Don’t call it reefer madness
Because libertarians never achieve political power, they have the luxury of advancing passionately held, logically consistent theories that will never be tested in real life.
Conservatives, who do accede to political power from time to time, must temper theories — especially those that make physical appetites their touchstone — with a view to their consequences for society. From hard experience, conservatives understand there is many a slip between the cup of theoretical individual liberties and the lip of desirable social outcomes.
Like most liberals and many other conservatives, I don’t believe possession or use of marijuana should be criminalized. But unlike most liberals and all libertarians, I don’t think it should be legalized.
Cannabis Community Inspired by House Speaker’s Defeat
The UK cannabis community is feeling a little more positive regarding the legal status of cannabis today, after a pretty redhead named Heather Brooke took on the “old boys network” of Parliament, and won the right to demand a full disclosure regarding a £12 million per year housing perk which MP’s from both sides of the house, were keen to keep quiet.
For over 3 years Ms Brooke and her ‘righto-know’ freedom of information organisation have fought a David & Goliath-esque battle against “the establishment”, which was fronted by House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin, who is expected to launch an appeal against Ms Brooke’s victory.
Medical Marijuana: GOP Attacks Obama for Suggesting He Would End Raids
With Sen. Barack Obama now the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, the Republican Party is looking for potential weaknesses and thinks it has found one in his relatively progressive stance on medical marijuana. On Wednesday, the Republican National Committee issued a press release saying Obama’s position on medical marijuana and the DEA raids on patients and providers “raises serious doubts” about an Obama candidacy.
The attack came after the San Francisco Chronicle published an article Monday detailing Obama’s position on medical marijuana, from comments he made in November to a response he more recently provided to the paper’s candidate questionnaire. In responding to the Chronicle’s medical marijuana question, the Obama campaign said he endorsed a hands-off federal policy:
“Voters and legislators in the states — from California to Nevada to Maine — have decided to provide their residents suffering from chronic diseases and serious illnesses like AIDS and cancer with medical marijuana to relieve their pain and suffering,” said campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt. “Obama supports the rights of states and local governments to make this choice — though he believes medical marijuana should be subject to (US Food and Drug Administration) regulation like other drugs,” LaBolt said. He added that Obama would end DEA raids on medical marijuana providers.
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Hazy thinking on medical marijuana
To those with family members who rely on medical marijuana to relieve chronic pain, the federal government’s crusade against the use of the drug is an outrage. According to a 2005 Gallup poll, 78 percent of Americans support allowing doctors to prescribe medical marijuana. Yet only one of the three major presidential candidates, Sen. Barack Obama, is calling for needed change in federal policy by stopping federal raids in the 12 states that have passed laws legalizing medicinal use of marijuana.
In my 20s, I had expected my generation to understand the futility of Big Government drug laws. Au contraire, now in power, my generation imposes prohibitions on people who are seriously ill and in pain. Bill Clinton’s administration went after doctors who recommended marijuana. Under George W. Bush, federal authorities have raided medical marijuana suppliers.
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Should cannabis be reclassified?
Cannabis is a harmful drug. While this may sound a statement of the obvious, it was not so long ago that some “pro-cannabis” campaigners claimed that the drug was virtually harmless and a national broadsheet newspaper campaigned for the drug to be legalized. But in light of the decision to reclassify cannabis back to class B, has the pendulum swung too far the other way? Despite the fact that the number of people using cannabis has continued to fall since the drug was reclassified to C in January 2004, there has been no let-up in alarmist media stories linking cannabis with serious assaults, murders and suicide.
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Next president might be gentler on pot clubs
Ever since California voters became the first in the nation to legalize medical marijuana in 1996, the state has faced unyielding opposition from the federal government, which insists it has the power to prohibit a drug it considers useless and dangerous.
That could all change with the next presidential election.
As the candidates prepare for a May 20 primary in Oregon, one of 12 states with a California-style law, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois has become an increasingly firm advocate of ending federal intervention and letting states make their own rules when it comes to medical marijuana.
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Clear advice is more important in the cannabis debate
Jacqui Smith’s decision to upgrade cannabis to Class B from Class C is pure political posturing designed to persuade Middle England that the Government is tough on drugs. Classification is irrelevant. How many 14 year olds, about to puff on their first joint, will have any idea whether the drug they are ingesting is class C or B or what it means?
Far more helpful to parents and to those young people bent on trying the drug would be clear advice about how to minimise the risks. Cannabis is Britain’s most popular illegal drug used by 2.5 million people a year. Threatening users with an increase in the maximum prison sentence from two years (under Class C) to five years (Class B) for possession will not stop them experimenting.
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N.H. Senate rejects marijuana bill
CONCORD, N.H.—New Hampshire’s Senate has rejected a bill that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.
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The bill was defeated Thursday in a voice vote by the full Senate.
The proposal would have made the possession of up to 1.25 ounces of marijuana a violation that carries a $200 fine, instead of a misdemeanor that can result in up to a year in jail and fines up to $2,500.
The House had approved the bill.
Bill goes after marijuana ‘grow houses’
Hoping to take some of the profit out of indoor marijuana farming, a House committee approved a Lee County legislator’s plan to toughen prison penalties for operators of “grow houses” Wednesday.
“Having $100,000 worth of marijuana in a home is not a party,” said Rep. Nick Thompson, R-Fort Myers. “It’s a business.”
Statewide Prosecutor William Shepherd told the panel that indoor cultivation is booming all over Florida. He said dealers commonly pay a “caretaker” about $10,000 to live in a home rent-free for three or four months, tending the crop.
Rep. Ron Paul meets a medical marijuana patient
Stuart Cooper of Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana confronts presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul(R-TX)regarding his position on whether or not he will end the federal raids on patients and caregivers participating in state approved medical marijuana programs.
