The Most Politically Important Marijuana Dispensary In The Nation

[RainDog]

http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/the-pot-industry-s-most-politically-important-dispensary-20130321

The first dispensary in D.C. is set to open soon, only blocks away from federal legislators who have been tasked, by a bill from Democrats Polis of Colorado and Blumenauer of Oregon, to overturn decades of poorly thought out and wrongly-enacted prohibition legislation.

“I’ve talked to people all over the country about marijuana,” said Corey Barnette, a principal at District Growers, the cultivation facility that will service the center. “Everyone is highly focused on what happens in Washington, D.C. We are a city on top of the feds, and with Congress right here. If we can make it work, it can work anywhere.”

...regardless of what individual states do, the use or cultivation of marijuana remains a federal crime under the Controlled Substance Act. This means that even if state law enforcement allows for use of the drug, federal officials do not. In the eyes of the federal government, there is no such thing as “medical marijuana.”

This is where Polis and Blumenauer come in. The duo has dropped a series of bills to end the federal prohibition on the drug, impose federal tax on sale of legal pot, and protect the rights of patients using medical marijuana. At this point, especially in a Republican-run House of Representatives, these bills have an upward climb toward becoming law. But the way things have been shifting, that could change rapidly.

In this sense, the congressmen and the dispensary can help each other out. District pot sellers need the protection of a federal law, and the congressmen could use a place to show to their skeptical colleagues what it really looks like and it’s impact on a community.

Nate Silver, the guy who correctly predicted the Presidential election, in spite of Republican insistence that their views had popular support, suggested Republicans could find some relief among disgustipated voters by returning to their conservative principles and undo prohibition.

I think some of the current crop of Republicans are too stupid to "get it," but, as Polis and others have demonstrated, undoing prohibition laws - by removing cannabis from the drug schedules and moving it to regulation under the Tobacco, Alcohol and Firearms bureaucracy - is a winning and correct position. This is the aim of H.R. 499, introduced by the Democratic legislator, Polis.

Who is leading the way to saner and more just law? People like Chellie Pingree, from Maine. A Democrat.

Pingree, a Democrat representing Maine’s 1st District, is currently the only member of Congress from New England to sign on in support of H.R. 499, titled the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2013. The only Republican co-sponsor is U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California.

“It makes no sense to punish individuals for using a substance less harmful than alcohol,” David Boyer, Maine political director for the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a statement Thursday. “Instead, we should allow adults to use marijuana legally while regulating the production and sale of the substance. We will not only better control production and sales, but we will also create new jobs and generate tax revenue.”

“The alcohol industry has become manageable. We’ve been able to reduce the amount of alcohol being consumed by teenagers and we’ve been able to hold people responsible for their actions, and that’s what we’d want to do with marijuana,” Marshall said. “Marijuana is undoubtedly America’s No. 1 cash crop, and all that [money is] going untaxed and it’s going to people who are not running legitimate businesses in the eyes of the law.”

http://bangordailynews.com/2013/03/21/politics/pingree-co-sponsoring-bill-to-legalize-marijuana-nationwide/

THANK YOU to Democrats who are working to create a more egalitarian nation based upon the rational examination of actual evidence.

[RainDog]

1. evening kick n/t

[me b zola]

2. K&R

[RainDog]

3. Why is the liberal northeast so backward on this issue, I wonder? n/t

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. Not so much the states as their reps in Washington.

All the New England states except New Hampshire have medical marijuana, and New Hampshire is coming this year, I think.

Marijuana is decriminalized in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and maybe more in New England.

There are legalization bills in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

The northeast shows up in polls as one of the most pot-friendly regions of the country, challening the Far West.

[RainDog]

5. So, to rephrase - why are Northeastern legislators not behind this?

(which is what I meant anyway, since the article mentions that the one female, from Maine, was the only person from the northeast who had signed off on the legislation.)

They are the homes to some of the most prestigious universities and research labs in the nation. They can call upon such people to supply information or to verify research by others.

What possible reason could someone find to want to continue to maintain cannabis as a schedule I drug when this is such an obvious lie, and those who want to maintain this lie engage in all sorts of false statements to do so?

I don't get it.