Watch the little tick-tock and don't pay
Posted on 06/23/2018 9:00:01 PM PDT by vannrox
Authored by Michael Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
Allowing government to arbitrarily determine which substances human beings can put into their own bodies is one of the most idiotic things a society can do. As such, its no surprise Congress is salivating at the prospect of furthering this travesty by giving additional discretion on the matter to drug war-crazed loon, Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Reason published an excellent article on the topic in yesterday’s piece: Congress Wants To Give Jeff Sessions Unprecedented New Drug War Powers.
Here are some key excerpts:
If you think the Department of Justice has more than enough tools to wage the war on drugs, a bill passed by the House would create a fast-track scheduling system that could lead to the criminalization of kratom, nootropics, and pretty much anything that gives you a buzz and isn’t already illegal.
The House of Representatives voted on Friday to create a new schedule of banned drugs under the Controlled Substances Act, called “Schedule A,” and to give Attorney General Jeff Sessions broad new powers to criminalize the manufacturing, importation, and sale of substances that are currently unregulated, but not illegal. The bill is now headed to the Senate, where co-sponsors Dianne Feinstein (D–Calif.) and Chuck Grassley (R–Iowa) will likely have little problem whipping votes.
The Stop the Importation and Trafficking of Synthetic Analogs Act, or SITSA, is intended to crack down on drugs that closely resemble currently banned or regulated substances in either their chemical structure or intended effects. SITSA would also empower the attorney general (A.G.) to add drugs to this new schedule with few checks from other branches of government...
While Department of Justice (DOJ) complaints about analogs aren’t new, the rise of fentanyl analogs have inspired Congress to act more aggressively and clumsily than usual. The Senate version of SITSA introduced by Feinstein and Grassley gives the attorney general unilateral and unchecked power to add a substance to Schedule A. It contains no congressional review provision and vests no authority in the Department of Health and Human Services to challenge the DOJ’s scheduling decision.
When SITSA came up for a vote in the House, the House Liberty Caucus released a statement condemning the decision to “cede more of Congress’s legislative authority to the Attorney General and grant the AG more power to fight the war on drugs, which has eroded federalism, eviscerated numerous individual rights, entrenched severe discrimination in our criminal justice system, and failed to meaningfully limit the proliferation of illicit drugs”...
Fans of the herbal opioid remedy kratom have expressed concerns about SITSA, as have nootropic users and research chemical enthusiasts. The combined vagueness and broadness of this bill should worry all of them. While the immediate justification for the bill is fentanyl, the legislation is so much broader than that. Were coffee and booze not historically entrenched in our culture, this bill would absolutely allow the DOJ to add both caffeine (as a stimulant) and alcohol (as a sedative) to Schedule A of the Controlled Substances Act.
Two major points I want to make on this beyond the obvious.
First, the failed drug war perfectly demonstrates why most things should be decided at the state/local level. Since Colorado and Washington led the charge in 2012, seven other states (plus D.C.) have legalized recreational cannabis. All the while, Congress has been an absolute zero on the topic, and is now trying to make the situation worse and more arbitrary with this crazy SITSA bill.
Second, I’m sure you noticed senior Democrat Dianne Feinstein is a leading sponsor of this nonsense in the Senate. It’s good to know Jeff Sessions is so terrible (and he is) that some Democrats are working tirelessly to empower him in yet another irresponsible way.
Drumpf's crazy. A maniac. Horrible. Hates children. Let's give him a massively bigger military budget to attack more people who haven't attacked us.
Sessions is awful. Horible. The worst. Let's give him more power to put people in jail for using things less dangerous than booze — Rudolf E. Havenstein (@RudyHavenstein) June 21, 2018
You can't trust Trump. He's a Nazi. Let's give him more massive surveillance powers. — Rudolf E. Havenstein (@RudyHavenstein) June 21, 2018
Welcome to “The Resistance™”
* * *
After Trump signs the legalization of recreational pot, 2020 will be a 40-state romp.
Can we have Mueller and Rosenstein declared “controlled substances”? Then Sessions could ban them.
sessions is so high hillary is not in prison
We’ll be saying to each other “What happened to the Keebler elf?”
“Designer drugs” should be at as much risk as nature’s.
Sessions is a good man and I trust him. Others, however. would likely be poliitically influenced.
Not an easy amswer to attempts to addict here.
In principle I don't argue with that, but if to uphold that notion is to render wrongheaded the institution of making medical drugs available by prescription only. Which might or might not be a good thing.
The problem arises when you bring your own body to the emergency room after experimenting with bath salts.
“Can we have Mueller and Rosenstein declared “controlled substances”? Then Sessions could ban them.”
Hilarious.
Well so much for testosterone, that'll be first on his list.
A little off topic, but just a little. “Cool Fact” daily in my newspaper- today’s is: Ferret means “little thief” and a group of them is called a “Business”.
Mr. Magoo
The Keebler Elf
Granny from Beverly Hillbillies (My favorite)
Just my opinion but it’s looking like Sessions is about to ABRUPTLY run out of road.
A “business” — that’s a new one. Who comes up with these?
Do you know what a group of Pelicans is called?
For Trump to sign something like that, it’d have to pass the house and the senate. Since not even house members of the large states which has legalized the recreational use have even proposed legalization on the federal level, I sincerely doubt that Trump will be signing anything like that before 2020.
Honestly, I really expect this to go through SCOTUS and for them to find for the states. SCOTUS, writing legislation that congress is afraid to do...
**to arbitrarily determine which substances human beings can put into their own bodies**
go ahead. Kill the eels. Meanies. :p
...better stock up on Diet Coke and tea.
And coffee!
And that’s funny right there! Ha!
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