Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act H.R.2835 was introduced June 11, 2009 by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) along with Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Farr, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Paul, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Thompson of California, Mr. George Miller of California, Mr. Stark, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Olver, and Ms. Baldwin

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c111:1:./temp/~c111WNKdlj::

Along with Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2009 H.R.2943 was introduced June 18, 2009 by Rep. Barney Frank along with Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Paul, Mr. Rohrabacher, and Mr. Hinchey

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c111:2:./temp/~c111gyz2zY::

Congressman Barney Frank is author of the States’ Rights to Medical Marijuana Act (H.R. 2592), an attempt to stop federal government from intervening with states’ medical marijuana laws. He has consistently voted for the bipartisan Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment, annually proposed by Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), that would prohibit the United States Department of Justice from prosecuting medical marijuana patients.

In March 2008, he proposed the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008 (HR 5843), which would decriminalize small amounts for personal use of the drug. Congressman Brank Frank commented on legislation to remove federal criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use stated “In a free society a large degree of human activity is none of the government’s business. We should make criminal what’s going to hurt other people and others than that we should leave it to people to make their own choices.”

Cosponsors [as of July 16, 2009]
Rep. Tammy Baldwin [D-WI]
Rep. Earl Blumenauer [D-OR]
Rep. Steve Cohen [D-TN]
Rep. Peter DeFazio [D-OR]
Rep. Keith Ellison [D-MN]
Rep. Sam Farr [D-CA]
Rep. Bob Filner [D-CA]
Rep. Raul Grijalva [D-AZ]
Rep. Maurice Hinchey [D-NY]
Rep. Michael Honda [D-CA]
Rep. Dennis Kucinich [D-OH]
Rep. James McDermott [D-WA]
Rep. James McGovern [D-MA]
Rep. George Miller [D-CA]
Rep. James Moran [D-VA]
Rep. John Olver [D-MA]
Rep. Ronald Paul [R-TX]
Rep. Jared Polis [D-CO]
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher [R-CA]
Rep. Steven Rothman [D-NJ]
Rep. Fortney Stark [D-CA]
Rep. Michael Thompson [D-CA]
Rep. Robert Wexler [D-FL]
Rep. Lynn Woolsey [D-CA]

ESQUIRE: Could you tell me why you’re doing it at this time? Everybody says you guys have got so much to handle right now.

BARNEY FRANK: Announcing that the government should mind its own business on marijuana is really not that hard. There’s not a lot of complexity here. We should stop treating people as criminals because they smoke marijuana. The problem is the political will.

ESQ: That’s my second question. There’s already been a lot of change in the country. Thirteen states have decriminalized pot. What’s holding up Congress?

BF: This is a case where there’s cultural lag on the part of my colleagues. If you ask them privately, they don’t think it’s a terrible thing. But they’re afraid of being portrayed as soft on drugs. And by the way, the argument is, nobody ever gets arrested for it. But we have this outrageous case in New York where a cop jammed a baton up a guy’s ass when he caught him smoking marijuana.

ESQ: You’re kidding.

BF: Actually, I’ve just been corrected by my partner – it was a radio he jammed up the guy’s ass, not his baton.

ESQ: Small radio, I hope.

…

BF: Here’s one thing I would say – there’s a great intellectual flaw at work here. People say, “Oh, you want the government to approve of smoking marijuana.” And the answer is, no, there should be a small number of things that the government makes illegal, but the great bulk of human activity ought to be none of the government’s business. People can make their own choices.

ESQ: What about the “public-square” argument that we need to keep prostitutes off the streets and pot-smokers on the run in order to promote a higher level of morality and civic order?

BF: One, I don’t think it’s immoral to smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol, even though they may make you sick. Morality to me is the way you treat other people, not the way you treat yourself. John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty makes a great deal of sense in that regard. I wish more people read him.

Rep. Frank is absolutely right, so here is a little bit of On Liberty for today’s assigned reading.  Then go to NORML’s Take Action center and send your email to your congressperson to support HR 2943.

Though society is not founded on a contract, and though no good purpose is answered by inventing a contract in order to deduce social obligations from it, every one who receives the protection of society owes a return for the benefit, and the fact of living in society renders it indispensable that each should be bound to observe a certain line of conduct towards the rest. This conduct consists first, in not injuring the interests of one another; or rather certain interests, which, either by express legal provision or by tacit understanding, ought to be considered as rights; and secondly, in each person’s bearing his share (to be fixed on some equitable principle) of the labours and sacrifices incurred for defending the society or its members from injury and molestation.

… But neither one person, nor any number of persons, is warranted in saying to another human creature of ripe years, that he shall not do with his life for his own benefit what he chooses to do with it. He is the person most interested in his own well-being: the interest which any other person, except in cases of strong personal attachment, can have in it, is trifling, compared with that which he himself has; the interest which society has in him individually (except as to his conduct to others) is fractional, and altogether indirect…

Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2009
June 24, 2009

Dear Colleague,

Last Thursday, we reintroduced HR 2943, the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2009, which would remove federal penalties for the personal use of 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of marijuana by responsible adults. This bill was introduced as H.R. 5843 during the 110th Congress. The Act would not affect existing state or local laws, or any federal laws prohibiting the cultivation, sale for profit, or the import and export of marijuana.

Polls show that a majority of Americans favor the reduction of penalties for individuals who possess and use marijuana within certain limits. It is clear that as misinformation regarding the drug continues to be corrected, more people are moving to support its decriminalization. At this critical juncture in our economic history, we can no longer afford to spend money on a drug enforcement program that the public no longer supports, and which consumes law enforcement’s valuable resources and time. The federal government should remove the current conflict with state law and allow states to decide on these matters for themselves. Twelve states already have laws that significantly reduce penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana, in many cases providing for a mere civil fine. The states are: California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Oregon.

WHAT THE BILL WILL NOT DO

• It would not affect federal laws prohibiting the sale of marijuana for profit, import and export of marijuana, or manufacturing (cultivating) marijuana.
• It would not legalize major drug dealing or create obstacles for agents of the federal government seeking to prevent major drug dealing.
• It would not affect any state or local laws and regulations.
• It would not alter the legal status of marijuana as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801 et. seq.).

Please join us in supporting common-sense legislation that will bring federal law up to date. If you would like to become a cosponsor of Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2009, please contact Pilar Falo in Congressman Barney Frank’s office; Adam Dick in Ron Paul’s office; Jeff Vanderslice in Congressman Dana Rohrabacher’s office or Namrata Mujumdar in Congressman Maurice Hinchey’s office.

Rep. Barney Frank
Rep. Ron Paul
Rep. Maurice Hinchey
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher