House Opposes Effort to Allow Pot for Ill

[peterh]

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-congress-marijuana,0,6227566.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

WASHINGTON -- The House voted Wednesday to let the federal government continue prosecuting people who use marijuana for medical reasons in states where local law allows its use by patients.

The 268-148 vote turned aside an amendment by Democrats and some conservative Republicans that would have barred the federal government from preventing states from implementing their own medical marijuana laws. Nine states have passed laws allowing people to use marijuana if recommended by a doctor: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.

It won't encourage the use of marijuana," Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif., one of the sponsors, said of the amendment. "It won't encourage drug use in children. It won't legalize any drugs."

Supporters of the federal restrictions said that constitutionally, federal statutes must override state laws. They also argued that medical marijuana laws only encourage the abuse of marijuana and other drugs.





This is absolute FUBAR and unconstitutional to boot….Oregon bitchslapped Asscroft on the right to die…..and the house will get bitchslapped on this for the very same reasons….

[acmavm]

1. Wonder what drug they're taking to be so numb from the neck up.

.

[BayCityProgressive]

2. how did

Pelosi vote?

[sandnsea]

3. Yes

But there's alot of no's and not votes that don't make me very happy. I think government is so out of touch with what most Americans think about pot, medical or otherwise.

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2004/roll334.xml

[reprobate]

19. Gov't is out of touch with most americans, period.

There was a time when congress responded to the needs of the people. That is no longer true. Congress now responds only to the needs of the corporate contributors to their campaign funds.

I'm very much afraid that even with Kerry/Edwards in the white house, there is little that can be done to reverse this problem. Money will still own the congress, and the congress will still answer to their owners. Full public funding of elections seems the only answer to corporate power. And a felony conviction to anyone who offers money to a congressman, and a felony conviction to the congressman who accepts money.

But public funding of elections would pull the teeth of the corporations, so they will never allow that.

The Second American Revolution seems to be looming larger by the day.

[LeighAnn]

4. Wait 'till they need it

I'll bet many will look back on that vote, someday, with regret.

[Hekate]

6. There's tremendous cruelty in the self-righteous

I hope karma catches up with them all some day -- most particularly John Ashcroft, who sees nothing wrong in letting people die in prolonged agony or in persecuting doctors who try to ease their pain.

By the time California put medical pot to a statewide vote, I was ready to say yes to it. This issue made me finally understand what "states' rights" really means, as one by one the states are voting to remove marijuana from the terminally stupid War on Drugs. Maybe by the time half the states have had this vote, our federal government will be ready to do the sane thing itself.

Hekate

[indepat]

18. And if there is a just God, surely each and everyone so voting will burn

in eternal hell.

[NNN0LHI]

10. If they need it they will get it. We won't. The %#&^@*^$#@&^% n/t

[Manix]

5. .....F**king idiots.

[sweetheart]

7. what are they afraid of

I guess really stoned people are a profound threat to their new
judgemental fascism, so those people are deemed criminals.

I guess stoned people might be less concerned about working working
working working working and dropping dead, and it becomes clear that
they are busy legislating prodestant christianity... with its
patriarchal judgement and ethic of "doing" good works for god.

Just they would be doing more good works for god, if they all got
stoned and stopped denying god, whilst presuming to know her.

It is an issue of freedom of religion, and that is certainly no
interest of the house of filthy asshole representatives. Some people
are not prodestant, and those people might believe that any action
taken by the human ego is not one of god, but rather the luminous
angel "ego" who claims god's will for entirely human actions.

The karma is that all the wankers inside the beltway live life in
such incredible suffering, that they seek to perpetrate it on others
through police state tactics the world over... and none of it will
get them closer to god.

They are failed christians, the lot of them. Perhaps one day they
will discover that "log in thine own eye."

[Kinkistyle]

22. Republican Party, the party of "small-government" eh?

HAH! Don't make me laugh. That "stereotype" is just that - a plain dumb stereotype that is not true in the very least. The Repug party is the party of "big government/big brother" and has been for a very very long time.

[JayS]

24. Sadly, the War On Drugs is a big enough pie for all politicians...

...to put their fingers in.

[Paranoid_Portlander]

27. The government just big enough to fit ...

... into the neighbor's bedroom (or living room) according to repub philosophy.

[Paranoid_Portlander]

8. Kick. I have some intemperate remarks...

... that I would like to make, but it would be bad for my blood pressure to say them. Pot prohibition is on the same level of stupidity and ignorance as dunking witches to see if they float, something we stopped doing about
350 years ago.

[JayS]

9. Be sure and write the Reps that killed this amendment and thank...

...them for killing it. Don't forget to thank them for keeping the poor (and mostly minorities) in jail for smoking the stuff so we don't have to deal with them. And tell them how happy you are to pay for them to be there instead of out working and paying taxes. And also thank them for all the violence, especially gun violence, that comes from making sure only the best of the baddest are involved in the distribution of the evil weed.

They should be proud.

[Mz Pip]

11. This is personal for me

A very dear friend died last month. She was doing well after her cancer surgery,but the chemo killed her. She could not keep anything down and had to be rehydrated a couple of times. She got so weak and sick her heart just gave out suddenly. It was a painful and horrific death.

I don't know if pot would have helped her. But it might have. She lived in Texas and I'm sure it wasn't even given a consideration. What harm could possibly have occurred by just giving it a try?

MzPip
:dem:

[happynewyear]

14. sorry to hear of your loss mzpip

I'd appreciate it very much if you could tell me how long your friend was having the chemotherapy treatments.

I have a close friend with cancer that is getting the treatments now and has lost almost 100 lbs. Its been going on for 7 mos. now. I never knew they could give a person chemotherapy for that long of a time. Very sad, I agree with you.

I don't know if this person would use cannabis if it was an option. I agree with you though. To see someone dying of a horrible disease and wasting away is criminal if there is a possible option that might help in some way.

[mtnester]

12. It is just effing criminal

to deny the suffering and terminally ill ANYTHING that would relieve their pain, discomfort or make their final days easier. Just damn criminal...there is NO spin to it otherewise.

[NNN0LHI]

15. Its not just terminal illnesses

I have to take medications that will eventually destroy my liver, kidneys, or both. Marijuana could allow me to not need as much of these drugs which could extend my life. But no. Got to protect the drug companies interests. So I am screwed.

Don

[stevedeshazer]

13. These people are insane

The people who represent "small government" want to lock up ordinary citizens who are ill and benefit from an herb and turn their doctors into criminals.

[Blackaxe]

16. They can fight it all they want but this thing is inevitable.

Sooner or later the asses in Washington will get some sense and see the American people want this.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

17. stop the prohibition! it is crazy, waste of money, waste of lives. nt.

[HuckleB]

20. This is the ongoing tale of a bizarre story.

It's bizarre that marijuana is illegal in a society that allows alcohol and nicotine, period. Of course, we could talk about this ad nauseum with many caveats on all sides of the matter, but this is my assumption, and I'm sticking to it.

On the other hand, when it comes to "medical marijuana," I find the push for this to be just as bizarre. For all the issues that I have with the FDA and the drug companies, we have to understand that any drug company that came forth with such an inefficient and inconsistent method of introducing medicine to the body as smoking marijuana, it would be ripe for lawsuits from the word go. Heck, it's studies on the matter would be suspect in regard to efficacy, because there's no way to know how much "medicine" any individual patient actually received, much less metabolized. And on and on.

Now, I'm not saying that marijuana doesn't help some people, so don't get me wrong. I am saying that it makes little sense for physicians to prescribe a medicine that's so inconsistent in every way. (Yes, most medicines are inconsistent in that they may have efficacy for some but not for others, or side effects for some and not for others, etc...) I am asking that instead of pushing a half-baked form of legalization that makes little sense, doesn't it make more sense to argue the logical legalization of marijuana, so it can be sold side-by-side at liquor stores, so we can stop wasting money on police investigation, court proceedings and prisons, and make some tax money off the stuff?

[clown]

21. HuckleB

I agree that it is stupid that marijuana is illegal (which, coincidentally, makes it easier for under age kids to score a bag than it is to get beer) but a lot of people don't agree. The medicinal angle makes it more palatable to people who are fine with the status quo, and I would imagine that once people realize that a liberalization of the laws doesn't destroy the country, then they will be ready for more.

The last part of your post though, about making taxes, I'm pretty sure that idea has been disproved in the sense that if we were to tax legal marijuana sales, money wouldn't be added to the tax base. When you buy from a dealer, they end up spending that money in some way so that it gets taxed, so unless one area legalizes it and there is an influx of 'foreign' money, legalization would not really add to taxes. Now I'm sure I butchered that argument, so if anyone has more information on it, feel free to add to and/or correct it.

[HuckleB]

23. You are forgetting...

that liquor and cigarette taxes are far higher than sales taxes. Also, many areas don't have sales taxes at all. And sales taxes are the only taxes that dealers are going to pay, when they purchase items legally. Not only that, you also be getting income taxes that you don't get with dealers who do it under the table. So, yes, tax income would go way up from what it is now.

The problem with going this medical marijuana route is still spelled out in my post. It's actually more difficult to justify medical marijuana than to simply justify making it legal period. In the long run, I think going down this road is going to hurt the cause of legalization, for this reason.

[Hobarticus]

25. Not too far from there, some GOP senator's crying over his suicide son

Meanwhile, they deny peace to thousands of terminally ill.

Sick hypocritical f*ckers.

[Hobarticus]

26. Not to be a cynical SOB, but...

The Senate just passed a suicide prevention bill, after a GOP Senator gave tearful testimony about his own son's suicide.

A tragedy, indeed. Seriously, I do feel bad for the man.

At the same time, I find it immensely hypocritical that suffering is only deemed worthy of legislation if it affects a senator. Meanwhile, thousands of terminally ill who choose medicinal marijuana face arrest and prosecution for a victimless 'crime'.

Maybe a sobbing Senator talking about his cancerous dying son's agony would turn some hearts and minds.

Sorry, this just boils my blood.

[struggle4progress]

28. I need it for my poor night vision:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=671485