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I am a liberal living in Washington State. Marijuana is legal here and I voted to make it legal. I have never had any interest in it myself, have never tried it and have no plans to. I don't drink much at all either. Just because I have no interest in it myself doesn't mean I care if someone else does. Just like SSM. I'm not gay but I don't care if a gay couple wants to get married.
I'm not interested in telling everyone else how to live.
I understand what you are saying and I am definitely NOT an Obama supporter. However; I do support the fact that he is not enforcing the federal law when it comes to cannabis. Let's face it there are some laws that just because it is a law, that does not make it a just or even moral law. As citizens I feel it is our duty to protest, and even if necessary disobey bad or unjust laws. In the case of cannabis prohibition the feds broke the law when they made it illegal by failing to amend it via the Constitution as they did with prohibition of alcohol, and therefore cannabis prohibition is un-Constitutional!
Which I agree the part about the laws being unjust, but the president is not the one to determine the justness of laws. The branch of government at change the law is either congress or the courts, not the president. The office of the president has already been bastardized to afford way to much power. The checks and balances are out of whack, and the president determining what laws not to enforce at his leisure pushes the balance even further.
That is not the feds "cracking down". The laws that prevent banks doing business with illegal businesses has been there forever. Those laws are not aimed at the cannabis industry specifically.
In fact, the feds relaxed the banking laws in order to try to help the cannabis industry. The problem is the bank's lawyers had a look at the revised laws and said they were still not good enough. Meaning, if a bank did work with the cannabis industry they would still get exposed to risk so they have elected not to do so.
In an interview I saw with Obama he said he would continue to work towards getting that problem resolved.
By the way, this is from a Democrat:
Obama has done nothing to end the war on drugs. He could legalize marijuana with ONE STROKE OF HIS PEN. He has control over Schedule I. But he chooses to do nothing.
Consider this; one member of Congress is calling on President Barack Obama to take the next logical step and remove pot from the federal government's list of tightly restricted drugs.
Marijuana is listed on Schedule I, along with heroin and LSD, under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. The Drug Enforcement Administration says that such drugs have "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse" and that they are "the most dangerous drugs of all the drug schedules with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence."
But Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), a longtime advocate for loosening restrictions on marijuana, thinks that definition clearly doesn't apply to weed, which can now be medically prescribed in many states. He's begun circulating a letter to the president among other members of Congress, seeking signers who will ask that marijuana be stricken from the controlled substances categories or at least moved to a less restrictive schedule.
Yeah, IIRC William F Buckley was a supporter of legalization long before Johnny-come-latelies on the left side of the aisle. However again there is a 'but,' and it's a big but. If health care is a right, and I as a taxpayer am mandated to pay for the health consequences of ingestion of harmful substances, then I am going to demand government regulations and controls on said ingestion. According to the CDC, up to 75% of health care costs are due to behavior whether smoking pot, eating bacon, drinking booze, or sitting on the couch.
I have posted this argument now many times, and have yet to get a good counter-argument from either liberals or libertarians.
Medical marijuana is also gaining ground in Texas with 50% of Republicans and 67% of Democrats in favor of changing the law in Texas to allow seriously and terminally ill patients to use medical marijuana for a limited number of conditions if their doctors recommend it.
The third question related to changing Texas law to regulate and tax marijuana similar to alcohol. Similar to the measures passed in Colorado and Washington, stores would be licensed to sell marijuana to adults 21 and older for recreational use. A majority of 58% of voters voiced support and to the amazement of many, 48% of Texas Republicans are in favor of these changes to Texas law.
It is encouraging to see Republicans in Texas rejecting the failed policy of the War on Drugs. Current drug laws are unjust and immoral. Prohibition creates a dangerous black market that fuels many other types of violence. A legal, regulated market for marijuana would make it more difficult for children to access marijuana and provide lawful access for adults who chose a safer recreational alternative to alcohol.
I'm sorry to bold in red, but I have been trying to hammer this point home to prohibitionist types that prohibition causes more problems and harm to innocent people than the actual substance itself, but apparently it's like banging your damn head against the wall! I mean it's really simple, if you don't like cannabis, then DON'T USE IT!!!! But stop using the government to restrict people's choices! Individual freedoms of another should not be compromised unless that person harms another! And in no way shape or form should the government be pandering to special interests from certain industries to ban something, because those industries fear that it will hurt their bottom line!
No,not just three. But three sponsors of a bill in Texas.
So you see, not all Reps are against legalization of marijuana. Millions are not.
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