Congress to increase penalties for marijuana-related offenses

marijuana.com ^ | 11.20.03 | Steve Fox

[freepatriot32]

Can you imagine a bill that intentionally forces marijuana users to inhale a greater amount of tar and carbon monoxide? What about a bill that dramatically increases penalties on medical marijuana providers who develop high-quality strains of marijuana for seriously ill patients?

The Drug Sentencing Reform Act, scheduled to be introduced by U.S. Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) within the next few days, would accomplish these "goals." Please call your U.S. representative today and urge him or her not to cosponsor this bill. See below for details about how to do this.

While the most prominent objective of this bill is to ensure that individuals convicted of drug-related offenses in federal court receive the longest possible prison sentences, the bill would also -- for the first time in history -- increase penalties for marijuana producers based on THC levels. For example, under the provisions of this bill, a medical marijuana provider in California convicted in federal court for possession of just 33 plants with a THC content of between 13 and 25 percent would be sentenced "to a term of imprisonment which may not be less than 5 years." Previously, a 5-year mandatory minimum applied to the possession of more than 100 plants.

By dramatically increasing penalties on the distribution of marijuana with higher THC content, this bill would ensure that lower-quality marijuana is sold to children (and adults, of course). This will not decrease the number of Americans smoking marijuana; it will simply increase the amount of tar and carbon monoxide inhaled by Americans while they are smoking.

Members of Congress must understand that their constituents support harm reduction policies, not harm exacerbation policies.

Please call your U.S. representative toll-free by using the Capitol Switchboard at 800-839-5276. This switchboard operates 24 hours a day. So if you are inspired to call after normal business hours, the operator will transfer you to your U.S. representative's office and you can leave a voice mail message. Of course, calling during business hours is preferable.

Here is a sample script for you to use when you call:

"Hello, my name is ______________ and I live in ______________. I am calling to urge Representative __________________ not to cosponsor the Drug Sentencing Reform Act being introduced by Representative Souder [rhymes with powder]. This bill would dramatically increase penalties on individuals growing medical marijuana in accordance with state law. It would also ensure that smoking marijuana is even more harmful to children than it is under current law. This is not a bill that Representative ________ should support."

If you are not certain who your U.S. representative is, go to http://www.house.gov/writerep , enter your state and zip code (your five-digit zip should work), and click the "Contact My Representative" button. The name of your U.S. representative should appear on the next page.

As noted above, this bill is also designed to limit the ability of federal judges to reduce prison sentences for defendants convicted of drug-related offenses. For example, under the provisions of this bill, a judge would be prohibited from reducing a defendant's sentence based on family or community ties -- factors that could still be considered in non-drug-related cases.

The Marijuana Policy Project will be working with many other individuals and organizations to fight this bill. It will not be passed without a major fight. Thank you for doing your part to stop it.

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Please visit http://www.mpp.org/USA/donate.html or write to MPP, P.O. Box 77492, Washington, D.C. 20013 to donate to our lobbying work on Capitol Hill."

[freepatriot32]

Members of Congress must understand that their constituents support harm reduction policies, not harm exacerbation policies.

obviosly this author has never been on a drug war thread here on free republic ;-)

[CWOJackson]

"What about a bill that dramatically increases penalties on medical marijuana providers who develop high-quality strains of marijuana for seriously ill patients?"

I'm sure they are only developing more potent strains for medical purposes.

[freepatriot32]

ping

[eno_]

And your concern over this is based on... what? Do you believe blacks must be saved from malt liquor? Do you like the tobacco litigation? And how about those McD's frys?

Educate yourself about the real numbers in drug and alcohol abuse, and about other things addicts to like huffing gasoline and carpet cleaner before you accept legislation like this as desirable.

[CWOJackson]

LOL...thanks for the hysterics and the good laugh.

[waterstraat]

Our police made a million and a half drug arrests last year, while letting tens of thousands of robbers, murderers, rapists, etc drive by while they were busy with marijuanna smokers. Yet, they still had a few minutes left to go after some violent criminals.

If you want to prevent our cops from going after violent criminals completely, then this is the way to do it.

[Indie]

LEAP

The drug war is a failure. How many more lives have to be destroyed in the name of marijuana prohibition. Funny...the only lives marijuana has destroyed are at the hands of police, not the plant (unlike alcohol and tobacco.) When will the hypocrisy stop?!

[TheSpottedOwl]

Legalize the damn stuff.

[waterstraat]

The drug war has made the mafia rich. The drug war has given a product for them to sell, after they lost their market for illegal alcohol and gambling. Police, politicians, courts, attorneys, prisons, all profit by hundreds of billions of dollars from the drug war.

Meanwhile, drug use, and drug related crimes continue to increase, thousands of times the levels it was back in the year 1900 when all drugs in America were totally legal, and police spent all of their time persuing real criminals.

[lodwick]

bttt

[Soren]

These threads don't seem to generate the anti-drug vitriol they used to. Maybe I need to give it some more time..

[CWOJackson]

The defining thing is that a press release for marajuana.com isn't generating any freeper interest.

[Indie]

You'll find this funny regardless of your opinion on pot...I was BANNED from marijuana.com because they didn't seem to like my right-wing anti-reefer-mentality politics even though I am pro legalization. Everyone on that site was a liberal and despised a right winger asking them why all they ever did was bash Republicans and police officers when Klinton maintained and even increased the drug war! (That really made them mad! LOL) All I did was point out their stupidity and hypocrisy and they banned me. :)

[CWOJackson]

LOL! That is rich. They must be doing too much product testing...

[Indie]

This is an excerp from a news posting on their home page along with my reply!!!--->

"Reefer madness - like so many other problems - begins and ends with the Republican Party of the USA.]" (posted by zombie or some such idiot)

MY REPLY:
THIS type of incorrect attitude is what keeps conservative drug legalization proponents away from your site. It is pure horse****. The REPUBLICAN governor or NM is pro-legalization and so are many other republicans and right wing libertarians.
Klinton expanded and increased penalties for marijuana more than any other president and spent more on the drug war than any other president.
You folks even banned me for expressing that view here.
You are all intolerant and will NEVER see our dream realized if you always equate drug legalization with politics. You've got a lot of support on Free Republic but they don't take you seriously because the average mentality here is that of an uneducated stoned out 12 yr old.
And your mods are the same. Precisely why they banned me for simply expressing my opinion here even though I was on your side.
You folks are doomed to fail. I think you've lost way too many brain cells.

I THINK THIS MARIJUANA.COM SITE NEEDS TO BE FREEPED BAD BY PRO-LEGALIZATION CONSERVATIVES.

[rdb3]

I'm having more and more of a hard time with this one, so someone please show me where I'm wrong in my thinking.

Marijuana is a naturally occurring plant. One can dry it out and smoke it to get high, yet that does not take away from the fact that it is still a naturally occurring plant. If one can't patent a naturally occurring plant, why make that naturally occurring plant illegal?

Do not think that I'm in favor of drugs or a L(l)ibertarian because I'm not. But I just can't get my head around why marijuana is illegal since it is not necessarily synthesized like coke or heroin.

Where am I wrong in my thinking?

[eno_]

Maybe narcs and jackboot lickers have realized they are unwelcome... unwelcome here and unwelcome in society.

[unixfox]

How bout a bill that MANDATES every federal, state and local officials to take random drug tests?

Wonder how many would be left after that happened !!

[CWOJackson]

Yes, that would explain all the attention this thread is getting by the average freeper demanding death to the jackboots and legalization of drugs.

My Gosh...just look at how hugh this thread has become.

[Indie]

So why are conservatism and drug legalization inconsistent? They are not. Your sarcasm proves nothing. Why are you reading this thread if you are anti-marijuana? Sounds like we have the reverse situaution with the jokers at marijuana.com right here. Some things go beyond politics and apply to common sense and freedom. You don't have a clue why you are a reefer-madness person because you have been brainwashed by the very establishment (media et al) that you criticize at other times.