Hinchey-Rohrabacher
The debate and vote for the Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment was just shown on C-SPAN. It was defeated 163-259. I worked from home today partly so that I could watch this. I don't normally watch C-SPAN, so seeing how our House of Representatives actually debates and votes on an issue that I'm very familiar with was really upsetting (even though the most notorious drug warrior, Mark Souder (R-IN), didn't speak), and it was a strong reminder that my generation has a lot of work to do to restore government back to being remotely functional. If what I saw was the norm, Congress is severely broken.
Several Congressmen (all Republicans) gave speeches against the Amendment. They cited everything from a belief that marijuana is a gateway drug to a belief that marijuana limits your cognitive ability, all things that have been known to be untrue for a while now. Congressman John Peterson of Pennsylvania may have given the most ridiculous of the speeches, making anecdotal claims that marijuana was robbing young people of their future, as if this has anything to do with a cancer patient who finds marijuana useful for stimulating their appetite or an MS patient who finds that it's the most effective pain reliever out there. In fact, states where medical marijuana has been legalized have seen decreases in the amount of teen marijuana users.
David Obey (D-WI) gave what was probably the best speech in support of the Amendment. He's someone who clearly understands the issue both at a personal and a policy level. There are large numbers of legal medicines out there that we keep away from children that are much more dangerous for children than marijuana. The problem is that marijuana is a naturally occurring plant, so people see marijuana use as an all-or-nothing proposition, where any use leads to universal use, because the mythology of what this plant can do to human willpower has been exaggerated to mythical proportions.
Empty suit after empty suit stepped up to the podium in the House today to argue that the threat of sick people smoking a plant approved by their doctor is something so great that stopping it overrides even the will of voters in 11 states. Ever since California became the first state to legalize marijuana for medical use, 80% of Americans support it. How is it that the people who vote this way keep getting to go back to Congress?
And of course, it's not just this issue that has me concerned about what's going on with Congress. We found out today that Congressman Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania planned to secretly go to Iraq to search for the WMDs himself. Congressman Souder wants to use biological weapons to destroy coca plants. And Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado has advocated bombing Muslim shrines and has become the voice of white supremacists when it comes to dealing with the millions of economic refugees coming to the U.S. from Latin America (and it's worth noting that the refugee problem exists in part because our overly paranoid and hypocritical way of dealing with drugs has decimated the economies of countries from Mexico to Peru). So I guess I'll have to prepare myself for another year of federal agents kicking down the doors of sick people who've found that smoking a particular plant is an effective medicine as they fight for their lives.
UPDATE: The individual votes are here. Congressman Dicks changed his vote from last year and voted Yes this time. Congressmen Reichert, Larsen, McMorris, and Hastings voted No again.
Several Congressmen (all Republicans) gave speeches against the Amendment. They cited everything from a belief that marijuana is a gateway drug to a belief that marijuana limits your cognitive ability, all things that have been known to be untrue for a while now. Congressman John Peterson of Pennsylvania may have given the most ridiculous of the speeches, making anecdotal claims that marijuana was robbing young people of their future, as if this has anything to do with a cancer patient who finds marijuana useful for stimulating their appetite or an MS patient who finds that it's the most effective pain reliever out there. In fact, states where medical marijuana has been legalized have seen decreases in the amount of teen marijuana users.
David Obey (D-WI) gave what was probably the best speech in support of the Amendment. He's someone who clearly understands the issue both at a personal and a policy level. There are large numbers of legal medicines out there that we keep away from children that are much more dangerous for children than marijuana. The problem is that marijuana is a naturally occurring plant, so people see marijuana use as an all-or-nothing proposition, where any use leads to universal use, because the mythology of what this plant can do to human willpower has been exaggerated to mythical proportions.
Empty suit after empty suit stepped up to the podium in the House today to argue that the threat of sick people smoking a plant approved by their doctor is something so great that stopping it overrides even the will of voters in 11 states. Ever since California became the first state to legalize marijuana for medical use, 80% of Americans support it. How is it that the people who vote this way keep getting to go back to Congress?
And of course, it's not just this issue that has me concerned about what's going on with Congress. We found out today that Congressman Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania planned to secretly go to Iraq to search for the WMDs himself. Congressman Souder wants to use biological weapons to destroy coca plants. And Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado has advocated bombing Muslim shrines and has become the voice of white supremacists when it comes to dealing with the millions of economic refugees coming to the U.S. from Latin America (and it's worth noting that the refugee problem exists in part because our overly paranoid and hypocritical way of dealing with drugs has decimated the economies of countries from Mexico to Peru). So I guess I'll have to prepare myself for another year of federal agents kicking down the doors of sick people who've found that smoking a particular plant is an effective medicine as they fight for their lives.
UPDATE: The individual votes are here. Congressman Dicks changed his vote from last year and voted Yes this time. Congressmen Reichert, Larsen, McMorris, and Hastings voted No again.
posted by thehim at 4:44 PM
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