Republicans Keep Up Attack On Cannabis
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives had the chance to end federal raids on the medical marijuana industry. Instead, a Republican led House voted down an amendment, 262-163, to the FY 2013 Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations bill that would have defunded efforts to crack down on medical marijuana in states where it’s legal.
Over 70% of Americans support legalizing medical marijuana at the national level, yet 84% of Republican representatives voted to continue arresting, and prosecuting medical marijuana patients and caregivers in states with medical marijuana laws. 134 of the 190 House Democrats voted in favor of the bill, while only 29 of the 242 House Republicans did.
Here is an excerpt from the bill:
None of the funds made available in this Act to the Department of Justice may be used, with respect to the States of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, to prevent such States from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.
Over 250 million Americans want marijuana legalized for medicinal use, 17 states and D.C. have done it, yet our government continues to put people in federal prison for helping supply patients with medical marijuana. In the face of all this, 312 of our supposed representatives decided to continue the war on medical marijuana. If this doesn’t show that our system of representation is bankrupt, nothing will. The principle behind our representative system is that we Americans aren’t fit to vote directly on whether our government should keep wasting our national resources on a failed drug war–this has to change.
It’s time to clean house in Washington D. C. and restructure our system of representation. 312 small-minded individuals should never hold so much power over us. It’s time to take that power back. We trusted our representatives, but they have failed us. We have learned that the common folk are better equipped than professional politicians to make rational decisions on national public policy. If your representative voted against this bill, let them know they just lost your vote.
