Posted on 04/01/2022 3:23:49 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Marijuana would be decriminalized at the federal level under legislation the House approved Friday as Democrats made the case for allowing states to set their own policies on pot.
The bill is unlikely to become law since it is expected to die in the Senate. That would mirror what happened when a similar House-passed measure removing marijuana from the list of federally-controlled substances went nowhere in the Senate two years ago.
Still, Friday’s vote gave lawmakers the chance to state their view on a decriminalization push that appears to have broad support with voters across the country.
The 2020 election showed how broadly accepted marijuana has become, with measures to legalize recreational pot breezing to victory in progressive New Jersey, moderate Arizona and conservative Montana and South Dakota.
The House approved the bill Friday with a mostly party-line vote of 220-204. All but two voting Democrats backed the measure, while only three Republicans did.
The measure would require federal courts to expunge prior marijuana convictions and conduct resentencing hearings for those completing their sentences. It also authorizes a 5% tax on marijuana and marijuana products that would gradually increase to 8% over five years. The money would be used for grant programs focused on job training, legal aid, substance abuse treatment and loans to help disadvantaged small businesses get into the marijuana industry.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Funny..
I don’t see anywhere in the constitution that grants the fed the right to criminalize pot...
Meanwhile, the Feds have anti-tobacco ads on TV, but pot is OK...
I don't see anywhere in the Constitution that grants the Federal Government the right to do 99% of what they do.
Perhaps that's just me.
For the life of me I can’t understand why people get so emotional over this issue, either way.
The stuff is nearly ubiquitous in every county of the nation.
It would at least suggest a level of sanity if the Federal and State laws were complementary. The fact that some States allow behavior that is explicitly disallowed by the Feds shows that our system is completely screwed up and beyond repair.
If the law means something, maybe the government will stop doing most of what they do because it’s illegal.
It'll happen eventually but if the GOP takes the House this year, it'll be a while.
F&$# potheads.
I’d rather smoke a joint than take the COVID “vaccine”
They should legalize, make mandatory all drugs for a more complacent and easy to control populace.
I don’t see anywhere in the constitution that grants the fed the right to criminalize pot...
Marijuana (or marihuana as it was spelled then) was ‘outlawed’ in 1937. But it wasn’t really outlawed, Congress used its power to tax it—and then refused to sell the tax stamps required to legally possess it. They sort of did the same thing with ‘silencers’, sawed-off shotguns, machine guns, sub machine guns and other weapons by imposing a very high (for the time) tax of $200 per item.
But by the 1970s Congress somehow had the power to outlaw things outright. Someone with more knowledge than I might want to trace how and when Congress and the Federal government acquired this power.
I heard Schumer, several months ago, say that he was “going to make it happen”. This is yet another “kiss” to their young, moronic, indoctrinated base, and a prelude to an American Weimar Republic. As usual, if they keep their idiotic constituency fat, drunk, doped, and happy, they’ll continue to vote leftist.
That’s why the Left is very eager to get pot legalized.
The Federal Gov should have no say.
Paul, absolutly.
Yeah, it is everywhere, either legally or not.
What’s needed, and what may be coming, is to allow legal pot dispensaries access to the banking system. Right now it’s a cash only business even in states where it’s legal, and there’s been a large number of violent armed robberies of dispensaries.
The Fed Gubmint either needs to shut down all pot dispensaries in accordance with Fed law and be done with it, or allow common sense banking access. Halfway measures aren’t cutting it.
Dood? Ya got any muncheeZ? I’m having a powerful craving for some.
We used to have these debates, and a common argument was that a government that can tell you what you can't put in your body is a government that will tell you what you must put in your body.
The Utopian Prohibitionists used to laugh at that argument, but with Covid, here we are...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.