This morning was the hearing on House Bill 1550, the bill that would remove penalties for adult marijuana use and set up a distribution system similar to hard liquor. I was able to watch part of the hearing on TVW this morning and also heard this part that Eli Sanders recounts:
The question that’s always asked about this idea—How can a state legalize pot when the feds have declared it illegal?—was articulated this morning by Rep. Christopher Hurst (D-Enumclaw), who warned that if Washington starts selling cannabis through the state liquor store system, as the bill proposes, “Our state employees will be going to federal prison and the federal government will seize every penny we bring in.”
It’s a very inventive scenario, but not a realistic one. What’s much more likely to happen is that if Washington passes this bill, the federal government would immediately try to block the implementation of the regulatory aspects through the courts. And if they failed to block it that way, I find it incredibly unrealistic that they’d respond by sending DEA agents into a state liquor store, arresting the cashier and sending him to jail. As I’ve written before about this, there’s a point where interfering with a state’s laws is far too politically radioactive.
Hurst pointed out that people are still getting arrested and jailed, almost certainly referring to this case, but the defendant in that case was believed to be in violation of Colorado’s laws as well. The closest we’ve come to Hurst’s nightmare scenario is probably the case of Charlie Lynch. That case was so egregious that even the judge spoke out about how unjust it was that Lynch would have to serve jail time. But that arrest took place during the Bush Administration. The Obama Administration has since decreed that folks like Lynch – who was following state law – would no longer be prosecuted.
We’re certainly dealing with a lot of unknowns here. It’s not clear what happens to successful legislation that removes the state penalties for marijuana possession and sale but whose regulatory aspects are successfully blocked by the federal government. What you’d end up with is legalized marijuana but no ability to regulate its production and sale. Does the federal government really want to be responsible for that outcome? I doubt it, and that might make the state immune from any attempt by the feds to block the regulatory aspects of this legislation. But that’s a logical analysis, and if there’s anything I’ve learned about the war on marijuana, it’s that you shouldn’t expect drug warriors to act logically.
Don’t believe a word of it. The DEA and FBI have no problem with stepping into the role of local drug enforcement. I’ve seen it in California. The next Conservative President will be perfectly willing and probably even eager to build a paramilitary police force working at the Federal level.
The DEA is already set up as such an organization, and it has already used private military contractors in enforcement operations worldwide, including here at home. The Department of Homeland Security already has a mandate to enforce Federal law outside the purview of local law enforcement, and they are tied in with every Federal, State and Local law enforcement agency.
With the President having full and sole authority over the National Guard under a declared law enforcement state of emergency, this system already exists and the next rightist President we get will use it if they see the States legalizing marijuana. There have already been test cases in Oregon, Florida, Texas and California, none have yet to be challenged.
thanks Lee for staying on this story.
however i feel nothing positive will happen until we stop voting for Donkeys nad Elephants.
i’m not sure what the poster @ 1 was trying to say but i think he is refering to the 2006 MCA bill that gave the executive branch more power with the NG.
but it will not be the DEA….nice try though
@1
DF – Dude, your assclownery knows no bounds.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA….
< DF……..BOO!!! They're coming for you.
It’s a federal entity that has enforcement functions….so?
Hey I’ll save you time. I tracked your IP and called in the black helicopters. They’re inbound….Oh and they’re manned by Xe contractors….EVIL……
Geez, just when I started to think a couple of happy thoughts about Washington State Democrats one of them goes and screws it up.
Of course lee skips over today’s release of info showing that smoking weed leads to increased chances of psychosis – including paranoia and schizophrenia.
yep..its a harmless drug.
grow up.
@4
the stupid hurts…
@4
Of course I was referring to your oversimplification of a complex group of illnesses.
@6
I need to keep it simple for the pot smokers….they get confused easily.
did you smoke your bowl yet?
dont bogart it dude, Lee needs to sneak some in while his wife isnt looking.
UpChuckie,
Your obsession with Lee continues. For the sake of your family…GET HELP!
@4
It’s not a harmless drug and nether is acetaminophen…
http://www.businessweek.com/li.....48844.html
Speeding in your car isn’t harmless. Not getting your tires rotated on time can be problematic at higher speeds or in slick conditions…
Going to McDonald’s, for a quarter pounder, definitely not harmless.
Lots of things we do every day can be harmful, the idea is to make rational, informed, decisions about things and manage the amount of harm we do. On the grand scale of things, smoking a little weed every now and again isn’t really something to worry about. If someone’s a waker-baker they need to get to a doctor and a rehab program as they probably are doing harm to them selves and folks around them, not to mention having a fairly sucky life in general.
@9
and speaking of obsessions, thank you for not clogging up the page with worthless and meaningless charts and graphs.
much appreciated.
@10
noted…but according to puffpuff lee and the empty chair contingent, pot is TEH MYRIKLE DRUGGE!
I’m not saying it should be legalized or not-because I really dont care all that much…just saying that some people are obsessed with smoking a god damned joint that its all they think about.
fuck, they need go get a hobby or something.
@12
t
On this one we agree.
Just legalize cannabis and stop this crazy prohibition. People aren’t going to stop enjoying pot simply because of a bunch of crazy bastards campaigning and winning a prohibition against a substance less dangerous than alcohol. The whole history of cannabis in the US has been something akin to a story by Kafka. It’s plain nuts to prohibit people from doing what they wish to do in their private lives.
@14
cant say I disagree…. but can we just stop with the BULLSHIT that its some wonder plant/drug.
give me a fucking break…the only people that believe that garbage are lifelong stoners and teenagers trying to justify their usage.
@ 15
And what are you going to wipe your ass with when the last trees are finally cut down?
Legalize it. Use it. It is by several orders of magnitude the easiest natural plant fiber to produce. You can produce on 100 acres no less than 200 times the plant fiber that you can get from trees on the same acerage every year, and you get three crops per year. If you convert the entire paper manufacturing system into making paper out of it, you’ll never run out of trees. The fiber is very high quality, comparable to cotton, and growing hemp doesn’t leach out the soil the way cotton does, requiring no fertilizers, special treatments of the soil or specialized cultivation methods.
That is why it must become legal. Smoking it for pleasure does less harm than tobacco and alcohol. The only reasons for it remaining against the law are the prison industrial complex, and the law enforcement industrial complex, the timber companies, and the alcohol manufacturers like the Coors and Bacardi families.
The only people that stand to lose by it being made legal are the people making money by its prohibition. They say that FLAT OUT.
Legalize it. The laws do more harm in their enforcement than the substance itself has ever done, or ever will do. More people die every single day from tobacco and alcohol than have ever died from using marijuana in the entire history of its cultivation. And that jack goes back to the very beginnings of human agriculture.
Prohibition only serves the organizations and individuals who would see the United States become a totalitarian police state. The people who desire that avenue of corruption to remain in place, and who would see half the population incarcerated for whatever reason to serve their own interests. Often those interests are malevolent, vindictive and stem from the desire for control and command.
We are MURDERING people, often innocents, often children, to enforce unenforceable laws against a fucking plant.
Thats isn’t liberty.
@15 they say that it is a miracle substance because it is. It can cure almost anything you can think of. Did you know it has been shown to reduce the size of tumors? Since your conservative, I have a link to the Fox News article making that claim if you so suggest it. Or are you going to call the people at FOX hippies and Stoners too?! The medical effects dont only reduce pain, they can actually help cure diseases, almost anything you can think of, and hemp can be used not only for paper, but it can make clothing, fuel, food, plastics, building material, and on and on again as with the medical effects of marijuana. Not only that but it is higher quality, cheaper and better for the environment than using traditoinal oil, wood or cotton. If these arent miracle aspects tell me what is.
I don’t believe the feds will raid the state liquor stores. But they don’t have to. All they have to do is to threaten to raid the state liquor stores and arrest the clerks in sting operations.
The state liquor store clerks are pretty responsible people, just there to do a job and do it properly. They aren’t there to make a political point. They would be justified in quiting, or threatening to quit, rather than be subjected to federal prosecution and prison for just doing their jobs.
I’m all for legalizing pot, selling it through the liquor stores, and taxing it like crazy. I don’t smoke pot, but if we are going to sell liquor through state stores, we might as well do the same with pot.
@18
so did you swallow the red pill before or after you toked up?
sure dude, pot can cure “almost any disease” I can think of.
that could be the dumbest comment of the year so far.
too bad pot doesnt cure stupidity…otherwise you and lee would be brain surgeons.