House GOP Passes Bill To Force Obama To Crack Down On Legal Weed In States That Allow It - RawStory

[WillyT]

House GOP passes bill to force Obama to crack down on legal weed in states that allow it
By Eric W. Dolan - RawStory
Thursday, March 13, 2014 15:58 EDT

<snip>

Legislation approved by House Republicans would seek to force President Barack Obama to crack down on marijuana in states that have made the drug legal for medical or recreational use. The House passed the Enforce the Law Act by a vote of 233-181 on Wednesday. The bill was introduced by Reps. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Jim Gerlach (R-PA) to allow Congress to sue the president for failing to faithfully execute laws.

“The Constitution gives Congress the responsibility to write the laws and the Executive to enforce them,” Gowdy said Wednesday in a statement. “We don’t pass suggestions. We don’t pass ideas. We pass laws. Regardless of our politics, I hope my colleagues have enough regard for our work to expect those laws would be faithfully executed.”

A committee report submitted by Goodlatte cited the Obama administration’s decision to not intervene with marijuana legalization efforts in various states as an example of executive overreach.

Colorado and Washington both legalized the recreational use of marijuana through statewide voter referendums in 2012. In addition, 20 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana. Federal law, however, still considers the possession and sale of marijuana to be a crime.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced last year that the Department of Justice would not challenge states’ marijuana legalization laws as long as they maintained an “appropriately strict regulatory system.”

The decision not to enforce federal drug laws “in entire states is not a valid exercise of prosecutorial discretion,” the Republican’s report stated.

“Rather...

<snip>

Link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/13/house-gop-passes-bill-to-force-obama-to-crack-down-on-legal-weed-in-states-that-allow-it/

[frylock]

1. state's rights derp!

[WillyT]

3. Yeah, Huh ??? - What Happened To Those ???

[DetlefK]

4. Yeah! State's rights are reserved for abortion and gay-marriage!

[frylock]

7. i'm tired of having gay marriage and marijuana rammed down my throat!!12

[Iggo]

10. ...and, of course, the all-time champion: Racial Discrimination.

[Johonny]

2. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

I try hard to respect Republicans but then I see what they promise and the whole lot of nothing they do and well... only a fool votes Republican. If you don't say it, repeat it, and stop respecting Republican ideas as having value then they'll just keep doing it. Here is a bill going nowhere.

[Berlum]

5. "We were for states rights before we were against states rights. Smirk." - RepubliWankers (R)

[L0oniX]

6. So how are they going to force him to sign that bill?

[tkmorris]

8. They can't, it's just a stunt

Like most everything the bloody House does, it's all for show. It won't see the light of day in the Senate, and of course the Prez will never see it. Those clowns just like to have something to talk about when they send out fundraising emails to their drooling constituents.

[malaise]

9. But but but

States' Rights! States' Rights! States' Rights!

[Blue_Adept]

11. Christ on a cracker

“The Constitution gives Congress the responsibility to write the laws and the Executive to enforce them,” Gowdy said Wednesday in a statement. “We don’t pass suggestions. We don’t pass ideas. We pass laws. Regardless of our politics, I hope my colleagues have enough regard for our work to expect those laws would be faithfully executed.”

This from the group that has been so adamantly against the ACA with how many repeals and more? C'mon.

Welcome to the next big issue that will dominate for a decade of fighting.

[marlakay]

12. Can't he veto the law?

What's the rule here?

[bpj62]

13. Revenue Revenue Revenue

Colorado and Washington have found a way to get around legislatures and federal governments unwillingness to raise revenues. It was just reported that between the recreational and medicinal sale of marijuana in Colorado the sales tax amounted to almost 4 million dollars. That is just for 2 months of sales. I think the writing is on the wall for many states with budget shortfalls and it is the legalization of marijuana. The DEA is against it because they will lose a lot of forfeiture money as well as property and cars that they seize. Same thing with small town police/sheriff departments that depend on those forfeitures to help fund their departments. I don't smoke pot so I don't have a dog in the hunt but if properly regulate it and you enforce the DUI laws then I see no reason why it shouldn't be legalized. if the feds had any brains they would find a way to make money out of this as well.