Interview with Congressman Barney Frank on his plan to legalize pot
Esquire interviewed Barney Frank about the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2009.
He's Not High: Inside Barney Frank's Plan to Legalize Marijuana (Via Dose Nation)BARNEY FRANK: Announcing that the government should mind its own business on marijuana is really not that hard. There's not a lot of complexity here. We should stop treating people as criminals because they smoke marijuana. The problem is the political will.
ESQ: That's my second question. There's already been a lot of change in the country. Thirteen states have decriminalized pot. What's holding up Congress?
BF: This is a case where there's cultural lag on the part of my colleagues. If you ask them privately, they don't think it's a terrible thing. But they're afraid of being portrayed as soft on drugs. And by the way, the argument is, nobody ever gets arrested for it. But we have this outrageous case in New York where a cop jammed a baton up a guy's ass when he caught him smoking marijuana.
ESQ: You're kidding.
BF: Actually, I've just been corrected by my partner -- it was a radio he jammed up the guy's ass, not his baton.
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Wasn't that a character from Thundercats? PUMRAA!!!
from Mother Jones:
"SO WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF LEGALIZATION? Slim. For starters, the United States, along with virtually every other country in the world, is a signatory to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (and its 1988 successor), which flatly prohibits legalization of cannabis. The only way around this is to unilaterally withdraw from the treaties or to withdraw and then reenter with reservations. That's not going to happen."
so, if the UN is the enemy (saturated as it is with comfortable committees living large on the good intentions of others), maybe it is time to give the UN a good shit-kicking until it backs off this sinecure:
http://www.incb.org/incb/convention_1961.html
he next big problem is breaking the grip of the DEA Cartel. Like all large, criminal drug organizations, it is not above using blackmail, extortion, torture and murder to protect its turf. Remember their gravy train relies utterly on keeping some substances illegal, regardless of why.
Well shoot, if we make it a US vs. UN issue, perhaps the right wing will sign on, and the purported libertarians can start talking about common cause. I'd love to see Bob Barr and Jesse Ventura hold a media event with Barney Frank to get attention for the issue.
Here's the link to the story of the NYPD allegedly sodomizing a man they accused of having marijuana:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/10/27/nypd.sodomy/
I don't know exactly what Frank's plans are, but at the very least this should be a states' rights issue. It's absurd that there are so many states in this country where marijuana is decriminalized or legal for medical use, but still illegal under Federal law.
not surprised. Sadistic little boys, like monkeys, always go for the eyes and genitals and other soft bits first. Lots of that repressed homo-erotic dominance activity in the steroid riddled locker rooms of uniform fans.
Things the American Government Should Handle:
-Maintaining A Stable Free Trade
-Protecting Us From Foreign Invaders
-Punishing Those on Our Soil Who Do Us Harm
That about covers it.
Anything else is outside the scope of the government's responsibility. Such as:
-Victimless Crime
-Sexual Preference
-Economic Stimulus
-Etc.
Barney Frank is by far my favorite member of congress. It's always a joy to hear him interviewed on NPR. He's one of the few politicians who will give an honest, frank (pardon the pun) explanation of his opinion.
Oh, like we've never withdrawn from an international treaty before.
God I love Barney Frank.
landmines or pot, which is worse?
Travesty
A little boy, age 2½, cringes, screaming, against a corner wall. He does not know where he is, and he’s seen his great-grandmother only three times in his short life. All he knows is that he wants to go home and be with his Mommy and Daddy and his Nanny. Mommy and Daddy have gone and left him here with his great-grandmother. It is bedtime and she is trying to put him to bed. She has to pull him from the corner and carry him, kicking and screaming, and put him in a strange bed he’s never slept in before. ‘Where is his Mommy?’, he wonders, calling and sobbing. ‘Where is his Daddy? Why has he been taken from the only home he’s ever known and placed with his Gam-Gam? Why can’t he go home?’
The little boy’s Mommy cries sobbing tears as she has to leave her baby son with Gam-Gam. She knows Gam-Gam loves him and will take care of him, but she wants her baby at home with her. The strange woman said Mommy did something wrong and her boy had to go stay in another home until she took some parenting classes and some alcohol/drug classes. What terrible crime did the young mother commit to have this traumatic thing done to her? The awful crime she committed was that she used a bit of marijuana to help her cope with her busy day and attend to her small son. She’s a very good mother to him. She goes to school and is a senior this year. She spends lots of time with her baby, teaching him, playing with him, keeping him healthy and feeding him properly. He can count to 19, and he knows his ABCs. He always has clean clothes to wear and good shoes to put on his feet. There is not a mark on his beautiful little body. Is this a sign of an abused child from a druggie home?? But yet, the stigma has been applied because a so-called “friend” got mad at the young mother and called CPS on her for spite. The strange people came and said she broke the law, and the child would have to be removed from the home.
And why is using marijuana against the law? Because the GOVERNMENT HAS NOT FIGURED OUT A WAY TO CONTROL IT AND TAX IT YET!! Because of a stupid law against a natural herb that Nature put on this earth for people to use for their health, a 2½-year-old boy is traumatized, virtually ripped from his home and his family, and cannot go back until his Mommy completes classes to teach her how to be a good parent…something she’s already been for 2½ years. Every night the boy sobs and cries for his Mommy and Daddy. He watches out the window, saying, “Daddy will come get me. Mommy will come get me and take me home.” His Gam-Gam watches with a heart that’s being ripped from her chest and tries to tell him that Mommy’s in school and Daddy’s at work, and they’ll come get him as soon as they can. Is this what our country and our law is all about? Terrorizing and traumatizing small children? Breaking up good homes? If so, then I am TOTALLY ASHAMED of my country and my government! How much more damage has the government done to this baby boy and his young parents with its idiotic law than using a bit of marijuana to ease stress! It is insane! I’m sure most of the people reading this either smoke marijuana or have tried it. It is highly overrated, and only eases stress at best, if even that.
What about the children who actually live in crack houses? The children who are truly abused, beaten, sick and aren’t taken for medical care? What about the children who don’t get enough food to eat because their parents spent all the money on heroin? Where the hell is CPS when that kind of behavior is going on? I’ll tell you where they are…they’re jerking a perfectly healthy, bright, intelligent, well-cared-for boy out of his home and away from his parents. His parents aren’t drug addicts or drug dealers. They’re not drunks or alcoholics. They are bright, educated, hard-working, ethical young people who want to raise their small son in the best way they know how. And a tired young mother is punished and loses her child because she took a natural herb to give her a little more strength to cope with her beautiful active son. What the law did in this case is WRONG! SHAME ON THIS GOVERNMENT!!
http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2003/08/17/drugWarVictims.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlxhjQeO0Dc
http://www.dpft.org/deaths.html
> "Sadistic little boys, like monkeys, always go for the eyes and genitals and other soft bits first. Lots of that repressed homo-erotic dominance activity in the steroid riddled locker rooms of uniform fans."
LOL! You are such a poet, Mr. Pickle!
@ #13 summerfey
How would regulating the production of marijuana differ from regulating the production of tobacco? How would regulating and taxing the sale of marijuana differ from regulating and taxing the sale of alcohol?
@Takuan (#2):
Mother Jones thinks the U.S. actually cares which treaties it has and has not signed, or what words are in those treaties? That is just so cute!
when the bad guys are looking for excuses, law is their first refuge.
Darth Schmoo, you have it exactly right. There is of course the general matter that the US cares not a whit what the UN thinks, does what it pleases when the UN opposes it and can't even be bothered to pay its membership fees. Which is one of the privileges of being the most powerful country in the world, but it doesn't sit well with the general position of moral authority the US government tried to offer up to the rest of the world.
But if this guy can get the US to ease off on pot smokers, I'm all for it.
still no word from the CIA about that jet of theirs with the four tonnes of cocaine on it? You'd think they'd just blame it on ShoeBoy and finally fess-up.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Marc+Emery+marijuana+mail+order+associates+sentenced+years+probation/1802147/story.html
"The only way around this is to unilaterally withdraw from the treaties or to withdraw and then reenter with reservations. That's not going to happen."
You should check how many treaties the USA removed itself from between 1/20/01 and 9/11/01.
Also, to those of you who love Barney Frank - You Are Welcome. I am proud he is my districts congressman.
@ Takuan:
"For starters, the United States, along with virtually every other country in the world, is a signatory to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs..."
While I generally agree with Mother Jones about the plausibility of marijuana being legalized for recreational use, it must be said that the United States has a horrible record of keeping her word. The Geneva Coventions, the Cuban-American Treaty, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, just to name a few.
before the Word, was the Will.
Quick, without looking it up, when was the last time the US Government broke a treaty with the American Indians?
Native Americans know the answer... 2 hints:
It wasn't when the part of the US constitution that requires adherence to treaties was rescinded (because that's still there)...
It wasn't when the wind stopped blowing, the sun stopped shining, and the grass stopped growing...
Give up? Go look it up then.
Keeping treaties?! We don't even keep our beloved Constitution! What's that about seizure of property? If my tags go 6 months expired, cops will confiscate my car, slap me with fees and rigamarole and make it quite unlikely that I get my car back, so they can sell it at auction.
I often think that our nation hasn't made any progress on the marijuana issue for decades, but then I remember that back when Clinton was running for office it still counted as a major scandal that he might have had a drag off of a joint once in the '60s. That Frank can even voice such a plan today without jeopardizing his career has got to count for something.
Correction:
It wasn't a radio the cop jammed up the guy's ass. It was a Walkman. A yellow, water-resistant, WM-FS421 "sports" model. But it must be noted that also had a built-in AM/FM radio, so I can understand the confusion.
Buy it here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-WMFS421-WM-FS421-Sports-Walkman/dp/B00005ML3S
The Single Convention is often raised as a major legal impediment constraining how much national governments can change legislation towards legalizing drug consumption/possession/sales. Can any legal types out there explain how problematic or difficult it would actually be for a government to legally withdraw from such an international convention?
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Convention_on_Narcotic_Drugs)
Go Barney! I've always respected Mr. Frank. Anyone with the cojones to be openly gay in the face of the 'phobes in DC has my support, and I'm straight. That's not the issue, of course, I'm completely apathetic to what someone's sexual orientation is. It's a non-issue. That's just what made me take notice of him.
He's the only big-time elected figure I know of who doesn't dance around a question looking for the most benign response in some effort to boost his personal popularity. He says what he thinks, and I like what I hear. He's not pushing emotional and phobia buttons. He's a lucid example of the kind of logic that we need more of.
Sadly, his pragmatism is right on the mark when he expresses doubts about this bill passing. A measure like it will pass someday, but not until "the old guard" dies off or retires.
I know a retired federal officer who said to me "Please tell me we'll stop locking people up and destroying their lives over pot before I die."
I couldn't agree more.
Oh, Massachusetts... If you ever get tired of Barney's way of thinking, I'll be more than happy to trade Joe Barton for him. Seriously. Not that I hate you or anything, but you guys might actually be able to beat some sense into our elected village idiot.
http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/us/2009/07/18/D99H0SEG0_us_california_gone_to_pot/index.html
http://www.mpp.org/assets/pdfs/download-materials/TandRARGUMENTS092008.pdf
To those of you who are bringing up the international treaty as a reason for marijuana's continued illegality, may I please submit the above link from the Marijuana Policy Project, which answers to this particular issue, as well as several other myths, objections to, and arguments against the legalization or decriminalization of pot.
The specific part that addresses it says:
RESPONSE: To the contrary, these treaties allow considerable flexibility. The Netherlands, for example, is a signatory to these treaties and has a quasi-legal system of marijuana regulation in place right now. And the U.S. has always been the driving force behind international drug control treaties, and we can renegotiate them anytime we want.
"The DEA Cartel wishes to state yet again that they are an association of legitimate businessmen etc. etc."
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090716-714045.html
@31- DR80085- Not really a "legal-type" here, but as far as what I know of US law the US goes-- unlike many other countries, puts treaties on an equal footing with other laws, not above them. Which means that stuffing the treaty is just as simple as amending a normal federal law would be.
let's see if Emery gets screwed worse than Tommy Chong:
http://www.theprovince.com/news/activists+Emercy+associates+given+probation+court/1805439/story.html
Mr. Mineo seems to think he needs $220M to heal his achey hiney.
And, according to the latest reports I've seen, they are sticking with the "baton" story, not the radio version...
Did it happen, I dunno - but asking for $220 Million casts this case in a particular light, and if true, sets a very high hurdle for his civil case to overcome, and makes the police/transit officer's criminal defense much easier - IMHO.
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/18/albany-man-forcibly-sedated-for-cavity-search-gets-125k-settlement/
$5.8 million
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abner_Louima
What happened to liberty in this country?! I'm ashamed and embarrassed by most politicians in this country. I believe we used to call them "leaders" .. they're now known, generously, as "lawmakers".
Thank you, Rep. Frank, and, on a more local level, FUCK YOU Gov. M. Jodi Rell.
@ #42:
"Thank you, Rep. Frank, and, on a more local level, FUCK YOU Gov. M. Jodi Rell."
Would that be with a radio or a baton?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10290390-71.html
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/20/illinois-officers-sued-for-unprovoked-tasering/
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/25/idaho-man-sodomized-by-police-taser-plans-to-sue/
I think the legalization of pot would actually lead to the decrease of its use. Check out http://www.mindreign.com/en/mindshare/Health-and-Science/Mom-2c-Let-s-Try-Some-Pot/sl36962307bp407cpp10pn1.html for some other interested ideas....