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Title: Republican Congressman Admits Drug War HELPS Cartels, Slams Weed ‘Witch Hunt’
Source:
Free Thought Project
URL Source: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/co ... admits-drug-war-helps-cartels/
Published: Jan 20, 2018
Author: Rachel Blevins
Post Date: 2018-01-20 09:47:21 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 855
Comments: 18
While the federal government still blindly refuses to acknowledge that cannabis has any medicinal value, not all of its employees are fooled into believing the lie that legalizing the plant will do more to harm the public than what has been done under the guise of the “War on Drugs.” Congressman Carlos Curbelo, a Republican from Florida, took to Twitter to call out Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ war on cannabis in states that have voted to legalize it. He noted that by supporting interference from federal agencies, Sessions is proving that he has no respect for states’ right. “The Attorney General’s witch hunt against legally-operating, state-regulated marijuana businesses in states like Florida favors drug dealers and cartels operating ILLEGALLY and hurts LEGAL small business owners’ ability to compete,” Curbelo wrote. “Our government must respect states’ rights.” While cannabis is legal for medicinal use in 29 states and the District of Columbia, and a recent poll found that its legalization is now supported by 86 percent of Americans, Sessions started 2018 by showing that he does not care about what the overwhelming majority of the country wants. The attorney general is rescinding a policy that keeps federal prosecutors from aggressively enforcing federal law in states where cannabis is legal. The Associated Press reported that Sessions’ policy “will let U.S. attorneys across the country decide what kinds of federal resources to devote to marijuana enforcement based on what they see as priorities in their districts.” As has been the case with the War on Drugs since its inception, such a policy could be used by U.S. attorneys to target low-income cannabis users in states such as Colorado and California, while ignoring wealthy cannabis users—even though both groups were using the plant legally in their respective states. The Tweet from Rep. Curbelo included a clip from his speech on the House floor, in which he stated that he is concerned about how Sessions’ policies will affect small businesses legally selling cannabis in his home state of Florida: “The voices and the votes of my constituents, Mr. Speaker, matter. The Tenth Amendment [to] the Constitution matters. And for those who like to call themselves constitutionalists, the entire Constitution has to matter—not just the parts that are convenient at a given time. In addition to the witch hunt opened up by the attorney general’s actions last week… federal law also prohibits these businesses from deducting the common expenses associated with running a small business when they file their taxes. Expenses necessary to running a business like rent, most utilities and payroll. Simply put, this rule places legitimate enterprises, which have been established under state law, at a major competitive disadvantage where legal employers are paying exorbitantly higher effective tax rates.” The congressman then noted that it was for this reason that he introduced the Small Business Tax Equity Act in March 2017. The bipartisan bill seeks to amend the tax code to allow legally operating marijuana businesses to utilize common tax deductions and credits. “The federal government should not be ignoring states’ rights and the decisions of voters and state legislatures across the country,” Curbelo said. “We must work to afford all businesses selling legal products the opportunity to make appropriate deductions and contribute to our economy to create jobs.” Curbelo concluded by saying that he believes the best allies illegal drug cartels have are the policies of politicians such as Jeff Sessions. While Sessions has tried to argue that legalizing cannabis increases violence, the opposite is true. A recent study published in The Economic Journal revealed that the rate of violent crime, which includes robberies, murders, and aggravated assaults, decreased by at least 12.5 percent in counties near the border between the U.S. and Mexico, following the introduction of medical marijuana laws. Cannabis has also helped to stimulate the economy in the states where it is legalized, and if the government actually chose to act in favor of the American people by legalizing the plant, it shows the potential to have a significant effect on the entire country. In Colorado, legalizing cannabis has actually helped to decrease opioid-related deaths, reversing a decade of rising deaths plaguing the state. Cannabis legalization has also helped to fix the state’s crumbling schools, and for the second year in a row, $40 million from taxes on legal cannabis sales went to a program to repair and replace rundown schools in 2017.
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#1. To: Deckard (#0)
I thought the lotteries and gambling were funding the skrools. I guess that in Colorado, you have to smoke some quality bud to He'p Da Children.
Under federal laws, it is NOT legal to sell cannabis. Never has been.
The federal government -- the DEA -- has always gone after the low-income cannabis users? How about "never"?
It was prior to criminalization in the 30's.
Never say never...
It's not much of an admission in a country where an increasing proportion of people are determined to stay stoned and mentally debilitated. The name of the game is to facilitate psychopathology then cater to it. There is money and a political future in it.
I guess that in Colorado, Schools in Cripple Creek Colorado don't get squat from the Las Vegas invaders.
Jeff Sessions is only enforcing the federal law that Congress wrote and passed. It is no up to some asshole Congresscritter to tell Jeff Sessions not to enforce the federal law. If the Congresscritter doesn’t like the law, he is in a better position that anyone to change it because Congress writes the laws....Jeff Sessions does not. There ...
Or the congresscritters can assemble a gang and write a bill to specifically forbid Sessions from using DoJ funds to prosecute those marijuana cases. Legislatively, a much easier lift than trying to reclassify weed.
If it is so easy, they why hasn't it been done?
That was the good ol' days before the DEA/LEO retirement funds invested in cannabis stocks. If they have the votes for that, why not simply come up with a congressional finding listing their reasons? A congressional finding, after all, placed marijuana in the schedules where it is currently.
It has. And I think they'll pass the same restriction again.
Technically, it wasn't criminalized until the passage of the Controlled Substances Act in 1970. From 1937 to 1970, marijuana was legal with the purchase of a tax stamp.
Ron Paul is trying. In the midst of everything else going on.
No one seems to think that Rand's effort to attach those two amendments will actually succeed, at least not at this time.
Which raises the question.
In the end, if you want to change the law you have to offer amendments or bills. The only other way is to get a court to declare existing laws unconstitutional.
Cannabis legalization has also helped to fix the state’s crumbling schools, and for the second year in a row, $40 million from taxes on legal cannabis sales went to a program to repair and replace rundown schools in 2017.
#2. To: Deckard (#0)
"... that he is concerned about how Sessions’ policies will affect small businesses legally selling cannabis in his home state of Florida."
#3. To: Deckard (#0)
As has been the case with the War on Drugs since its inception, such a policy could be used by U.S. attorneys to target low-income cannabis users
#4. To: misterwhite (#2)
Never has been.
#5. To: misterwhite (#2)
Under federal laws, it is NOT legal to sell cannabis. Never has been.
#6. To: Deckard (#0)
Republican Congressman Admits Drug War HELPS Cartels, Slams Weed ‘Witch Hunt’
#7. To: Tooconservative (#1)
I thought the lotteries and gambling were funding the skrools.
#8. To: Deckard (#0)
#9. To: Gatlin (#8)
Jeff Sessions is only enforcing the federal law that Congress wrote and passed. It is no up to some asshole Congresscritter to tell Jeff Sessions not to enforce the federal law. If the Congresscritter doesn’t like the law, he is in a better position that anyone to change it because Congress writes the laws....Jeff Sessions does not.
#10. To: Tooconservative (#9)
#11. To: Pinguinite, misterwhite, GrandIsland, tater, Gatlin, WOD (#4)
It was prior to criminalization in the 30's
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#12. To: Tooconservative (#9)
Or the congresscritters can assemble a gang and write a bill to specifically forbid Sessions from using DoJ funds to prosecute those marijuana cases.
#13. To: Gatlin (#10)
If it is so easy, they why hasn't it been done?
#14. To: Pinguinite (#4)
It was prior to criminalization in the 30's.
#15. To: Tooconservative (#13)
And I think they'll pass the same restriction again.
#16. To: misterwhite (#15)
#17. To: Tooconservative (#16)
No one seems to think that Rand's effort to attach those two amendments will actually succeed, at least not at this time.
#18. To: misterwhite (#17)
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