House Committee Votes to Block DC Decrim
The GOP-dominated House Appropriations Committee stuck a thumb in the eye of democratic governance in the nations capital this morning. The committee voted to prevent the District of Columbia from implementing marijuana decriminalization approved by the District government.
The amendment could also threaten the District's medical marijuana program.
Speaking of the District's medical marijuana program, this vote today brings back some bad memories. DC voters overwhelmingly approved medical marijuana in 1998, but, thanks to a measure similar to today's amendment, Congress blocked it for nearly a decade. It wasn't until 2009, with Democrats in control of the House, that the block was lifted.
The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) says it and other advocates will seek a floor vote to strip this amendment from the appropriations bill. It would seem to go against the spirit of a House that less than a month ago voted to prevent the Justice Department from enforcing federal marijuana laws against patients and providers in compliance with state medical marijuana laws.
Here's what MPP director of federal policies Dan Riffle had to say:
“The District of Columbia wisely decided to use stop wasting its own resources enforcing ineffective and racially biased laws and to allow those with serious illnesses whose doctors recommend it to use medical marijuana. Unfortunately, unlike every state in America that gets to determine its own laws, Washington, D.C. laws are reviewed by Congress where Washington, DC residents have no voting representatives," he said.
“Marijuana is significantly less harmful than alcohol, and polls clearly show most Americans want to see it treated that way. We’ll do everything we can to restore democracy in D.C. and ensure this regressive amendment is rejected when it is considered by the full House. Mr. Harris’s antiquated, unscientific views on marijuana should be his constituents’ problem, not the District of Columbia’s,” he vowed.
Just reminding us of what we should already know
That this battle is not won yet.. there is still a long way to go. The path to legalization and ending the drug war still has a ton of resistance.
Canada
Anyone who lives in a state where cannabis is legal need only to look at Canada to witness what happens when a born again fundamentalist government with critical,anti drug ideology, is elected.It took a very few months before the work done in Vancouver, with their four pillars approach, was attacked and chipped away at.The heroin programs were destroyed and the medical cannabis given over to the super rich, with a restrictive monopoly.Never stop fighting and once you win,keep vigilant.It can all be destroyed by one ideologue.
The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937
The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 was a travesty...a mistake...propaganda...Check out my new song..share it...Legalize Marijuana NOW! Stop proliferation of private prisons. Stop the hypocrisy of the Federal Government from incarcerating people for fallacious Marijuana laws, while at the same time providing legal protection for deadly pharmaceutical drugs that kill hundreds of thousands of people every year.
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