Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 3:56 pm | By: Amanda
Thank you for contacting me about the Act to Remove Federal Penalties for the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults. As you know, this bill would prohibit any imposition of penalties for the possession of marijuana for personal use or for the not-for-profit transfer between adults of marijuana for personal use and deems personal possession as 100 grams or less of the substance.
This bill would effectively legalize marijuana at the federal level. We all know the painful consequences of drug abuse on our society. For that reason alone I will not support such a measure and I will vote against it should it reach the House floor.
I do take your views into consideration as I decide how to vote in the House. Please feel free to express those views; even if we may occasionally disagree, it is important to me to know your thoughts. Do be aware that because of mail security measures for Congress, your letters can be delayed for up to two weeks. If you wish to offer an immediate comment or suggestion, you can e-mail my office at by going directly to my website at www.fallin.house.gov. While you are there, feel free to sign up for my regular e-newsletter.
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 11:00 am | By: Radical Russ
(Salon) Who do you imagine spoke at September’s 38th Annual NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) conference in San Francisco? Perhaps some comedians? Some aging hippie drug-policy wonks? A “High Times” staffer or two? Well, yes. All of those people took their turn at the mic.
Well, yes, and more than few prominent defense attorneys, medical doctors, research scientists, professional athletes, and journalists. Go on…
But so did Jessica Corry, who describes herself as a “Republican mom.” According to The Washington Post’s Kathleen Parker, Corry stepped up to the podium “wearing an American flag lapel pin, a triple strand of pearls and a gold marijuana leaf pin.”
“If we believe that smaller government is better government, we must trust people to choose what to put into their bodies. If we support legalized access to alcohol, cigarettes, and 700-calorie cheeseburgers, we should legalize marijuana — a far less harmful substance.”
But, honestly, Parker and Corry don’t entirely sell me on the idea that marijuana is becoming a women’s issue. Sure, the connections between responsible parenting and attitudes toward criminalization of the drugs — in both its recreational and medical capacities — are growing clearer. Yet, for me, the “toking point” Parker is talking about doesn’t seem particularly gender-based. That a self-described “Republican mom” advocates legalization is, more than anything, a sign that the issue is gaining mainstream support. Across the political spectrum, NORML is finally becoming more, well, normal.
No, actually, NORML has always been very normal, it is just that our mainstream supporters could not openly admit their support. We’ve always had doctors, lawyers, teachers, students, police, soldiers, Republicans, Democrats, moms, dads, grandmas, and grandpas on our side, but only the “hippies” were brave enough and/or had nothing to lose by openly supporting cannabis re-legalization.
Allowing the use of marijuana (or cannabis), even for medicinal purposes, doesn’t appear to have much support among public officials in Kansas. Locally, Saline County Sheriff Glen Kochanowski said he believes relaxing the rules would be ill-advised. Saline County Attorney Ellen Mitchell, who was deep into preparing for the third murder trial of Cameron Nelson, expressed skepticism. Salina Police Chief Jim Hill didn’t return a call seeking comment.
And Kansas Attorney General Steven Six said he would oppose it if the Legislature ever brought it up.
“The use of marijuana can lead to the use of other harder, more serious, drugs,” he said in an e-mail, via a spokesperson.
Or just offer the common sense observation that while nearly every heroin and cocaine user first tried pot, nearly every pot user doesn’t try heroin or cocaine. There are now 102 million Americans age 12 and older who have tried marijuana, yet there are only 2 million active cocaine users and 350,000 active heroin users.
I am concerned with a comment you recently made to a constituent about your opposition to legalizing marijuana. If correct, while you state that you oppose the legalization of marijuana, you were quoted as adding that you “think we should go to caning for people caught using and maybe execute dealers.”
As a resident of Georgia for 24 years, I find your statement extremely troubling. I would hope that as a representative of this great state, you would understand that the Constitution of the United States explicitly forbids “Cruel and Unusual Punishment”, which surely caning and execution for marijuana dealing would be considered as such. Furthermore, in Singapore, a country whose drug laws you referenced, anybody found in the locale of drug activity is guilty until proven innocent, which is in stark contrast to the Constitutional protection afforded to American citizens which makes this country so great. It is my hope that you will reconsider and recant such an un-American statement.
I support marijuana legalization, mainly because my conservative values refuse the idea that the government of the United States or the government of Georgia should claim sovereignty over any citizen’s mind or body. I support individual freedom and minimal government intervention into people’s personal lives, even though such freedom allows my fellow Georgians to reach conclusions I do not agree with and make choices that I would not make myself.
As a proud Republican of this state, I would hope that you too could analyze your conservative values and renew your support for individual freedom and small government by supporting marijuana legalization.
Respectfully,
J___ C___
DeKalb County
Representative Benton’s thoughtful and considered response?
no can do!!!!!
Tommy Benton
HD31
I’m not certain if Rep. Benton “no can do!!!!!” applies to recanting the caning statement, analyzing his conservative values, or supporting marijuana legalization. I do know that in addition to not understanding the Constitution, Rep. Benton doesn’t understand basic English composition.
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 at 1:42 pm | By: Radical Russ
This just in from a Georgia Stasher as part of our ongoing series called Politicians on Pot, where listeners send in replies from their elected officials regarding marijuana law reform.
Thanks for the email. We will have to agree to disagree on this and whether or not money is wasted. I am opposed to the legalization of marijuana. I think we should go to caning for people caught using and maybe execute dealers. That would solve the problem as well. That is what they do in Singapore and they don’t have a drug problem, but then they have less liberty than we do here.
Isn’t it amazing how much of the Constitution an elected official is willing to throw away for the Drug War Exception? Here’s the Wikipedia entry on Singapore’s drug laws:
The law creates a presumption of trafficking for certain threshold amounts, e.g. 30 grams of cannabis. It also creates a presumption that a person possesses drugs if he possesses the keys to a premises containing the drugs, and that “Any person found in or escaping from any place or premises which is proved or presumed to be used for the purpose of smoking or administering a controlled drug shall, until the contrary is proved, be presumed to have been smoking or administering a controlled drug in that place or premises.” Thus, one runs the risk of arrest for drug use by simply being in the company of drug users. The law also allows officers to search premises and individuals, without a search warrant, if he “reasonably suspects that there is to be found a controlled drug or article liable to seizure”.
So if you don’t mind sacrificing essential liberty, if you’re cool with cops searching you and your property on mere suspicion or being considered guilty because you happened to be in a night club where someone unknown to you got caught sniffing coke in the restroom, or if you think it’s reasonable to execute someone for possessing 1.06 ounces of pot, you can have a relatively drug-free society.
The United States per-capita rate of drug crimes is 41st out of 60 countries surveyed by NationMaster.com at 560.1 per 100,000. Singapore ranks near the bottom at #53 with a rate almost 1/12th that of America, or 46.8 per 100,000. Yet Spain, with its fairly liberal drug laws, ranks #56 in the survey with only 27.9 drug offenses per 100,000. That 30 grams of cannabis that gets you the hangman’s noose in Singapore isn’t even a crime in Spain and neither is buying and selling of seeds and cultivating up to five plants.
Now, certainly you’re going to have a lower rate when many of the “crimes” aren’t being counted (Spain has similar personal possession decriminalization for other drugs as well), but does anyone think Spain has descended into chaos? By all accounts it seems to be at least as nice a place as Singapore, even though they lock up in prisons 2.6 times fewer citizens for all crimes (per capita prisoners: Spain 146/100k (#61); Singapore 388/100k (#12)). It is tough to compare, as Singapore is a city-state on an island and Spain and America are larger continental countries with both urban and rural areas. However, regardless of crime rate, it is simply un-American to suggest that we should be whipping people to punish them for smoking a joint.
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 6:46 pm | By: Radical Russ
(St. Louis Today) Cottleville — Officials in Cottleville want Missouri to join the growing number of U.S. states that have legalized marijuana for medicinal use.
Mayor Don Yarber said Monday the city’s Board of Aldermen unanimously approved a resolution last week urging state legislators to legalize medical marijuana for Missourians who have a doctor’s approval.
“I’m only proposing this for medical use,” Yarber said. “I’m not part of a movement or anything else to get marijuana legalized.”
A Missouri House bill died in this year’s session without a committee hearing. In Illinois, a similar bill passed in the Senate but was not voted on in the House before the end of the spring session.
One supporter of Cottleville’s stance on the issue is Kenneth R. Wells, 54, of St. Charles County, who is awaiting trial on drug charges. Investigators found marijuana plants in Wells’ basement after a fire broke out at his St. Charles County home in January 2008.
Wells spoke at last week’s board meeting in Cottleville, saying marijuana has helped relieve side effects from medications he takes for chronic epilepsy.
In an interview this week, Wells said he was surprised that such a resolution was approved in a Republican county. “This is one of the reddest counties in the country,” he said. “To get a resolution like that in Cottleville is just unheard of.”
Actually, a resolution like this is one of the most traditionally Republican political stands I can think of – smaller government, individual responsibility, states rights are all a factor in medical marijuana policy. It also frees up police resources from busting medical patients to busting real criminals, so it is a “tough on crime” measure as well. Republicans could make significant political gains if they outflanked Democrats on the issue of medical marijuana, especially since it enjoys supermajority support among voters.
Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 2:54 pm | By: Radical Russ
(ColoradoDaily.com) BOULDER, Colo. — As a Republican mother committed to legalizing marijuana, political life can be lonely. But while many in my party whisper about the Drug War’s insanity, we should shout it from the rooftop: the time to legalize is now.
If history is any guide, the crucial female voting bloc, including many Republicans, will provide the political will essential to making this happen.
In 1929, it was the Women’s Organization for National Prohibition Reform successfully leading the charge to end America’s decade-long experiment with alcohol prohibition. While many of these same activists fought just years earlier to forbid booze, they quickly witnessed prohibition’s devastating consequences, including increased violence.
Just four years into the Women’s Organization for National Prohibition Reform’s repeal efforts, prohibition was over.
Courageous conservatives across the country, including Texas Congressman Ron Paul, former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo and former New Mexico Gov. [Gary] Johnson, have all said yes to legalization.
If we believe that smaller government is better government, we must trust people to choose what to put into their bodies. If we support legalized access to alcohol, cigarettes, and 700-calorie cheeseburgers, we should legalize marijuana — a far less harmful substance.
Thank you for the point about 700-calorie cheeseburgers! I can show you far more harm caused to society from fast food than from marijuana. Just starting with the sheer resources it takes to raise a pound of beef in this country, as my left-wing eco-vegan friends here in Portland never stop reminding me, through the massive underground illegal labor market that keeps it running from slaughterhouse to drive-thru, as my right-wing border-security family back in Boise keep bringing up, fast food costs us more in health care costs, disability, and global climate change than all illegal drugs combined, and certainly more than an eco-friendly domestic crop like marijuana.
That said, I will defend your right to an In-N-Out Double Double with my last dying breath, just as I’ll defend your right to smoke the ickiest of the stickiest. We could – and should – change a lot about how both cheeseburgers and Cheese buds get to your mouth, but we should never arrest you for putting them in there.
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 4:00 pm | By: Lynnette
Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 2943, the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act. I appreciate knowing your views.
As you know, Representative Frank Barney introduced H.R. 2943 on June 18, 2009. H.R. 2943 would eliminate most Federal penalties for possession of marijuana for personal use. Currently this legislation has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Although I do not serve on this committee, I look forward to reviewing its findings and recommendations on the bill.
The Federal Controlled Substance Act (FCSA) outlaws the cultivation, distribution, or possession of marijuana. This law requires that all local, state and federal authorities prosecute violations regarding the use of marijuana. While I appreciate the benefit of your views, I am afraid we disagree on this issue, and I cannot support the legalization of marijuana.
Again, thank you for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I may be of service to you in the future.
Sincerely,
Randy Neugebauer
Member of Congress
Well, that’s short and to the point: I heard you, I disagree with you, I won’t bother to tell you why. That’s the kind of thoughtful representation of which the citizens of the Lone Star State should be proud.
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 3:00 pm | By: Lynnette
Thank you for letting me know of your support for H.R. 2835, the Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act.
You may also be interested to know that the Minnesota Senate recently passed a bill legalizing the use of medicinal marijuana.
H.R. 2835 has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, of which I am not a member. I look forward to reviewing the committee’s recommendation and you can be sure I will keep your views in mind as this legislation moves forward.
Thank you again for sharing your views, as I appreciate hearing from you. Please let me know whenever I can be of assistance.
RevRayGreen: I'll post a pic of me and my son....gimme a minute
Missippi Hippy: Guess what... I'm gonna be a new... ummmmm well, my pet piggie Ganja is in labor and they ain't mine in the same sense. See what your wife [...]
RevRayGreen: days they didn't talk back..or act disrespectful..
RevRayGreen: feel so lucky my son is 18 going 19 and my daughter 16 going on 17..relish the days that can't talk back
Urb Age: Congrats Spof thats awesome. My little Clara is about to hit 20 months. Im not the activist I used to be, but its made me a better man.
Urb Age: Heck I was gonna go up there, but just not feeling well this weekend..Dang it, I hate it when that happens..
RevRayGreen: wishing I was hanging at NORML cafe...
JohnH: Just a quick comment about tokin' and sperm motility....been tokin since age 14 and have 8 kids ranging in age from 30 to 9...(what can I say, I found 2 [...]
slash5city: really ..oprah 35 yr or more in the closet toker ...outed ....o my god !!
SneakerPimp: that would be huge news just imagen the headline
RevRayGreen: maybe Oprah smokes and keeps it on the DL...
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Rep. Mary Fallin (R-OK) on Marijuana Decriminalization
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