Colorado Democratic Rep. Jared Polis: Remove Cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act
http://www.coloradoan.com/viewart/20130204/NEWS11/302040049/Colorado-Rep-Polis-introduces-national-marijuana-billThe bill is based on a legalization measure previously pushed by former Reps. Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Ron Paul of Texas.
The legislation created by Frank and Paul was left to die in the office of Texas Republican Representative Leland Howard, who claimed it would never get out of his committee. It didn't. Do not let this happen again. Call your Representative to encourage them to do the correct thing regarding the increasing estrangement between Congress and the American people regarding cannabis' legal status in the US.
It is important to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act because Nixon's organization has created intractable conditions for a plant to meet the standards of a human-manufactured drug. (BTW, Nixon's own commission recommended cannabis not be included in the CSA but Nixon wanted a way to punish his enemies so he ignored the legal and scientific evidence, as has the rest of the Federal govt for the last 40 years.
Democratic Reps. Earl Blumenauer introduced legislation to create a tax structure for cannabis that would be reviewed after two years, and then five, to tax the commercial production of cannabis for both recreational and industrial use.
CO and WA were the tipping point. We're beyond that moment and moving into a major shift in cannabis law in the U.S. Hopefully Congress will not keep itself mired in racist law and will acknowledge the will of the American people sooner rather than later.
= new reply since forum marked as read
When I left VN I ingested a good amount, 1/2 ounce or so of cambodian weed and 24 hours later when we landed in Alaska I was still stoned.
I bookmarked for further study
20 pages-
Executive Summary
After decades of failed policies and tremors of varying intensity, the tectonic plates of marijuana regulation abruptly shifted November 2012 as the citizens of Washington and Colorado voted to legalize the drug for personal, recreational use.
Smaller, earlier quakes first began in Oregon in 1973, when the state legislature passed legislation that made the penalty for possession of small amounts of marijuana equivalent to that of a traffic ticket. 1 In the 40 years that followed, 15 jurisdictions have developed similar policies.2
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Assuming increased legal consumption and reduction in prices, a $50 per ounce tax, for example, would raise estimated revenue of $20 billion annually. 53
Any study of the fiscal impact should also include the savings generated by reduced expenditures on marijuana interdiction and enforcement.
http://blumenauer.house.gov/images/stories/2013/The_Path_Forward.pdf
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In a report released Tuesday, the congressman laid out a broader, five-part agenda: Removing the federal ban on marijuana and taxing the drug the same way Congress regulates and taxes alcohol; allowing states to offer medical marijuana without federal interference; ending the ban on industrial hemp; eliminating tax and banking barriers that prevent marijuana businesses from operating legally and creating a “Sensible Drug Policy Working Group” in Congress to push the other four ideas.
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Blumenauer, who was a freshman member of the Oregon state legislature when it voted to decriminalize small amounts of the drug in 1971, said he was confident at least one element of their plan — ending a ban on industrial hemp production 
— could pass this year. (Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose home state of Kentucky would benefit, recently endorsed such a move.) The other elements are mere years away.
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Blumenauer said the tax could raise $100 billion over the next decade, which would go to paying down the deficit, drug treatment and law enforcement.
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The two congressman also said they are working with a larger, bipartisan group of around 20 members on marijuana issues, and expect about 12 pieces of legislation to be introduced over the course of the 113th Congress. While neither Blumenauer nor Polis would name names, a spokeswoman for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) confirmed he was working on similar legislation.
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The duo also said federal arrests for marijuana possession were still too common, totaling 660,000 in 2011.
“The president when pressed on the issue, famously said he had bigger fish to fry,” Blumenauer said. “The truth is, farther down the federal drug enforcement food chain, there are still people frying these small fish.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/pot-plan-pols-legalization-on-horizon-87227_Page2.html
