cannabis law reforms in America, getting a federal cannabis decriminalization bill passed and signed into law is the single most politically achievable public policy advance that is likely to happen in Congress in the next few years.

As our democracy prescribes, states will continue to largely serve as the catalyst of change and innovation in public policy making regarding cannabis, and this is very likely going to continue to happen with more and more municipalities and states passing progressive cannabis lawsat some point, ultimately, positively affecting the federal government.

At least that is how it is supposed to work, right?

Stay tuned to NORML!

FYI: CNN is running a one-day online poll asking about citizen support for legalizing cannabis, the current tally midday today is 65% in favor, 35% against. Take the survey ASAP at cnn.com, lower right-hand corner of their page


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## slowmo77 (Jul 30, 2008)

From NORML.ORG: 
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/*[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Members of Congress Demand An End To Pot Possession Arrests[/FONT]* 
Wednesday, July 30, 2008: At a press conference held this morning, members of Congress called on their fellow lawmakers to remove all federal penalties that criminalize the possession and use of marijuana by adults. 
To those who say that the government should not be encouraging the smoking of marijuana, my response is that I completely agree, said Representative Barney Frank (D-MA). But it is a great mistake to divide all human activity into two categories: those that are criminally prohibited, and those that are encouraged. In a free society, there must be a very considerable zone of activity between those two poles in which people are allowed to make their own choices as long as they are not impinging on the rights, freedom, or property of others. I believe  criminalizing choices that adults make because we think they are unwise ones, when the choices involved have no negative effect on the rights of others, is not appropriate in a free society.
Rep. Frank, along with co-sponsors Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Lacy Clay (D-MO), urged lawmakers to support HR 5843, An Act To Remove Federal Penalties for the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults, which would eliminate federal penalties for possession of up to 100 grams of marijuana, and for the not-for-profit transfer of up to one ounce of marijuana. Other co-sponsors of the measure include Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI); Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR); Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA); Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX).
This proposal reflects the basic recommendations of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse (aka the Shafer Commission) in its groundbreaking report to Congress in 1972 titled Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the responsible use of marijuana by adults and this should be of no interest or concern to the government, said NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre. It makes no sense to continue to treat nearly half of all Americans as criminals.  I am a 43-year-old man, a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, I pay my taxes and, like millions of other Americans, I occasionally smoke marijuana. I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would wish to treat me like a criminal, based on my responsible use of marijuana. It is time we stopped arresting responsible marijuana smokers, and HR 5843 would do that under federal law.
This is the first federal marijuana decriminalization bill to be introduced in Congress since 1978, and reflects the changing public attitudes that no longer support treating responsible marijuana smokers like criminals. According to a nationwide Time/CNN poll, three out of four Americans now favor a fine only, and no jail, for adults who possess or use small amounts of marijuana.
Each year in this country we arrest more and more of our citizens on marijuana charges. In 2006, the last year for which the data are available, we arrested 830,000 Americans on marijuana charges, and 88 percent of those arrests were for personal possession and use, not trafficking. They were otherwise law-abiding citizens who smoke marijuana.
Since 1965, a total of nearly 20 million Americans - predominantly young people under the age of 30 -- have been arrested on marijuana charges; more than 11 million marijuana arrests just since 1990. 
Currently 47 percent of all drug arrests in this country are for marijuana, and another marijuana smoker is arrested every 38 seconds. Police arrest more people on marijuana charges each year than the total number of arrestees for all violent crimes combined, including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
As President Jimmy Carter said in a message to Congress in 1977, Penalties against drug use should not be more damaging to the individual than the use of the drug itself. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against the possession of marijuana in private for personal use.


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## bigbudz (Jul 30, 2008)

GMTA! I just read this article on AOL, and was about to post it on here! You beat me to it! Great read, all I can say is, it's about time!


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## slowmo77 (Jul 30, 2008)

ya. its nice to see people standing up for this. it was emailed to me and i was surprised that fruity bud didn't have it on here yet. normaly he has the news up before i see it anywhere else.


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## LowRider (Jul 30, 2008)

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29301

a few posts down.  this has already been posted


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## slowmo77 (Jul 30, 2008)

i don't know how i missed that.. my bad if the mods will delete this one that would be great. no sense havin them both. sorry lowrider didn't see where you had posted it. my bad


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## Hick (Jul 31, 2008)

slowmo77 said:
			
		

> i don't know how i missed that.. my bad if the mods will delete this one that would be great. no sense havin them both. sorry lowrider didn't see where you had posted it. my bad



How 'bout this??  we "merge" the two threads


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## city (Jul 31, 2008)

OMG! i had no idea that this was even going on. i presonally believe that this bill should pass. i also feel that this should be a state issue not a fed. one.
 THANKS FOR POSTING THIS!!!


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## slowmo77 (Jul 31, 2008)

that will work. thanks Hick


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## Puffin Afatty (Jul 31, 2008)

* :aok: It's about time the powers-that-be figgered this out.  Carter said it best, it's simply ridiculous when the Law does more damage than that which it prohibits *


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jul 31, 2008)

city said:
			
		

> OMG! i had no idea that this was even going on. i presonally believe that this bill should pass. i also feel that this should be a state issue not a fed. one.
> THANKS FOR POSTING THIS!!!



IMHO, this shouldn't be an "issue" anywhere.  I live in one of those backward states that will probably never (in my lifetime) decriminalize or legalize the use of marijuana, even for medical reasons.


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## Anarchist_UK (Jul 31, 2008)

wonder if this will start to push a UK reform...


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## LowRider (Jul 31, 2008)

wounder when they will set to have this debated?  Makes me envy with anticipation.  Hopefully this gets passed.  still makes me wounder about the supply of cannabis.  i mean i know it won't make it legal to grow/sell so i guess in a sense we will still be criminals or at-least some.

PS:  the POLL is over if your wondering.  It only lasted till the end of the day.  The last i checked it was at 66 to 34 with us in the top spot of course


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## Megatron (Jul 31, 2008)

nothing on CNN.com


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## slowmo77 (Jul 31, 2008)

i wonder what the total vote count was on CNN


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## Megatron (Jul 31, 2008)

Cnn is a joke. There is so much crap on their site.. I'm sure it's in the archives somewhere.


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## Megatron (Jul 31, 2008)

hxxp://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewadditionalresource.asp?resourceID=193

This is the only link I can find on this poll that CNN posted. I simply did a search on the CNN site.. 
I also did a google search, and found nothing. Other than other MJ sites saying the same thing about the poll


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## The Hemp Goddess (Jul 31, 2008)

LowRider said:
			
		

> wounder when they will set to have this debated?  Makes me envy with anticipation.  Hopefully this gets passed.  still makes me wounder about the supply of cannabis.  i mean i know it won't make it legal to grow/sell so i guess in a sense we will still be criminals or at-least some.
> 
> PS:  the POLL is over if your wondering.  It only lasted till the end of the day.  The last i checked it was at 66 to 34 with us in the top spot of course



Actually, I believe that individuals would be able to grow a certain number of plants, but not sell for profit--much like the laws regulating alcohol.


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## LowRider (Aug 1, 2008)

The Hemp Goddess said:
			
		

> Actually, I believe that individuals would be able to grow a certain number of plants, but not sell for profit--much like the laws regulating alcohol.


 
did some digging and all i found was that it doesn't cover that aspect.  so it seems it might have to go through the court system in order to get resolve or more legislation.


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## Dubbaman (Aug 1, 2008)

The Hemp Goddess said:
			
		

> Actually, I believe that individuals would be able to grow a certain number of plants, but not sell for profit--much like the laws regulating alcohol.





			
				LowRider said:
			
		

> did some digging and all i found was that it doesn't cover that aspect. so it seems it might have to go through the court system in order to get resolve or more legislation.


 
It doesnt cover any growing in HR 5843, but this bill if passed along with HR5842 would. In Hr 5842 they talk more of how it is to follow federal laws for using adults but goes into grater depth about med patients and growing for use. So in effect both bills need to be passed for all to be well federally, but with decriminalization at a fed leval states could decide on how much can be grown legally on a state by state basis,IMO they all need to follow Humboldt Co.s rules on the matter


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## city (Aug 1, 2008)

Too many things in common here HEMP G.  i thinks we live in the same state.... there has been 2 city's here that have voted and passed legalizing MJ but the feds still over rule


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