Radical Rant: Tell Congress to Let States Decide Their Own Marijuana Policies

Please visit this link at Change.org to sign the petition to urge the chairmen of House committees hearing the bill to establish states’ rights to legalize marijuana! Then share the petition with everybody in your contacts. The people are on our side, but the politicians are not, so let’s show them just how urgent this issue has become. —”R”R

We, the People, call on the United States Congress to pass the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2017 to establish the power of states to set their own marijuana policies.

This act was just submitted by Congressman Thomas Garrett, a Republican from Virginia. He needs our support in order to protect the families, patients and businesses that are acting within the legal bounds of their respective states. Without passage of this act, thousands of these Americans’ lives are threatened by potential federal prosecution.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recently indicated that the Justice Department reserves the right to enforce federal law in states that have legalized recreational or medical marijuana possession, cultivation and sales. 

In three successive elections, voters in eight U.S. states have decided to end their prohibition on the adult use of marijuana. Since 1996, 28 states have decided to allow the use of marijuana to treat certain medical conditions. Since 2014, another 16 states have added laws allowing the use of non-psychoactive cannabidiol, a constituent of marijuana, to treat childhood epilepsy.

However, federal law still treats all use of marijuana as a crime, regardless of state law. That frustrates the states that have moved forward with marijuana regulations. Federal marijuana prohibition impacts issues related to banking, taxation, insurance and other areas that states alone cannot regulate.

Additionally, millions in revenue from the taxation of marijuana is being used to bolster previously underfunded state programs, such as public education and drug treatment. Those programs will find their funding threatened if we don’t act now to change federal law to recognize state marijuana laws.

It’s time that the federal government respect the right of states to decide their own marijuana policies. The American people agree. A February Quinnipiac poll showed that 71 percent of voters, including a majority of Republicans, oppose the federal government’s interference with people and businesses acting in accordance with their state marijuana laws. Signing this petition will show that poll is no fluke, and the people are taking action.

Past presidents and court opinions have suggested that Congress must act to change federal law to truly restore the states’ right to regulate or prohibit marijuana. Now, Congressman Garrett has stepped forward to do just that by introducing the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2017, and he needs our support.

This act is very simple in its design. It merely removes marijuana from the federal Controlled Substances Act. It would not cause marijuana to be legalized anywhere it is currently illegal, as state laws that ban marijuana would not be affected. The act keeps the ban on interstate trafficking of marijuana to places where it remains illegal.

But while seven in 10 Americans support this commonsense reform, getting it passed in the Republican-controlled Congress will be difficult. It has been referred to committees in the House chaired by Rep. Greg Walden and Rep. Bob Goodlatte, both ardent opponents of marijuana legalization.

Please sign this petition to demand Congress restore power to the states to set their own marijuana policies, free from federal interference. We need to show these committee chairs and the rest of Congress that there is a groundswell of support for respecting states’ rights on this matter.

Even the Idaho Senate, a Republican-dominated body that voted overwhelmingly in 2013 to reject marijuana legalization, also voted to reject federal interference with state marijuana laws in neighboring Washington. If support for marijuana states’ rights didn’t hurt the careers of Idaho’s Republican senators, then congressional Republicans have nothing to fear in supporting the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2017.

This petition is being sponsored by children’s rights activist Rebecca Lee and cannabis rights activist Russ Belville, the Host of The Russ Belville Show – The Voice of the Marijuana Nation. If you would like to know how you can help further this cause, both sponsors are eager to speak with you. Please contact us!

Previously in Radical Rant: Lessons for Marijuana Activism from LGBT Activism

Click here for all of Russ Belville’s columns

from
http://hightimes.com/culture/radical-rant-tell-congress-to-let-states-decide-their-own-marijuana-policies/