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U.s. House To Pass Resolution Calling For Change In Marijuana Policy?

Guest finallyfree09

By Guest finallyfree09
in USA News

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puffaway Advanced Member

puffaway

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I never could understand how anyone could load a semi with this stuff and get it across the border. No matter what you do, or how you seal it the odor seems inescapable. Imagine a truck load of it on a hot day! Its gotta reek from a long distance away.

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420Atheist Advanced Member

+420Atheist

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Ok but after reading the whole law what am I missing? It seems to me to be just be calling for the Director of National Drug Control Policy to come up with a plan to keep Mexican cartels from growing on fed land. I don't see where this is going to change or even do much of anything. Probably is why it was not really opposed by anyone and passed without debate.

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peanutbutter Advanced Member

peanutbutter

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Ok but after reading the whole law what am I missing? It seems to me to be just be calling for the Director of National Drug Control Policy to come up with a plan to keep Mexican cartels from growing on fed land. I don't see where this is going to change or even do much of anything. Probably is why it was not really opposed by anyone and passed without debate.

 

Yeah .. the headlines at MPP were different then the res itself.

 

Had to think about it a bit .. I guess there would be one of three things they could do.

 

1. Nothing .. just let it keep going as it is now.

2. Toss a lot more money and maybe the military at it. We got plenty of both :)

3. Legalize it.

 

And number 3 is the most likely to achieve the objective of H res. 1540

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peanutbutter Advanced Member

peanutbutter

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Truth is I kind of do too. Just more of the fear mongering. The real danger is the Director coming up with some ridiculous call out the army plan to turn fed land into a battle zone.

 

Oh!! That'll make everyone safer in those national forests.

 

Yep .. could go that way.

 

Wonder what kind of plan the DEA can come up with?

 

Wonder if anyone will believe it will work?

 

All they gotta do is tell congress that past results are no indication of future results .. Those congress folks will believe anything the DEA says.

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peanutbutter Advanced Member

peanutbutter

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That is the usual US plan. Ramping up the violence always makes it less violent. :rolleyes:

 

So is the US government going to warn people to stay away from these parks before or after the shooting war starts?

 

I wonder how many in congress are willing to start up the first shooting war within the US since the Civil War?

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MichiganMan Advanced Member

MichiganMan

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"7/20/2010--Introduced.

Declares that drug trafficking organizations cultivating illicit marijuana on federal lands in the United States pose an unacceptable threat to law enforcement and to the public. Affirms that it is the federal government's responsibility to confront such threat. Calls upon the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to work with federal and state agencies to develop a strategy to permanently dismantle Mexican drug trafficking organizations operating on federal lands."

 

Seems pretty pointless to me.

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DLD420 Advanced Member

DLD420

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"7/20/2010--Introduced.

Declares that drug trafficking organizations cultivating illicit marijuana on federal lands in the United States pose an unacceptable threat to law enforcement and to the public. Affirms that it is the federal government's responsibility to confront such threat. Calls upon the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to work with federal and state agencies to develop a strategy to permanently dismantle Mexican drug trafficking organizations operating on federal lands."

 

Seems pretty pointless to me.

I'll second that.

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420Atheist Advanced Member

+420Atheist

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Seems pretty pointless to me.

 

Ya I think that is why there was essentially no opposition. The danger will be what new policy comes out of it. Though if you read the whole bill the parameters are such that one can't help but reach the continuation of a zero tolerance policy. What concerned me is the inflammatory language about booby traps and armed Mexican cartels leading to a policy based on fear and not facts.

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Rx420 Advanced Member

Rx420

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Barney Frank voted NO on this one so I have to assume it is not a good thing for legalization since Frank is the guy who pushes a bill every so often to reschedule MJ.

 

Ron Paul also voted no. Not sure what to think about that.

 

 

Exactly...look at the four votes against...

 

Barney Frank

Ron Paul

Dennis Kucinich

Jared Polis

 

Here's the Vote http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2010-613

 

Whose Jared?

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

DECEMBER 8, 2010

 

U.S. House Expected to Pass Resolution Today Calling for New Marijuana Strategy

 

Rep. Jared Polis, MPP Say It’s Time to End “Failed” Marijuana Prohibition, Regulate Marijuana Industry to Combat Drug Traffickers

 

CONTACT: Mike Meno, MPP director of communications: 202-905-2030, 443-927-6400 or mmeno@mpp.org

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass a resolution today declaring illegal marijuana cultivation on federal lands to be an “unacceptable threat to the safety of law enforcement and the public,” and calling upon the nation’s drug czar “to work in conjunction with Federal and State agencies to develop a comprehensive and coordinated strategy to permanently dismantle Mexican drug trafficking organizations operating on Federal lands.”

 

Speaking on the House floor yesterday, Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) agreed with the goals of H. Res. 1540, but said the only way to accomplish such objectives would be to eliminate “the failed policy of prohibition with regard to marijuana and replac[e] it with regulation.”

 

“I have no doubt that marijuana plantations, as the resolution states, pose a threat to the environmental health of Federal lands, that drug traffickers spray unregulated chemicals, pesticides, and fertilizers, but I submit that the best way to address that is to incorporate this into a meaningful and enforceable agricultural policy for the country with regard to the regulatory structure for the production of marijuana,” said Polis, whose home state of Colorado has emerged as a national leader in the regulation of medical marijuana. “… As long as [marijuana] remains illegal and as long as there is a market demand, the production will be driven underground. No matter how much we throw at enforcement, it will continue to be a threat not only to our Federal lands, but to our border security and to our safety within our country.”

 

Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project, today joined Rep. Polis in endorsing the underlying rationale of the resolution and suggesting that accomplishing the goals detailed in legislation will require an entirely new strategy by the federal government.

 

“Passage of this resolution will send a clear message to the drug czar and others that our current strategies for combating illegal marijuana production are not working and that a new direction is needed,” Fox said. “There are two choices here: continue the failed prohibitionist policies that encourage Mexican drug cartels to keep growing marijuana on federal lands, or embrace a new path that would acknowledge the reality that marijuana is not going away, but its production and sale can be sensibly regulated in order to reduce the harm caused by its illicit production on federal lands.”

 

With more than 124,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. For more information, please visit www.mpp.org.

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420Atheist Advanced Member

+420Atheist

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Anyone know if this res is binding on the DEA?

 

If so, how long would they have to propose a plan?

 

The way I read it the DEA is not involved at this point and there was no time frame set. It is the drug czar (aka Gil Kerlikowske the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy) who has to come up with a new policy. On one hand Kerlikowske has said he wants to stop calling it the war on drugs because people see it as a war on them. He also said he favors treatment over incarceration. He seems to have taken a stance of decriminalization and permissive enforcement position on cannabis. However he has never said he would be for legalization of cannabis. The drug czar has no authority himself but works with Congress and other agencies.

 

To me the wording of this bill leaves him very little room to take a lenient position on growing on federal lands.

 

But in the end this bill may change nothing or the czar may come up with some draconian policy. Truth is I am against people growing on federal lands and the way to fix that is full legalization but I'm guessing the guy who's job is to create policy to fight cannabis may not agree.

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greenbuddha Advanced Member

greenbuddha

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Am I pessimistic?

 

Yes. But 'past' behavior is about 90% effective in predicting 'future' behavior.

 

IMHO this resolution will just mean more money will go to the DEA for Ms. Lionhart to throw around.

 

AND the DEA won't really go after the Federal Land planters, because if they completely eliminate the 'growers' that automactically tells the 'Congress that they (the DEA) do not need anymore money to deal with the problem.

 

Once the money starts to flow in it will be next to impossible to bring it to a halt.

 

It'll be just another money wasting government program that will perpetuate itself endlessly.

 

The DEA will knock off just enough 'planters' to be able to show they're 'fighting' to 'save' America from the 'demon weed' and the 'nasty' cartel boys and girls.

 

And 'the machine' will crunch on.

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