HR 5843 - Call Your Representative

Last Wednesday, Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) was joined by Reps. William Lacy Clay (D-MO) and Barbara Lee (D-CA) at a press conference introducing US House Bill 5843 - "An Act to Remove Federal Penalties for the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults."

Ron Paul has co-sponsored the bill. NORML and MPP were at the press conference. CNN covered the press conference.

You can read the coverage on NORML's blog here, and MPP's coverage here.

The timing of this bill may land it in the middle of upcoming Presidential debates. It should force some positional statements from your Representatives and their challengers. I know you see a lot of bills come and go, and the fight seems endless; but this is the first significant federal legislation addressing cannabis since 1978! It is so worth you calling, emailing or writing your Representative(s) encouraging them to support this bill. Go. Go Now.

"You're a Greasy Little Kid Who Smokes Pot"
Do know "Spaces" by King Britt (feat. Quasimoto)? I recommend you check it out - hit that earlier link and listen while you read this. I'm wondering about where the Presidential candidates stand on the Drug War. Let's find out:

Here's a link to a listing of positions on drug reform, grouped by the 2008 Presidential candidates. Here's the scoop:
McCain says we're loosing the WoD but favors more enforcement as the solution.
Obama is noncommittal but at least demonstrates that he's critically examined the drug war.

Scott Morgan at StoptheDrugWar.org has Obama's answer on the issue as quoted from a recent Rolling Stones interview. He calls this "The new status quo" answer in mainstream politics. I'm not sure I would say that yet, but we're close.

Then there's McCain. The Economist said that while Obama moved to the center, McCain was inexplicably moving further to the Right. They were astonished in a OMG kinda way. Well, as OMG as the Economist can stand to be.

McCain's approach is "Just Say No". Well, not following his own advice, he says more than just "No": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvcF2I4OMo8
He also says, "I don't believe marijuana is necessary for relieving pain...I don't support [medical marijuana]...I believe [marijuana] is a gateway drug."

"Now You Get the Milk and I'll Get the Cookies and We'll Get High and Do the Boogie."
I don't pay too much attention when Obama calls McCain a third term for Bush, but this view of McCain's is straight out of the eighties - certainly the 20th century. Is McCain the 20th Century Man? Is that where we want to stay? I've got another song for you. This one is by John Hartford, called "Granny Wontcha Smoke Some Marijuana."

Remember on Wednesday when we quoted the deputy drug czar in Our "Drug Czar" and Our, Quote, Constitutional Rights? Compare what Scott Burns (the dCzar) said then and what Representative Barney Frank said when introducing HB 5843:

"I don't think that it is the governments business to tell you how to spend your leisure time. This notion that we somehow have to either approve or criminalize all human activity, is as I said, a great misunderstanding of what's needed for a liberal, in the broad sense, government - a government in which people are free to do as they wish, unless they are damaging somebody else, or unless in rare cases you believe that they are so out of control that they can't be trusted to make their own judgments."

Miles apart, aren't they?

Here's an address for Representative Don Young:
The Honorable Don Young
United States House of Representatives
2111 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-0201