Positive local buzz from marijuana bill surprises Rep. Clay (D-MO)
Monday, August 4th, 2008 at 10:38 am | By: Radical Russ
TheHill.com – Positive local buzz from marijuana bill surprises Clay
Rep. Lacy Clay didn’t intend to sign on to a bill legalizing marijuana, but he’s happy so far with the buzz from constituents.The Missouri Democrat was flying with Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) on a congressional trip to Africa earlier this year when Frank asked Clay to co-sponsor his “marijuana bill.”
It seemed like a simple request to Clay, who for years has signed on to bills to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. So his answer was “No problem.” He called his staff and told them to put his name on the bill.
Only later did he find out that the bill went far beyond medical marijuana. Frank’s bill would end all prosecution of the personal use of marijuana, and Clay was one of only seven sponsors.
Clay was worried about the reaction. Supporting the liberalization of marijuana laws is not often seen as a political winner, especially in Midwestern cities like St. Louis.
But instead of stoner jokes, derision and righteous indignation, Clay was surprised to start getting praise from complete strangers.
“People are coming up to me saying this is a common-sense, sensible way to deal with the issue of personal use,” Clay said.
So far, he said, his calls, mail and contacts are running 80-20 in favor of the bill. He was impressed enough that he decided to go ahead and step before the cameras last week with Frank and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) at a news conference touting the bill.
This is exactly what Rep. Frank was talking about in our Friday interview: the people are way ahead of the politicians on this one. Please call your congressperson at 202-224-3121 and ask him or her to co-sponsor (or at least support) Barney Frank’s HR5843. The calls really do matter – many of these legislators are smart enough to know that marijuana prohibition has failed, but like Rep. Clay, are afraid of what the backlash may be back home.
Some of you may have a Republican or Conservative Democrat as a representative who will turn off immediately to anything involving marijuana. Call anyway. When I was living back in Idaho, represented by Republicans at the city, county, state, and federal level, I used to try to find an angle that would slip past their prejudice, something like:
I just wanted to call you about this bill by Barney Frank to legalize marijuana. Y’know, I think that dope is stupid and people that do dope are stupid, but, heck, if we outlaw stupidity, we’d have to lock up most everybody at some point. Maybe we oughtta try this thing so that we’re not spending a bunch of my tax dollars busting baggy-pants skateboarders for a joint when we could spend that time and money busting those meth freaks rippin’ metal off the bridges!
You know I don’t think “dope” is stupid and that I have nothing but compassion for meth addicts, right? But they don’t have to know that. If I act as if I’m coming from their point-of-view, maybe I can open them up a little bit to at least talk about it and force them to defend the status quo.
