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Dem whip Hoyer: Keep pot illegal
The Hill ^ | 1/11/14 | Mike Lillis

Posted on 01/12/2014 10:49:32 AM PST by Libloather

Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer (D) this week said he's opposed to laws legalizing marijuana.

While Maryland legislators are expected to take up several proposals to legalize the drug this year, the Democratic minority whip said he's concerned it’s a gateway to harsher narcotics.

"I'm not a proponent of the legalization of marijuana," Hoyer said Thursday during a taping of C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" program, which will air Sunday.

The position puts Hoyer on the same page as Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), but at odds with a recent shift in public opinion.

O'Malley said earlier in the week that he's "not much in favor" of the legalization proposals members of the state's General Assembly plan to introduce in both chambers this year.

“I’ve seen what drug addiction has done to the people of our state and the people of our city,” O'Malley said Wednesday in an interview with Baltimore's WEAA radio station.

Public sentiment, meanwhile, has shifted sharply in favor of legalization in recent years. A CNN/Opinion Research poll released Monday found that 55 percent of Americans support the move to legalize the drug — up 12 points from 2012 and 39 points from 25 years ago.

A Gallup poll released in October put the level of support at 58 percent.

Interest in decriminalizing marijuana has skyrocketed since voters in Colorado and Washington state voted last year to legalize the drug for recreational use.

While marijuana remains illegal under federal law, the Justice Department announced last year that it wouldn’t attempt to block state efforts to legalize it. Colorado venders began selling it openly on Jan. 1.

"By regulating marijuana like alcohol, Colorado voters hope to reduce crime and keep marijuana away from kids," Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) said as the sales began.

Along with Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Polis has sponsored legislation to eliminate the federal laws criminalizing the drug.

At least 18 other states and Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana to some extent, though most of those laws relate to the treatment of medical conditions and require a doctor's prescription.

Hoyer this week noted that a former Baltimore mayor, Kurt Schmoke, had advocated for legalizing pot several decades ago. Hoyer said he supported that move at the time, but has since changed his tune based on his discussions with drug-treatment experts.

"My initial reaction was a positive one," Hoyer said. "Then as I talked to people who deal with drug abuse issues, with rehabilitation issues, I became convinced that marijuana was, in fact, a threshold drug and that it would lead to the use of harder, very harmful drugs.".


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; US: Maryland
KEYWORDS: 113th; hoyer; illegal; pot; potheads; rat; weed
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To: chris37
But the powers that be want to keep it illegal. That keeps it's growing, harvesting,sale, distribution and profiting squarely in the hands of criminals. And of course it keeps the cops and the courts and the rehabs in business too. garbage in... garbage out. I once asked a ''prohibitionist'' "Why do you suppose drugs are so readily available to kids?'' He couldn't answer. I said "Could it be because drug dealers don't ask for id'?'' All I got from him was the deer-in-the-headlight look.
121 posted on 01/12/2014 7:06:40 PM PST by jmacusa ("Chasing God out of the classroom didn't usher in The Age of Reason''.)
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To: Eva
Well, the news, today, was that the Mexican drug cartel had moved right into run legal marijuana stores in Colorado. So, instead of reducing crime, it appears that legalization, along with lax immigration has invited the criminal element from Mexico right into our own communities. What will be next?

I call BS. Let's see a link.

122 posted on 01/12/2014 7:30:08 PM PST by Ken H (What happens on the internet, stays on the internet.)
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To: jmacusa

But you know what my theory is on why the powers that be may be changing their minds on that?

I suspect they think that it aids them in their brainwashing people with socialist/ communist ideas, and I might even be inclined to believe that’s true. But I have seen evidence that this is not the rule.

I think what it might to is make one generally more open minded to any ideas that may be present at the time, and in the case of this country, almost all media and education is oriented towards communism, thus people being high may allow that ideology to take root faster.

Many years ago early on in my life I used to get high quite often, and many times I would listen to Rush Limbaugh while high, and he most certainly convinced me that his way of thinking was correct. It just kinda’ worked its way right on there and took hold and made sense to me.

Anyway, just my theory on that.


123 posted on 01/12/2014 7:36:40 PM PST by chris37 (Heartless.)
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To: Ken H

Expected to happen, but not yet proven:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/11/colorado-pot-shops-likely-targets-cartels-say-experts/


124 posted on 01/12/2014 7:37:41 PM PST by ConservativeMind ("Humane" = "Don't pen up pets or eat meat, but allow infanticide, abortion, and euthanasia.")
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To: ConservativeMind; CodeToad
"Expected", LOL!

That article was a bunch of wishful thinking by worried Drug Warriors.

125 posted on 01/12/2014 7:57:39 PM PST by Ken H (What happens on the internet, stays on the internet.)
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To: chris37
Commies don't want feckless youth engaging in ''bourgeois degeneracy'' by being stoned. I think the drug war is the height of communist/fascist ideological training. Remember the D.A.R.E program? Fink out your mommy and daddy if you think they're doing drugs. Become a ''child hero'' for the state.
126 posted on 01/12/2014 7:58:14 PM PST by jmacusa ("Chasing God out of the classroom didn't usher in The Age of Reason''.)
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To: jmacusa

Yes, I do remember that :D

Boy that brings me straight back to the 80’s when movies and music were really good!


127 posted on 01/12/2014 8:35:21 PM PST by chris37 (Heartless.)
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To: jmacusa

I don’t know. I thought I read something about Soviet Russia having pushed vodka on the population, as a sort of effort to curtail restlessness which might be directed towards the state.

Oh, and if my parents were a couple of filthy dopeheads, I would have happily finked them out! Put ‘em behind bars, officer! Give ‘em hard time!


128 posted on 01/12/2014 9:07:09 PM PST by greene66
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To: Libloather

A liberal democrat i finally agree with!!

Just make the penalty harsher.


129 posted on 01/12/2014 9:09:20 PM PST by dalereed
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To: chris37

I wish prison for you!!!


130 posted on 01/12/2014 9:12:17 PM PST by dalereed
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To: dalereed

Thanks!

I wish Ebola for you!!!


131 posted on 01/12/2014 9:19:03 PM PST by chris37 (Heartless.)
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To: dalereed
So how's the medical pot business doing in your home state of CA? I heard you guys are raking in $100M a year in taxes.

How long before CA goes full legal?

132 posted on 01/12/2014 10:55:13 PM PST by Ken H (What happens on the internet, stays on the internet.)
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To: greene66
Vodka preceded the Politburo by years. Would you have dropped the dime on your parents if they had been alcoholics or cigarette smokers?
133 posted on 01/13/2014 2:03:58 PM PST by jmacusa ("Chasing God out of the classroom didn't usher in The Age of Reason''.)
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To: jmacusa

Well, do you mean “if” alcohol or cigarettes were illegal? It’s hard to say, since that’s sort of a sci-fi scenario, other than during Prohibition. Or if my father ran a still in the basement? Maybe I would call Elliot Ness. I don’t know. Or calling the cops about cigarettes? It’s too whimsical and far-fetched to use as an analogy. Considering their longstanding legality and cultural standing, I think the onus would more likely just be on me to move away.

But dope? Hell, yes. If some sibling or cousin came to my house and pulled out some dope, I’d personally beat them to a bloody pulp and then call the cops. I’d never even want to see them again.


134 posted on 01/13/2014 2:51:42 PM PST by greene66
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To: greene66
“I'd personally beat them to a bloody pulp’’. Why? You'd been guilty of a crime as well, aggravated assault. Alcohol is far more a health hazard then pot. We've had a war on drugs for one hundred years and it looks like drugs are winning.If alcohol prohibition were such a success why did the government repeal the 18th. Amendment?
135 posted on 01/13/2014 3:08:10 PM PST by jmacusa ("Chasing God out of the classroom didn't usher in The Age of Reason''.)
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To: jmacusa

Drugs are indeed winning. And America is dying. With the country embracing evil and deviancy in nearly every quarter, there’s really becoming no reason for me to even support the preservation of the republic, at this point.

A country that has gone pro-fag marriage and pro-dope no longer has any worthwhile moral legitimacy, as far as I’m concerned. That’s the bigger picture for me, not all the little chatter about extraneous side issues.


136 posted on 01/13/2014 9:52:18 PM PST by greene66
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To: greene66

And the punishment will be a direct result of the sin. A county of hedonists cannot operate a functional economy let alone a powerful one. The continuing creep of communism will be embraced more and more by people who render themselves unemployable, mentally and physically impaired through their own gluttonous lack of self-control. And the country will fall into a death spiral as it embraces instant gratification over the self-restraint and hard work that only a solid bedrock of morality can inspire. Weed is an appropriate word, because it is one of the poisons that will choke off the life of the virtual garden of Eden that our forefathers successfully planted for us.


137 posted on 01/13/2014 10:08:42 PM PST by JediJones (The #1 Must-see Filibuster of the Year: TEXAS TED AND THE CONSERVATIVE CRUZ-ADE)
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To: jmacusa

And you think legalizing marijuana will make it less available to kids?

You can answer honestly or you can give us all a good laugh.

The basic principle of conservatism is that if you tax something, it becomes less available and if you subsidize something, it becomes more available.

Do you expect the legalization of marijuana to drive up its price or lower it?


138 posted on 01/13/2014 10:16:09 PM PST by JediJones (The #1 Must-see Filibuster of the Year: TEXAS TED AND THE CONSERVATIVE CRUZ-ADE)
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To: jmacusa

And now we have ads saying to turn in your employer if they’re pirating software. Guess what, stealing software is illegal. It hurts people. We also ask people to report suspected terrorist activity. Enforcing good laws is not fascism, it’s morality in action. Anti-marijuana laws are good for the individual and the society as a whole. It’s illegal to drive 100 miles an hour on the highway for a reason. Just because you might have gotten away with it once without killing yourself doesn’t mean it isn’t the height of arrogance and irresponsibility to say we should do away with the speed limit entirely. When something is harmful to most people who do it, we have an obligation to outlaw it.


139 posted on 01/13/2014 10:23:03 PM PST by JediJones (The #1 Must-see Filibuster of the Year: TEXAS TED AND THE CONSERVATIVE CRUZ-ADE)
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To: Libloather; Abundy; Albion Wilde; AlwaysFree; AnnaSASsyFR; bayliving; BFM; Bigg Red; ...

Morons Hoyer and Owe’Malley probably want the DUI limit to be .05, too.

Maryland “Freak State” PING!


140 posted on 01/14/2014 2:10:56 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (...)
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