Some good stuff in here, and I love this guy’s approach – ‘"Those are steps forward, but if an ounce is okay, or if it shouldn’t be a criminal thing, why not a pound? Why can’t you grow it? Why can’t you use it as long as you don’t harm your neighbor?" :horns up
AUSTIN — A Northeast Texas lawmaker says it’s time to end the state’s nearly century-old prohibition on marijuana, and has filed the first bill to do so in at least 50 years.
State Rep. David Simpson (R-Longview) filed House Bill 2165 Monday, which would strike all references to marijuana from Texas statues. Digital records maintained by the Legislative Reference Library show lawmakers have filed 61 bills focused on marijuana laws dating back to 1969. While many sought to reduce penalties for possession of small amounts, none have attempted a full repeal of marijuana prohibition.
"I am proposing that this plant be regulated like tomatoes, jalapeños or coffee," Simpson said in a statement. "Current marijuana policies are not based on science or sound evidence, but rather misinformation and fear. All that God created is good, including marijuana. God did not make a mistake when he made marijuana that the government needs to fix."
A February 2014 poll by the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune suggested 76 percent of Texans favored some form of legal marijuana. Thirty-two percent approved of medical marijuana only, while 49 percent approved of legalizing marijuana for any use. Seventeen percent responded that marijuana should be allowed for any use in any amount.
The debate over marijuana has often been viewed through partisan lenses, but public sentiment and lawmakers’ positions appear to be converging on a bipartisan consensus. Democrats who have repeatedly attempted to lessen the penalties for marijuana possession are being joined by an increasing number of Republicans aiming to do the same — and many of marijuana’s most vocal advocates hail from the GOP.
One of those is 85-year-old Ann Lee. A lifelong Republican, Lee campaigned for GOP nominee Barry Goldwater in 1964 and co-founded Women for Reagan in 1983. A workplace accident left her son Richard a paraplegic, suffering from severe nerve pain, which he treated with marijuana. Long a believer that marijuana was a dangerous drug and "law and order" issue, Lee says her son’s experience caused her to rethink the law.
"I think it’s a travesty the way that we have had marijuana illegal, and when I ask people why it’s illegal, they can’t really tell me," Lee said in an interview with KVUE’s sister station KHOU. "We have to recognize that the marijuana laws is bad law, and we have to work to change it."
To do so, Lee founded Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition (RAMP). At heart, Lee says conservative Republicans embody the libertarian ideals of personal liberty and freedom from an intrusive, heavy-handed government.
"Shouldn’t the party of Abraham Lincoln be for freedom?" said Lee.
"Thank God that somebody is speaking out as a true Republican, a true believer in our philosophy," Lee said of Simpson’s bill. "It’s true saying that prohibition doesn’t work, and we need to rectify if possible the harm that has been done."
"I don’t advocate the irresponsible use of anything," Simpson told KVUE Tuesday. "But it’s a plant God made, he didn’t make a mistake when he made it, and government doesn’t need to fix it."
Law enforcement has voiced concerns about the effects of large-scale legalization. In response to reported increases in driving while high, the State of Colorado released a public service announcement campaign to encourage responsible driving. Others have voiced concerns over children using marijuana.
"Most children in this state have access to it, even though their parents don’t know about it," said Simpson, explaining it would be up to parents to set good examples. He says legalizing marijuana wouldn’t legalize bad behavior, and has already helped many of his constituents suffering from seizures and PTSD.
"We need to use the plant that God made that is good responsibly to help people, to help those people with seizures, perhaps veterans with PTSD. We shouldn’t ban it," said Simpson. On the other side, he says the "War on Drugs" has failed. "It’s taken our law enforcement’s resources and focused it on things that are really not helpful. It should focus on murder, on theft, on sexual assault, and pursuing those things."
"This is not a big government approach, a more regulation approach that some of the medicinal marijuana bills are pursuing and other states have pursued," said Simpson, who says many worry about being registered or entered into a government database that could potentially be used against them. Still, he doesn’t oppose his colleagues’ less ambitious efforts.
"Those are steps forward, but if an ounce is okay, or if it shouldn’t be a criminal thing, why not a pound? Why can’t you grow it? Why can’t you use it as long as you don’t harm your neighbor?"
This session has seen the largest and most vocal contingent of marijuana reform advocates in recent memory, and the presence of several bills by Republicans and Democrats aimed at decreasing regulations for varying uses suggests a changing political climate under the Capitol dome. Even so, Simpson’s bill will likely face an uphill battle.
"What I would like for it to do is to have people think," said Lee. "Because when you think about all of this, it makes so much sense."
If this were to pass, it would be better than any other state’s MJ laws. This one doesn’t seek to over-regulate MJ like other states have done, rather it reaffirms that MJ is just a plant. It requires no more regulation than a tomato plant. I love it! :banana:
:weedspin :weedspin :weedspin