Cannabis: Could we please have one law for the whole country please?

[Bonobo]

Mood altering drugs are ALREADY advertised 24/7 on TV with subsidized government money -and I am not talking about cannabis.

Meanwhile, sick people, people on death's door such as cancer patients, AIDS patients, chronic pain sufferers and yes, just as regular folk that would like just a few hours of relaxation and TV watching after work are thrown into our (historically unprecedentedly) HUGE PRISON SYSTEM for imbibing this "evil drug".

In my own Massachusetts, where the voters have twice voted recently to try to make it legal, we have an insane law that allows you to carry 1 ounce (MUCH more than any real pot smoker would want to CARRY around) but not to BUY IT, GROW IT, or SELL IT.

Also, our own govt. grows it and provides it in limited qualities to people. -The hodgepodge policy makes no sense and we are victimizing our own citizenry. How can we continue this insanity?

In CA, friends of mine are card-carrying members of medical marijuana dispensaries that have been overwhelmingly voted for (this IS a Democracy, right?) but despite Obama's pledge and, I think his honest desire, the FEDS keep raiding these places, taking the drugs that people rely on and even stealing their information and the identities of the members of the dispensaries. Is this even constitutional? Are there no laws which demand that this be RATIONALIZED? How can it be legal on a municipal level and illegal on a federal level? Doesn't this DEMAND some kind of process of conciliation?

:rant:

[SimonPhoenix]

1. Obama could stop the raids if he took the time

You talk about the raids. If they're still occurring, then they're sanctioned by the head of the DEA. All Obama would have to do is fire that man or woman and replace them with someone who agrees to enforce Obama's priorities. He could appoint from within. I'm sure that there is SOMEONE within the DEA who would agree to do so on the condition that he/she helps fulfill one of Obama's campaign promises.

[SimonPhoenix]

2. He could also pardon every non-violent drug offender in federal prison

It wouldn't take more than a month to go through all the records and identify every drug offender in federal prison with no history of violence and construct a pardon pile. Why isn't he doing this?

[scarletwoman]

3. I'm with you. Marijuana prohibition is a completely irrational policy, there is NO honest

justification for it.

It's the absurdity of having to fight such utter and obvious irrationality that's so damn frustrating.

Rec'd, of course,
sw

[MercutioATC]

4. Actually, we DO have one law for the whole country. It's called federal law.

It's illegal.

Period.

[glinda]

5. Can't wait to see all the "laced" pot!

[Bluenorthwest]

6. We have one unjust and irrational law nationally

the absurd, dated and racist Federal laws. Not that anyone gives a flying fuck about that. But it must be changed, at once.

[Warpy]

7. We do, but unfortunately it was written by pinched moralists

and that's why the DEA keeps raiding facilities that dispense prescription pot to sick people who need it.

Obama announced an end to those raids but they're continuing. I think the DEA has become a law unto itself and that law means sick people have to get sicker.

[Fly by night]

8. All Obama/Holder have to do is...

... get rid of the current DEA administrator and require that her successor accept the last two DEA administrative law judges' recommendations that

a) cannabis be reclassified away from Schedule I to a more appropriate schedule (I would say at least III) (this recommendation was made in 1988) and

b) the monopoly on providing "research-grade" cannabis that Ole Miss has had for 40+ years be torn up, allowing any other entity to grow and research the medical benefits of cannabis. (This decision was made last year.)

Those two administrative decisions can be made overnight, they would respect the hard work of those two sensible DEA judges and they would change the arena for cannabis immediately, without the necessity to involve Congress (a claven of cowardly clowns held hostage by self-serving "drug worriers".)

K&R

[Union Yes]

9. MJ prohibition is costly and pure stupidity. knr nt

[anarch]

10. in my opinion, drug prohibition is one of the stupidest policies ever

pure idiocy, and a tremendous waste of resources, to say nothing of the unjust imprisonment of so many people.

[Goldstein1984]

11. Last summer while on business in Fairbanks, Alaska, I sat in a

coffee shop, where I couldn't help but hear the conversation at an adjacent table. They were making plans to move their crop from growing locations on silt bars along the Tanana River into town. They estimated it would take several "riverboat" loads, so I'm guessing they were talking about more than a ton of product. (Assuming the typical 18- to 20-foot Alaska flat-bottomed river boat.

I make my living helping corporation follow good environmental and safety laws and regulations. For more than half of my career I worked as a State of Alaska Enforcement Officer, enforcing good environmental laws and regulations. And yet I sat in that coffee shop, heard more than enough detail to have at least two people arrested, tried and convicted of a felony under federal law, and I did nothing. I didn't even look at them as they left, just in case I wasn't the only one who overheard their conversation--I didn't want to be able to say, "Yes, I saw those two young men..."

I did nothing because the two kids were doing nothing wrong. Illegal? Yes. Wrong? No.

Legal and illegal are nothing but abstracts of right and wrong. Sometimes our abstracts reflect reality, and sometimes they don't. When they don't, I support anyone with the reason and or courage to defy unjust laws. I've always told my friends that if I were ever in a jury pool for a person being tried for possession or sale of marijuana, I'd say whatever I had to say to get on the jury and let the defendant go based on my reasonable doubt.

"Law of the land" or not, marijuana laws are stupid. Their enforcement is inequitable. And that is why people like me, who are otherwise law-abiding citizens who follow most of the rules, ignore those laws.

[sohndrsmith]

12. I agree with you (I think) that the criminalization of pot is wholly absurd. But...

... while I can't speak of the laws/policies (or lack thereof) regarding a particular state's actions, I do think that the Constitution's concern to protect states rights is a worthy one. That's why different states have different laws, penalties, requirements, etc. I think that's a good thing in purely constitutional terms.

What's stupid (to me) is that:

1) We have proven (empirically or close to it) that prohibition has not, does not and will not work. Ever.

2) We have laws that criminalize destructive actions due to use or misuse of certain substances, but the existence, possession, purchase and use (with reasonable restrictions - like age limit) is **legal**. But what is/is not a legal substance is massively inconsistent and seemingly random (to me).

I believe that no substance should be illegal.... but it's use (IF it is the cause for risk, injury, etc. to the health and safety of others) should be restricted and have legal penalty. Alcohol is not illegal. Dangerous behavior due to its overuse IS illegal. Substances don't have moral standards, and humans will never refrain from using them, responsibly or otherwise.

Having a bag of pot, growing pot, or being in possession of any substance should be legal when one is unimpaired and posing no risk to others directly as a result of the substance.

How/why we condemn a person for having substance 1 in his pocket while deeming it perfectly legal to have several cases of beer/wine in the trunk of his car (unopened, generally) as completely legal is absurd.

To me, anyway...

[paulsby]

13. this is a democratic republic

we don't have one law for rape, murder, etc.

fwiw, i strongly believe in the rights of states to legalize drugs, (medical or otherwise) and disagree with the (wrong) scotus decision that there is commerce clause triggering when an individual in california grows MJ in his own house for his own medical use, but...

this a country where state laws vary greatly AS THEY SHOULD.

heck, when i was in hawaii, age of consent was 14. in my state, there is no law againt public drunkennesss. that's the power of our democratic republic. criminal law can and does vary greatly.

choose your jurisdiction wisely.

[librechik]

14. OT, hope your mum is doing better

agree with you on the mj rules

[Flaneur]

15. Sorry, we're going to have to do this the hard way: One state at a time.

We can't even get a marijuana legalization bill moving in the Congress, let alone pass it. I don't think that will change until a few states legalize it on their own.

State drugs laws do not have to be congruent with federal drug laws. State police officers are not required to enforce federal laws. If the DEA wants to spend its time busting pot smokers, let's see how long that lasts.

There will a legalization initiative on the California ballot this fall--www.taxcannabis.org--and possibly one in Washington state, too. There will a 2012 initiative in Nevada, and probably Colorado, too.

The end times are upon us, but it's going to a protracted process.

[Strelnikov_]

16. Hey, Oligarchs, ever hear of a marijuana fueled lynch mob?

Just a hint.