Posted on 03/24/2015 2:33:19 PM PDT by Ken H
A bipartisan effort to legalize medical marijuana at the federal level is now underway in both Houses of Congress, and its sponsors acknowledge they face an uphill climb to passage - but they believe the public is on their side.
"Polls show that at least 86 percent of Americans say medical marijuana should be available," said Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tennessee, in an interview with CBS News. "Legislators rarely lead, they generally follow. I guess it's called cultural lag...Eventually, people in Congress start catching up."
Cohen and Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, unveiled a bill on Tuesday that would reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II narcotic, recognizing some appropriate medical uses for the drug. Marijuana is legal for medical use in 23 states and the District of Columbia, but the federal government currently classifies pot as a Schedule I narcotic with no apparent medical utility.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Well, you are who you are. If you have reason to try and stop people from using them, then do so. If you have reason to encourage people to use them then do so.
However, state and local governments have reason to make them illegal, because they do have profound negative effects on the users and their communities.
If such entities put it up to a vote of us citizens to make them illegal or legal, I’d vote to continue to make them illegal.
That is just my opinion. I am a former drug addict who has used cocaine in the past, and my main addiction was to pills, but I have not used meth, heroin or crack, although I have known people who have. I don’t believe that there is any redeeming value to these drugs at all.
...let’s keep spending billions of our tax dollars for useless and unconstitutional federal programs, and incur more pension and health care liabilities for federal workers. And let’s keep doing it at taxpayer’s expense-—
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I am with you on this.
But there is great value in recognizing and respecting the right of an adult to make that decision for himself.
I can’t argue with that. I made these decisions myself so...
However, putting such a question to a vote within a state respects that right.
I am sure that there are some places in this country that would vote to legalize such, and I personally would not want to live anywhere near such places, but I imagine that there are some who would.
putting such a question to a vote within a state respects that right.
No, "tyranny of the majority" does not respect individual rights - but a state majority is less tyrannical than a national majority.
So much for limited government. Its not mine,yours or the governments job to tell someone what they can put inside their body
State and local government can make laws to govern their communities, and those laws can determine some things and behaviors to be illegal, and those things can be put to a vote of their citizens, and I am not opposed to that.
If you want to tell me that the federal government has no business telling states what they can and can’t do, then yeah, I’d agree with that.
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