Posted on 06/23/2018 9:00:01 PM PDT by vannrox
Authored by Michael Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
Allowing government to arbitrarily determine which substances human beings can put into their own bodies is one of the most idiotic things a society can do. As such, its no surprise Congress is salivating at the prospect of furthering this travesty by giving additional discretion on the matter to drug war-crazed loon, Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Reason published an excellent article on the topic in yesterday’s piece: Congress Wants To Give Jeff Sessions Unprecedented New Drug War Powers.
Here are some key excerpts:
If you think the Department of Justice has more than enough tools to wage the war on drugs, a bill passed by the House would create a fast-track scheduling system that could lead to the criminalization of kratom, nootropics, and pretty much anything that gives you a buzz and isn’t already illegal.
The House of Representatives voted on Friday to create a new schedule of banned drugs under the Controlled Substances Act, called “Schedule A,” and to give Attorney General Jeff Sessions broad new powers to criminalize the manufacturing, importation, and sale of substances that are currently unregulated, but not illegal. The bill is now headed to the Senate, where co-sponsors Dianne Feinstein (D–Calif.) and Chuck Grassley (R–Iowa) will likely have little problem whipping votes.
The Stop the Importation and Trafficking of Synthetic Analogs Act, or SITSA, is intended to crack down on drugs that closely resemble currently banned or regulated substances in either their chemical structure or intended effects. SITSA would also empower the attorney general (A.G.) to add drugs to this new schedule with few checks from other branches of government...
While Department of Justice (DOJ) complaints about analogs aren’t new, the rise of fentanyl analogs have inspired Congress to act more aggressively and clumsily than usual. The Senate version of SITSA introduced by Feinstein and Grassley gives the attorney general unilateral and unchecked power to add a substance to Schedule A. It contains no congressional review provision and vests no authority in the Department of Health and Human Services to challenge the DOJ’s scheduling decision.
When SITSA came up for a vote in the House, the House Liberty Caucus released a statement condemning the decision to “cede more of Congress’s legislative authority to the Attorney General and grant the AG more power to fight the war on drugs, which has eroded federalism, eviscerated numerous individual rights, entrenched severe discrimination in our criminal justice system, and failed to meaningfully limit the proliferation of illicit drugs”...
Fans of the herbal opioid remedy kratom have expressed concerns about SITSA, as have nootropic users and research chemical enthusiasts. The combined vagueness and broadness of this bill should worry all of them. While the immediate justification for the bill is fentanyl, the legislation is so much broader than that. Were coffee and booze not historically entrenched in our culture, this bill would absolutely allow the DOJ to add both caffeine (as a stimulant) and alcohol (as a sedative) to Schedule A of the Controlled Substances Act.
Two major points I want to make on this beyond the obvious.
First, the failed drug war perfectly demonstrates why most things should be decided at the state/local level. Since Colorado and Washington led the charge in 2012, seven other states (plus D.C.) have legalized recreational cannabis. All the while, Congress has been an absolute zero on the topic, and is now trying to make the situation worse and more arbitrary with this crazy SITSA bill.
Second, I’m sure you noticed senior Democrat Dianne Feinstein is a leading sponsor of this nonsense in the Senate. It’s good to know Jeff Sessions is so terrible (and he is) that some Democrats are working tirelessly to empower him in yet another irresponsible way.
Drumpf's crazy. A maniac. Horrible. Hates children. Let's give him a massively bigger military budget to attack more people who haven't attacked us.
Sessions is awful. Horible. The worst. Let's give him more power to put people in jail for using things less dangerous than booze — Rudolf E. Havenstein (@RudyHavenstein) June 21, 2018
You can't trust Trump. He's a Nazi. Let's give him more massive surveillance powers. — Rudolf E. Havenstein (@RudyHavenstein) June 21, 2018
Welcome to “The Resistance™”
* * *
Somebody should send Jeff a gift-wrapped edition of Alexander Shulgin’s “PIKHAL” and “TIKHAL” for leisure reading.
Wow! Under these new powers it would even be illegal for Mick Dundee to shove a blowfly up his nose. Bummer!
The Libertarian in me says “Put whatever you want into your body, but when you overdose, or injure yourself or others, don’t expect me to pick up the tab. You own it.”
The Conservative in me asks, “Does having a segment of the population wacked out on drugs make us more or less competitive in the world market?”
Kinda scary to see them go balls to the walls on the opiode thing. My dad and FnL both dealt with severe pain. One with late onset muscular dystrophy and the other an amputation issue. Both at a time when the Feds were working to cut the supply of pain killers, making it difficult to get them.
Ever seen a 6’6” man weep like a baby in pain?
A greater problem arises when innocent people go to jail because a fleck of donut frosting turns positive in a drug test kit.
“the Feds were working to cut the supply of pain killers, making it difficult to get them”
The DEA has created a de facto cap on opioid per day dose (90 MME). Even though the cap is only a guideline issued by the CDC, the DEA has cited this guideline when charging physicians for wrongful deaths, effectively criminalizing prescribing opioids above this dose. Now, no physician is going to risk their liberty to treat severe pain with opioids.
This demonstrates the utterly pathetic and disgusting police state mentality of Sessions. With his defense if the corrupt DOJ and FBI he is emblematic for what is wrong with government. His alliance with the gun grabber Feinstein only confirms this.
The answer here is so obvious; give the power back to the states. The DEA does not need to exist in its present form; states should make and enforce drug laws. Issues between states can be resolved by mutual agreements between states or if necessary via Federal courts. Interdiction could be handled by re-assigning former DEA agents into border control.
This is not aimed at pot, it will be used against vitamins.
I understand exactly what you are going through. My F-I-L suffered greatly in his last couple of years at the hands of medical technology. He as an ex-pro football player. And yes I did see him weep like a baby.
Nonetheless; I was his call to have the medical procedures that kept him alive and suffering well beyond what I would have wanted. But then again it was not my call and who know what I will want when I’m 89.
Most heroin comes from Mexico, fentanyl is being manufactured and shipped to the U.S. from China.
Oh, by the way, could you guess who is the largest holder of opium stockpiles in the world? Wanna take a guess where it is stored?
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19930916&slug=1721425
Interesting. Opiates are a store of value. The Feds have driven up the price of opiates through their policies.
“But Congress won’t let the department sell the drugs.”
That seems like disinfo. The treasury has every reason to do something like this to stabilize the dollar. They’re selling through some agency like DEA.
“Since 1955 the drugs have been part of the nation’s strategic reserves and were intended to tide the country over if foreign opium supplies were cut off in an emergency.”
That’s a laugher. Since when did the Feds give a rip about the peasantry. They won’t even harden the electrical grid. Anyways, the Feds are saying that opiates are bad, so why would need them in an emergency.
>>the Feds are saying that opiates are bad, so why would need them in an emergency.<<
I just can’t help but to think there is a control agenda here. Hate to sound tin foil hat guy, but nothing...I mean nothing surprises me about this government any longer.
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