Action Alert: Garrett introduces bill to decriminalize marijuana federally

[CaseyJones]

http://www.roanoke.com/news/politics/garrett-introduces-bill-to-decriminalize-marijuana-federally/article_673f031f-4f80-5142-9dad-d3dd30dbc17c.html

H.R.1227 - To limit the application of Federal laws to the distribution and consumption of marihuana, and for other purposes.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1227?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22thomas+garrett%22%5 D%7D

how to contact your congressmen http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/




Rep. Tom Garrett, R-5th, introduced legislation Monday that would federally decriminalize marijuana, according to a news release from his office.

The Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2017 would take marijuana off the federal controlled substance list if it is passed.

The release stated that the bill would fulfill “a responsibility to create a level playing field across the country.”

“Statistics indicate that minor narcotics crimes disproportionately hurt areas of lower socio-economic status, and what I find most troubling is that we continue to keep laws on the books that we do not enforce,” Garrett said in the release. “Virginia is more than capable of handling its own marijuana policy, as are states such as Colorado or California.”

This bill originally was introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in 2015, but the legislation died.

Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat representing Hawaii's 2nd Congressional District, is the lead original cosponsor on Garrett’s legislation.

Garrett’s bill comes after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said there’s more violence around marijuana than people think.

Sessions is reviewing the previous administration’s memo to the Justice Department that gave states flexibility when it comes to passing marijuana laws.

Eight states, as well as the District of Columbia, have legalized recreational marijuana use.

[CaseyJones]

bump

[PatriotOne]

Action? The stoners are too busy fretting over a pot festival in Nevada where it is still illegal. Can't be bothered to take some real action. Might entail them doing something other than complaining on the internet and blaming Trump for all their woes..

[dannno]

Action? The stoners are too busy fretting over a pot festival in Nevada where it is still illegal.

Nevada voters say yes to legalizing marijuana | Las Vegas Review ... (http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada-voters-say-yes-legalizing-marijuana)

Nov 8, 2016 - Starting Jan. 1, it will be legal for adults 21 and older in Nevada to possess up to an ounce of marijuana or up to one-eighth of an ounce of ...

[PatriotOne]

Nevada voters say yes to legalizing marijuana | Las Vegas Review ... (http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada-voters-say-yes-legalizing-marijuana)

Nov 8, 2016 - Starting Jan. 1, it will be legal for adults 21 and older in Nevada to possess up to an ounce of marijuana or up to one-eighth of an ounce of ...

I know...but now they want to have a public display of it which is not legal. Everyone up in arms that Jeff Sessions and Trump is da devil over it.

[dannno]

I know...but now they want to have a public display of it which is not legal. Everyone up in arms that Jeff Sessions and Trump is da devil over it.

Isn't the 'public display' on private property?

To be fair, I do know that the Obama admin was NOT shy in prosecuting cannabis when state laws were not being followed.

[opal]

A bill number would have been nice to read.. shame the original article doesn't have one

[CaseyJones]

A bill number would have been nice to read.. shame the original article doesn't have one

H.R.1227 - To limit the application of Federal laws to the distribution and consumption of marihuana, and for other purposes.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1227?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22thomas+garrett%22%5 D%7D

[CaseyJones]

how to contact your congressmen http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

[devil21]

Bill is currently referred to House Judiciary Committee and House Energy and Commerce Committee so it's especially important to contact Congresscritters on those committees, particularly if they are your Rep. Gotta get it out of committee intact first...

Judiciary
https://judiciary.house.gov/subcommittee/full-committee/

E&C (big committee)
https://energycommerce.house.gov/about-ec/energy-commerce-committee-members

[CaseyJones]

Bill is currently referred to House Judiciary Committee and House Energy and Commerce Committee so it's especially important to contact Congresscritters on those committees, particularly if they are your Rep. Gotta get it out of committee intact first...

Judiciary
https://judiciary.house.gov/subcommittee/full-committee/

E&C (big committee)
https://energycommerce.house.gov/about-ec/energy-commerce-committee-members

ty

[osan]

Rep. Tom Garrett, R-5th, introduced legislation Monday that would federally decriminalize marijuana, according to a news release from his office.

This is the correct move. I oppose the legalization because it implies that "government" has some valid say in such matters, which they do not. And please, nobody start spouting off about "states' rights" because it is baloney.

Decriminalization carries the subtext, "tain't none of our business".


The release stated that the bill would fulfill “a responsibility to create a level playing field across the country.”

Full faith and credit? Pardon me while I fill my pants in shock and disbelief.


“Statistics indicate that minor narcotics crimes disproportionately hurt areas of lower socio-economic status, and what I find most troubling is that we continue to keep laws on the books that we do not enforce,” Garrett said in the release. “Virginia is more than capable of handling its own marijuana policy, as are states such as Colorado or California.”

This part fails, what with the "states' rights" nonsense, but I guess old habits die hard. There's your Twenty Eight Amendment:


"No State shall enact any legislation that violates the rights of anyone within any territory of the United States. Any such enactment shall be null, void, and without force of Law. All individuals and corporate entities shall be free to ignore the requirements, prohibitions, and all other stipulations of such enactments. All individuals shall be authorized to file suit against any governmental body or subdivision thereof, or any individual or group thereof acting to enforce the provisions of such enactments.

No individual enforcing such enactments shall enjoy any protective veil whatsoever, but shall stand to answer his accusers as an individual human being before the courts with no benefit above and beyond that of legal counsel. This hazard shall extend to all members of any legislative body whatsoever of whom the record shows to have voted in favor of such an invalid enactment.

Aggrieved parties shall be free to file legal action with local, state, or federal courts at their discretion.

Culpable parties, having been found liable for the actions, damages, and other violations claimed against them shall be further fined punitive damages equal to ten times the court's total awards. Failure to satisfy the debt owed shall constitute a prima facie felony contempt of court and may be punished with up to ten years in federal prison without the benefit of trial."


This bill originally was introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in 2015, but the legislation died.

Wonder what the Democrats will do with this, given their big fat talk of late to vote down anything the Republicans bring to the table.


Garrett’s bill comes after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said there’s more violence around marijuana than people think.

I wonder if Sessions is really this simple-minded and clued-out. For a man who claims such bitter hatred of cannabis, he sure does seem to yammer on an awful lot about the hazards it poses, as if he were some sort of expert. If he is, one can only wonder how he came to such vast knowledge of a thing he claims to have never touched in his life. One wonders, indeed...

[CaseyJones]

so does this mean you called your congress critter?

[osan]

so does this mean you called your congress critter?


Here's my letter:


Dear Congressman Mooney,

I am writing to urge your support for, and vote in favor of H.R. 1227 - To limit the application of Federal laws to the distribution and consumption of marihuana, and for other purposes.


The so-called "drug war" has been an utter and abject failure in both conception and execution. It has represented, at its very best, a clear and intolerable violation of basic human rights. We may not like that some people choose to debase themselves with drug use, but it remains centrally within a man's most fundamental prerogatives to make such choices for himself. The collateral damages of such use, one of the central arguments made to justify statutes that themselves are felonious, are readily handled by extant law and statute.


The repeal of statutes of malevolent effect stands only to improve the general quality of life in America. Arguments justifying the violation of basic human rights that includes the possession, consumption, distribution, and all other dispositions of such materials fail catastrophically in both their logical validity and basic truth. There is no valid justification for the violation of human rights at any time or for any reason, including "emergencies". That we have decayed as a nation to so low a status as this says nothing good about the ways in which our various national legislatures have discharged their sworn oaths and the attendant duties and obligations to the people they ostensibly serve, which here is presumed to be the people of America, and not some hidden interest.


The fact that the American people have been so egregiously betrayed by these bodies of men sworn to, and yet failed in, their defense of the Constitution pursuant to the protection of all human rights speaks gravely ill to either their intentions, their competence, or both. I am therefore asking you to make good on your oath and the trust of your constituents by voting in favor of H.R. 1227, and to work diligently to get as many of your House and Senate colleagues on board as well.


Countless lives have been unjustly ruined through enforcement of these repugnant statutes which arbitrarily declare the possession, use, and transfer of "illicit" drugs as crimes mala prohibita. There exists no basis in either logic, morality, or even properly considered practicality that validly establishes any authority whatsoever by any man or group thereof, regardless of title or purport, to prohibit, punish, and ultimately murder our fellows, which is precisely what the various drug statutes claim to establish, however falsely.


The resources we have wasted on drug enforcement are literally staggering in their sheer mass. It is high time this unforgivable squandering of both our national wealth and the lives of those whom enforcement unjustly brings to ruin come to an end. Nobody is obeying these statutes who would not have otherwise remained "drug free" in their absence. This is why our prisons are filled to overflowing with the victims of the enforcement of statutes that define no actual crime at all, whereas those actions themselves constitute real and substantively demonstrable felonies against people exercising their basic rights, however disagreeably to some.


Were a bill enacted into law that declared it a felony to wear mismatching socks, punishable by twenty years in a federal penitentiary, would it be just and valid? Assuming you agree that it would be anything but, it should be clear to you that that is precisely what the drug statutes do in terms of their arbitrary address and declaration of "crimes" mala prohibita. It is literally the manufacture of fake crimes out of thin air and the destruction of innocent lives in the process of enforcement.


Can you, as a presumably honest, honorable, and decent man who has by his own choice assumed the mantle of the public trust by becoming our representative in Congress fail to support the repeal of such statutes in all good faith? I certainly hope not, and therefore will once again urge you to vote for passage of H. R. 1227 and make all good efforts to convince your fellow Congressmen to follow suit.


Thank you for your attention on this matter.


Regards,