Posted on 12/16/2017 6:32:14 AM PST by Kaslin
Congress is ending the year with battles over tax reform and how to fund the government into next year. Another battle being fought is over the future of medical marijuana in America.
The Justice Department is working overtime to remove a restriction in current law that prevents the federal government from prosecuting medical marijuana businesses in states where it has been made legal. The problem is that if the Department of Justice is successful, it would undermine a number of promises that President Donald J. Trump made on the campaign trail.
A coalition of federalist-minded conservatives and libertarians have voiced strong support for the restriction that has been in existence since 2014 when Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) offered a bipartisan amendment to defund the power of the Justice Department to prosecute medical marijuana states. Since 2014, a funding rider has been included in every appropriations bill defunding any effort by the federal government to use Justice Department resources to effectively overturn state laws permitting medical marijuana use.
It seems that Trump’s own Justice Department has forgotten the repeated promises that candidate Donald J. Trump made on the campaign trail. According to a Fox News transcript posted on February 11, 2016 from the O’Reilly Factor, Trump said about medical marijuana “I’m in favor of it a hundred percent.”
And that was not the only time.
There are numerous other examples of candidate Trump promising to protect states that have allowed medical marijuana. PolitiFacts brought up three examples.
On July 29, 2016, Trump said: "I wouldn’t do that [using federal authority to shut down recreational marijuana], no … I wouldn’t do that … I think it’s up to the states, yeah. I’m a states person. I think it should be up to the states, absolutely."
On March 8, 2016, Trump said: "I think it certainly has to be a state — I have not smoked it — it’s got to be a state decision … I do like it, you know, from a medical standpoint … it does do pretty good things. But from the other standpoint, I think that it should be up to the states."
And Oct. 29, 2015, Trump said: "The marijuana thing is such a big thing. I think medical should happen — right? Don’t we agree? I think so. And then I really believe we should leave it up to the states. It should be a state situation ... but I believe that the legalization of marijuana – other than for medical because I think medical, you know I know people that are very, very sick and for whatever reason the marijuana really helps them - … but in terms of marijuana and legalization, I think that should be a state issue, state-by-state."
Those promises continued after Trump was sworn in as president. The New York Times reported that in February of this year Trump’s spokesman said “the president understands the pain and suffering that many people go through who are facing especially terminal diseases and the comfort these drugs, including medical marijuana, can bring them.” How is it possible that Trump’s own Justice Department can engage in an aggressive effort to undermine these promises?
The Washington Post reported on June 13, 2017, that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has personally lobbied Congress to let him prosecute medical marijuana providers.The Post reported on a letter Sessions sent to Congress in May requesting that they block a vote on the “Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment” that specifically protects the “use, distribution, possession or cultivation” of medical marijuana. The Republican leaders of the House listened and blocked consideration of the amendment during the appropriations process earlier this year.In the Senate, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) was successful in attaching the language to the Senate version of the appropriations bill. The end of year spending bill is expected to resolve the House and Senate language on this subject later this month.
The libertarian group Free the People has activated to educate voters that Trump’s own Justice Department is trying to undermine a campaign promise. There is a strong possibility that Sessions, not President Trump, wins on this issue if this issue is buried in a year-end spending bill with no opportunity for members to force a vote on the specific issue of the funding rider. Leaders in Congress will end up drafting up a year-end spending bill behind closed doors and many worry that this will not contain the Leahy-Rohrabacher language.
President Trump has been a promise keeper as president. He has worked hard to keep promise after promise from pushing a tax cut to nominating Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. It is tough to understand how his own Attorney General has been allowed to undermine his numerous promises to allow states that have passed laws to allow medical marijuana.
Yep, that too.
That’s true
If you have a card in Michigan as a patient or provider
You can be charged
It’s discretionary
Michigan marijuana governing commission
Three out of Five members are law enforcement
JMHO.....give it at most two decades to get there.
Furthermore, if you are a rec or med pot user and a hazard prompts a loss and consequent claim under a homeowners policy, you will be denied coverage.
How do I know? “I know things.”
Those who grow or use marijuana should be very, very wary of the corner you’re painting yourselves into by believing the hyperbole under which you are now “legal.”
Insofar as this article is concerned, I simultaneously-object to the reckless manner in which it has been “legalized” and the fact that the “War on Drugs” is used to fuel “the machine” at the public’s expense. I don’t know what the solution is, but it should either be regulated like alcohol nationwide (another bone of contention) or NOT...certainly not this patchwork BS which has created its own hazards (banking problems, proliferating illegal interstate trade, insurance problems, road safety problems due to lack of testing, etc.)...
But when you go to buy a gun from an FFL (Nics) and if the state has told the Feds you have a medical marijuana prescription. You immediately are disapproved from your purchase
Because he thinks when it comes to "medical weed", one should be able to self-diagnose and self-medicate with no strings attached....
Because of GOVT, We are no longer a PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY Nation (not prosecuting based on HARM & govt being the biggest abuser of Rights).
Yet, FR seem to enjoy ‘debating’ from the Socialist talking-points. The issue is moot. Get Fedzilla back to its A1S8 size, THEN see what points need hammering out.
Trump’s own Justice Department? That's funny!
Trump's Justice Department's primary mission is to undermine the President at any and every opportunity. Pursuing the politically unpopular policy of cracking down on state-enacted marijuana decriminalization efforts is consistent with Justice's efforts to hobble President Trump.
I started investing in medical marijuana stocks in July. The four companies in that sector I’m still holding are up 14.4%, 23.6%, 31.3% and 186.1% respectively. I could show larger gains but I’ve been adding to the pile along the way and I cashed out early on a couple of big gainers. I don’t think the feds will go after medical MJ.
Thanks for the clarification. :)
“The hope is these ghouls who are against medical marijuana wake up someday screaming for the relief it can bring.”
In my experience, many anti-cannabis folks would let themselves die before they would ever consider using the “devil’s lettuce”.
That said, I expect many current prohibitionists will one day be thankful medical marijuana exists. Either for themselves or a suffering loved one.
While I don't smoke or vape marijuana, CBD oil is about the only thing that relieves the severe pain of my neuropathy as a result of the Ankylosing Spondylitis I have.
Neurontin, Lyrica and other drugs haven't worked. My own doctor describes me as non-responsive to traditional treatments for neuropathy. CBD oil which is an extract of the marijuana plant and does NOT contain THC or anything that would make me "high" is the only thing that's given me any relief in the past year.
If this gets taken away I really don't know what I'm going to do.
I have a friend who opened a pot shop after state legalization of retail sales here. Now, pot has been legal to grow and possess for personal use in this state since 1975, but legal commercial production and retail sales was just enacted by initiative two years ago. It took 18 months to jump through all the hoops to open a store; lots of roadblocks at the state and local levels.
Now, the banks will not do business with this entrepreneur friend of mine. He has to do everything with cash. Try that sometime. No personal checks, no electronic transfers, no credit cards. Hard enough in your personal life. Think about paying suppliers, facility rent, utilities and payroll without a bank account. In order to get inventory my friend has to fly to the supplier with a sack full of cash and return with a carry on full of pot. (Reports no problems with TSA)
Nevertheless, the business is booming in this little island town that boasts a population which, they tell me, is nearly half senior citizens over the age of 65. Dire predictions of increased crime and pot zombies roaming main street have not materialized.
California still busts unlicensed growers, in fact they rolled up a multi-million dollar grow operation in southern California this week.
This will likely continue after recreational weed becomes legal in CA couple of weeks from now, as the marijuana subculture rejects the taxing authority of the state.
“Because he thinks when it comes to “medical weed”, one should be able to self-diagnose and self-medicate with no strings attached....”
In other words, he wants potheads to run free.
= Dead Head Nation
The caffeine hadn’t taken effect yet when I submitted that reply, so I didn’t have the presence of mind to edit it and make my intention more clear. Thanks for giving me the chance to clarify! :)
If you’re performing during worship at your church tomorrow, have fun, my good FRiend.
I am & I will, thanks!
Peace :)
Why is Brian Darling so concerned about marijuana?
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