Posted on 06/13/2017 9:50:21 AM PDT by Drew68
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is asking congressional leaders to undo federal medical marijuana protections that have been in place since 2014, according to a May letter that became public Monday.
The protections, known as the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, prohibit the Justice Department from using federal funds to prevent certain states "from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana."
In his letter, first obtained by Tom Angell of Massroots.com and verified independently by The Washington Post, Sessions argued that the amendment would "inhibit [the Justice Department's] authority to enforce the Controlled Substances Act." He continues:
I believe it would be unwise for Congress to restrict the discretion of the Department to fund particular prosecutions, particularly in the midst of an historic drug epidemic and potentially long-term uptick in violent crime. The Department must be in a position to use all laws available to combat the transnational drug organizations and dangerous drug traffickers who threaten American lives.
Sessions's citing of a "historic drug epidemic" to justify a crackdown on medical marijuana is at odds with what researchers know about current drug use and abuse in the United States. The epidemic Sessions refers to involves deadly opiate drugs, not marijuana. A growing body of research (acknowledged by the National Institute on Drug Abuse) has shown that opiate deaths and overdoses actually decrease in states with medical marijuana laws on the books.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I guess you've never interacted with very many alcoholics.
I've seen alcohol ruin the lives of many people close to me. That doesn't mean that I favor the knee-jerk, nanny state solution of bringing back Prohibition.
I am no longer surprised. When I witness people say they are for states' rights & less government, but for the prohibition of marijuana, I just call them how I see them - they are liars.
As a chronic pain patient (I have psoriatic arthritis and a spinal defect that has my spine sitting 25 degrees left of center), marijuana does not work for me and I hate how it makes me feel. I use opiates to control my pain and they work just fine. I resent the Fed getting in between my doctor and me on this issue. They can go after illegal distribution all they want, but please leave the rest of us who use these drugs responsibly, alone.
It goes to an old maxim of mine - too many people are in favor of limited government until it limits something they want government to be doing.
As for the matter itself, Congress has plenty of ways to react. It can express that it wants the DoJ to ignore the law, or it can change the law, or it can give him what he has asked for. I see this a justified pressure on Congress. People should not have a risk of federal prosecution hanging over their heads. One way to get rid of the risk, is to promise to enforce the law.
That's pretty much where I am on this. I'm not a big fan of it, or any drug really, but it's really an issue that should be handled by the states. I'm sure you've noticed that we don't seem to have a big problem with the Budweiser, Miller, and Coors distributors shooting it out for rights to territory. It is the law that creates the vast majority of criminality that goes along with drug distribution pretty much across the entire globe. Personally, I think all drugs ought to be legal. I'd suspect some of the biggest opponents to legalization of any drug right now would have to be the various cartels that are making a killing (literally) from the fact that they are illegal.
Seems like a waste of time when so many guilty as sin democrats are running around free as birds. Mr. Sessions, please spend your time going after the Clintons, Obama, Lynch, and all the media who are just as guilty. Do your damn job and don’t you dare recuse yourself from anything ever again. That was just stupid.
Could be. If not, Trump needs to rein Sessions in or cut him loose - overriding state marijuana policies is a loser philosophically, practically, and politically.
We did during Prohibition.
I don't think anyone can reasonably claim that medical use of marijuana is greater than recreational use, but then again, who really cares? I sure as heck don't. The 'drug war' has been far more destructive to our liberties than any possible consequence of legalizing it.
If I wanted to smoke pot, I'd have no trouble whatsoever getting past the laws that ban it. I recall in my younger days that it was easier to get than alcohol for those underage to legally drink. The thing that keeps me from pot, coke, or any other drug of this nature is a lack of desire to do it in the first place, not some stupid law that I have no respect for.
And the perfectly legal cartels (corporations) that push to keep illegal the same substances they develop artificial or altered versions of so they then sell & make all the money for themselves.
Youth nationwide have been reporting the same thing for years.
Bears repeating.
I don’t use it all anymore and dont care for the effects but personally know a lot of evil forty-something gen x’ers who are wealthy, very productive, and extremely conservative on most issues who would sit out the next election over something like this.
We did during Prohibition.
That is exactly my point.
But have you had sex with a negro jazz musician? Because that's next on that list.
“But have you had sex with a negro jazz musician? Because that’s next on that list.”
LMAO!!!
Glad I wasn’t drinking a beverage when I read that or you would owe me a keyboard, FRiend. Too funny! :)
But seriously, I wonder if Sessions is just playing a Washington game here. He gets to be on record that he’s tough on pot, but can point to congress as the reason he doesn’t do actually do anything about it.
My thinking is Sessions just abhors cannabis & folks that use it. He’s a true believer in “reefer madness”, IMO.
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