New York State Is Set to Loosen Marijuana Laws
Source: NY Times
ALBANY Joining a growing group of states that have loosened restrictions on marijuana, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York plans this week to announce an executive action that would allow limited use of the drug by those with serious illnesses, state officials say.
The turnabout by Mr. Cuomo, who had long resisted legalizing medical marijuana, comes as other states are taking increasingly liberal positions on it most notably Colorado, where thousands have flocked to buy the drug for recreational use since it became legal on Jan. 1.
Mr. Cuomos plan will be far more restrictive than the laws in Colorado or California, where medical marijuana is available to people with conditions as mild as backaches. It will allow just 20 hospitals across the state to prescribe marijuana to patients with cancer, glaucoma or other diseases that meet standards to be set by the New York State Department of Health.
While Mr. Cuomos measure falls well short of full legalization, it nonetheless moves New York, long one of the nations most punitive states for those caught using or dealing drugs, a significant step closer to policies being embraced by marijuana advocates and lawmakers elsewhere.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/nyregion/new-york-state-is-set-to-loosen-marijuana-laws.html?pagewanted=all
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)At some point in the very near future the federal government is either going to have to reschedule pot or decriminalize possession and distribution. The current situation is becoming absurd.
tridim
(45,358 posts)I'm imagining people in non-legal border states will start to call bullshit on this whole situation. Prohibition is over as far as I'm concerned.. no matter where you live.
Big old chunks of concrete are starting to fall from the dam!
skamaria
(327 posts)The sound of domino's falling..
Half-Century Man
(5,279 posts)will New York go back and restructure the sentences of serving inmates to reflect the new laws. Will Cuomo undo at least some of the damage of the miserable failure that is the war on drugs?
Shoulders of Giants
(370 posts)Polls are now showing the majority favors marijuana legalization, and is growing. Support for marijuana legalization will be above 60% soon. Pretty soon, there will be no more "loosening of marijuana laws." Marijuana will just simply be legal soon nationwide.
Karma13612
(4,538 posts)We thought we would get improvement in gun laws, and that was a huge disappointment, depending on your opinon of the issue!
Shoulders of Giants
(370 posts)I have a hard time understanding why someone would need an AK-47 though. I guess I can say at least that much.
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)Earth_First
(14,910 posts)I know several RN's in the Hospice care who have advocated for this position for their entire careers.
Kudos.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)they made far more restrictive medical mj laws, for fewer issues, Congress put off funding DC's med mj vote for a decade... and those eastern states are now going to try to jump on the bandwagon now that they've seen the numbers for Colorado.
but, little by little, the dominoes fall.
the end of mj prohibition will be this decade's fall of the berlin wall - and it will be around the world.
bitchkitty
(7,349 posts)I learned, years ago, that New York was not a medical marijuana state. Good for them!
Garion_55
(1,915 posts)too late for many. love the progress, hate that its going so slow. people are suffering out there right now today who need help. dont the politicians get it or give a fuck?
RainDog
(28,784 posts)that has refused, time after time, to bring issues related to this for a vote, we would have had much more progress than we do.
When Frank and Paul entered a bill during the last Congress, Lamar Smith, (R-TX) made sure it died in his office (head of the judiciary committee.) oh, and he's now on the science committee and he's a scum sucking creep in the pocket of the oil industry, so expect him to help make the world worse in terms of global climate change, too. Sadly, he's the rep for Austin, but the Republicans gerrymandered districts so eve Austin has a reptile republican representative, and Austin is a liberal city.
http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th/house-bill/499
There were 16 sponsors for Jared Polis' (D-CO) bill- HR499 - to End marijuana prohibition for 2013. Never made it to a roll call. The REPUBLICAN 2013 Congress, btw, was considered the WORST EVER by polls of the American people. funny how people are sick of republican bullshit posturing and scientific stupidity - about cannabis, evolution, global climate change - the whole ball of dung.
Representative Polis legislation, The Ending Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2013, would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, transfer the Drug Enforcement Administrations authority to regulate marijuana to a newly renamed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Marijuana and Firearms, require commercial marijuana producers to purchase a permit, and ensure federal law distinguishes between individuals who grow marijuana for personal use and those involved in commercial sale and distribution.
Speaking on the bill, Rep. Polis stated, This legislation doesnt force any state to legalize marijuana, but Colorado and the 18 other jurisdictions that have chosen to allow marijuana for medical or recreational use deserve the certainty of knowing that federal agents wont raid state-legal businesses. Congress should simply allow states to regulate marijuana as they see fit and stop wasting federal tax dollars on the failed drug war.
Representative Blumenauers legislation is aimed at creating a federal tax structure which would allow for the federal government to collect excise taxes on marijuana sales and businesses in states that have legalized its use. The Marijuana Tax Equity Act, would impose an excise tax on the first sale of marijuana, from the producer to the next stage of production, usually the processor. These regulations are similar to those that now exist for alcohol and tobacco. The bill will also require the IRS to produce a study of the industry after two years, and every five years after that, and to issue recommendations to Congress to continue improving the administration of the tax.
We are in the process of a dramatic shift in the marijuana policy landscape, said Rep. Blumenauer. Public attitude, state law, and established practices are all creating irreconcilable difficulties for public officials at every level of government. We want the federal government to be a responsible partner with the rest of the universe of marijuana interests while we address what federal policy should be regarding drug taxation, classification, and legality.
Holder could call for rescheduling, but Obama has already said he wants Congress to do its job. Good luck with that. Or maybe some republicans will listen to reason now that they see dollar $ign$ when compassion wasn't enough for their sorry souls.
Uruguay has legalized marijuana for their entire nation and, at this time, various nations are fighting back against prohibitionists at the UN as they create their 10 year drug policy statement - but Argentina, too, is looking at legalization.
This year, a majority of Americans indicated they wanted legal recreational marijuana. BUT for MORE THAN A DECADE, approx. 70% of Americans have supported legal medical mj.
So, now here are the Republicans, with their pants around their ankles trying to pretend they weren't jerking off to some new law to stick wands up women's patooties while the rest of the world tells them to grow up.
Here's an old list of just a few who want to use science-based evidence, not racist-based laws, regarding cannabis. This list has grown since then - http://www.democraticunderground.com/117052
alp227
(32,004 posts)Smith represents parts of austin, actually, because hours district is gerrymandered!
bobclark86
(1,415 posts)and not "my balls itch" prescriptions, I'm in favor(ish... I'll wait for the next presidential administration before I celebrate, as somebody more to the right would drop the federal banhammer. That and my aversion to "states rights" nullification crap). If you say "medical," it better be an actual medical reason, not some bullshit like in many other "medical" pot states.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)It should be regulated as a palliative for medicine, and not taxed.
and it should be available for adults in the same way that alcohol is available.
There's no reason adults shouldn't be able to use cannabis recreationally, in the same way they use alcohol. It's a safer product, and getting it into stores rather then in the high schools where it's easily available would help to regulate its use. Just like alcohol, some teens will try it, of course. But no one should go to jail for using or selling cannabis to adults.
bobclark86
(1,415 posts)but growing and using cannabis is still illegal under federal law. That's a very good reason why states should not make it legal.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)but I think you see, now, once people have had propaganda debunked, federal level pols will concede that their long war on drugs is a failure.
one Supreme Court Justice called states "laboratories of democracies." States can make laws and see how this works - and this is what has happened.
If federal prohibition were based on anything other than prejudice, political enemies lists of Nixon, and racism, I might care about the issue of state v federal. but they're not.
we've all had plenty of time to see how little reality matters when money is to be made in politics.
those states who have hitched their wagons to for-profit prisons will hopefully soon see the error of their ways as well.
Feral Child
(2,086 posts)are you in favor of the war on cannabis?
bobclark86
(1,415 posts)1) If you say "medicinal," it better be for a medical reason, not the bullshit in other places where basically anyone can get a MM card. It's the same problem I have with doctors who support their entire practices by writing Oxy prescriptions for bullshit reasons.
oh, and this:
2) State nullification of federal law is unconstitutional. The SCOTUS ruled on that in Cooper v. Aaron in 1958, and my great, great, great grandfather Henry didn't shoot his own countrymen 150 1/2 years ago on Cemetery Ridge so states could say "Fuck off, you're laws are stupid!"
When the DEA busts down the doors at Sloan-Kettering or Roswell Park, I'm going to be pissed. Not surprised, but definitely pissed off.
You want it legalized? Change the federal law. Write your congressmen, hold rallies, lobby for it. Nullifying federal law is the way to get people shot (whether it's the shopkeeper and his dog in a no-knock raid, or something worse).
Feral Child
(2,086 posts)of false equivalency.
You don't see any difference between cessation over slavery and sidestepping cannabis prohibition?
This does not promise to be a meaningful discussion. I'm going to suggest Quell shampoo for those irksome nits and leave you to stew over Old Henry's quandary.
Because pot-smokers and slavers are clearly moral bed-fellows...
bobclark86
(1,415 posts)It's the same mechanism.
And until you change the federal law, dispensaries and stores are going to get raided by the DEA. You know, SWAT teams, no-knocks and shooting anything that moves.
Feral Child
(2,086 posts)but you go ahead and huddle over the feeble flame of your outrage.
bobclark86
(1,415 posts)When the feds kick in your door on a no-knock raid and shoot your dog, don't come crying to me.
Feral Child
(2,086 posts)JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,315 posts)... or they don't.
Either way, I'm all for the legalization. State-by-state, Federal big bang, any version will do. There's no reason to incarcerate people for getting high, and no reason to keep pumping profits into the cartels.
Medical use is fine. So is recreational use.
bobclark86
(1,415 posts)That's all there is to it. It HAS to be federal. It also needs to drop two or three schedules, too (really, do they honestly expect anyone with half a brain to believe it's more dangerous and addictive than cocaine and meth? ).
Uncle Joe
(58,272 posts)Thanks for the thread, alp.
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)without the head trauma .