Boulder Democrat Polis plans to push decriminalizing marijuana at federal level

[kpete]

Source: Denver Post

Boulder Democrat Polis plans to push decriminalizing marijuana at federal level
By Allison Sherry
The Denver Post
Posted: 01/02/2011 01:00:00 AM MST



If Colorado was allowed to treat marijuana like alcohol — or any other medicine, for that matter — pot dispensaries could freely set up business bank accounts without fear of federal prosecution and marijuana could, like corn and wheat, be grown openly in national forests.

This is according to U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, a Boulder Democrat, who said he plans to push a law in the new Congress that would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level so that states with medicinal laws on the books, like Colorado, could treat it as they wish.

Under Polis' structure, marijuana laws would be extremely local — similar to states that have so-called dry, alcohol- free counties.

"It's not in the federal government's realm," Polis said. "I'm proud of Colorado being a pioneer in this regard and setting up a regulatory structure. We've benefited in tax revenues and I think it's dealt a big blow to criminalize it."


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[Hawkeye-X]

1. He should do it.

And get it passed. Liberterian Rethuglicans should approve of this.

I'm tired of hiding my weed from everyone.

My wife knows I smoke, even though my lame attempts to hide the fact. She recently asked me to buy something that is fruity smelling. That's good news for me.

[shanti]

32. febreze is your friend

nuff said.

[Webster Green]

2. Too bad Obama and Holder are still caught up in Reefer Madness

Of course they know it's all lies, but the Drug Wars make a lot of money for some of their buddies, and gives the increasingly militarized police the right to do anything they want.:grr:

[truedelphi]

8. Gov Schwartzennegger's parting shot for the people of Calif. was seeing to it

That small amounts of marijuana are now decriminalized. If you are carrying enough for personal use, no arrest - just something like a traffic fine. Although this policy was employed in many of the more liberal areas of Calif., it will now be standard operating procedure.

I will really miss him on the drug issues.

[intheflow]

3. Polis a good man, and a vet.

I hope he's able to get some national support for this.

And like HawkeyeX, I'm tired of having to hide my usage, whereas I know plenty of people who get completely drunk every night of the week and no one bats an eye. (Thankfully I'm very healthy, but that also means I'm not eligible for an MMJ license here in Denver so still have to slink around with my weed.)

[kag]

42. Polis represents my district

I didn't vote for him two years ago when he was first running for Mark Udall's seat, and I was disappointed when he won. But I have to say, he has made me like him. And I can honestly say that his opponent two years ago probably wouldn't have taken on the mmj issue.

Way to go Jared!

[tekisui]

4. knr.

[sam sarrha]

5. ..but...but ... if they legalize Weed no is going to buy Cocaine, Heroin or alcohol. the world's

economy will collapse.. we wont have a reason to be in Afghanistan..

Agricultural Hemp will be legal and the farmers will get out of debt.,. the banks will collapse.!!

it's the end of the world as we know it.!! :toast: :bounce: :fistbump: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :applause: :patriot: :hippie: :popcorn:

it is about time.!!

[wial]

23. it'll certainly play hell with the world's covert action industry

and then wikileaks would be out of a job! Keep marijuana illegal! Keep Julian Assange employed whether he likes it or not!

CIA etc. operatives can't set up nice retirement funds for themselves if they can't play the black markets they're assigned to infiltrate and manipulate. Without a major lifestyle enhancing substance criminalized, a lot of the black markets would dry up, and then the CIA would become much less powerful and secrecy less of an emblem of government and then the rampant corruption would abate and then whistleblowers would have much less to do and then JULIAN WOULD BE OUT OF A JOB!

We can't have that!

[kurtzapril4]

6. Not sure.

Not sure I want even more land cleared in National Forests to grow crops. The only "crops" National Forests should be growing are native forbs, grasses, trees and wildlife.

So, yes to pot growing and legalisation. No to pot growing on public land.

[obxhead]

28. Pot is already grown in large quantities in our National

Forests. Land does not have to be cleared for it.

Private farmers would be more than happy to grow the crop as well.

[Evans]

7. re: legalizing pot

Yeah, that's what we need. Encourage people to be like my roommate who wanders around in a self important, short sighted daze, leaving doors opened and unlocked and lights on all over the house.

Smoking pot is supposed to be a leisure time activity not something that obsesses people so they lose goals in life.
------------------------------------------------------
The Hashish Army - Stoned Soldiers Afghanistan

http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/26124/The_Hashish_Army___stoned_soldiers_Afghanistan/

------------------------------------------------------

Inside Afghanistan-Fighting Alongside Stoned Afghan Soldiers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc8w0IX4UQc

[eggplant]

9. I feel sorry for your roommate. Some people shouldn't smoke.

Just like some shouldn't drink. But decriminalization isn't going to affect your roommate one way or the other.

Welcome to DU, btw.

[RoccoR5955]

21. I'll go along with that. Some people have more self control than others

Be it alcohol, marijuana, or anything. Some people know when to stop, while others do not. That should not make it harder for those of us with self control.

[NBachers]

26. I've got a med license, but I don't smoke because I feel shitty when I do

Dumb, paranoid, mute, suspicious, depressed, defensive, and forgetful.

I belong to two of the premier Bay Area dispensaries. Class acts, and a total dream come true for smokers, growers, and activists.

Even though I don't have the psychological makeup to enjoy their products, I still support them. I pray that California's, and America's farmers will be able to grow hemp crops soon.

[mdmc]

10. sounds like nothin a little time in the slammer won't cure

welcome to du..

[Webster Green]

11. Not this shit again.

Reefer Madness.

Is your roommate a dirty hippie, perchance?

Welcome to DU! :hi: :rofl:

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. +1

:evilgrin:

[ladywnch]

16. it's a good thing alcohol doesn't cause anything like this.

I've NEVER seen this happen with alcohol. If alcohol caused problems like this it would be illegal and outlawed.

Oh yeah. They tried that one already......and it worked as well as the war on drugs has and gave rise to organized crime syndicates.....much like the war on drugs. By all means, lets try that one again.

Like someone else already said, "some people shouldn't smoke pot"

Based on your reasoning, alcohol should be illegal (again) and we should ban prescription drugs too since people abuse those too. I'll hazard a guess that your roommate would find another excuse to be lazy and unproductive if pot were gone tomorrow. Some people are just that way. But to ruin someone's life over being found with a joint one your person is just ludicrous and serves NO ONE.

Since the medical marijuana laws here in Colorado I can now manage my pain and rejoin the rest of the world. Even with the law, every time I go to the dispensary I'm scared shitless that I'm going to get busted between there and home.

My point being, for everyone of your roommates, there are hundreds (if not thousands) of people like me.

[JonLP24]

20. I don't have flash

but the "Hashish Army" seems like a unit I would like to be a part of. :smoke:

You might be surprised how many in our current armed forces use cannabis. Though most don't on a regular basis due to drug tests. They usually wait til they're on leave or after a 100% of the unit drug test, because units in the army are allowed two per year. The rest of the drug tests are 10% random.

However many get around this by using substances that don't stay in the system long such as cocaine. They'll use that but won't touch MJ. Because if you're off on a Friday, you won't face a piss test until Monday (even longer on 4 day weekends), so chances are you'll be clean. With MJ you'll be dirty for around a week. Or abuse alcohol. Barracks is full of people drinking on the weekends. I even recall people drinking booze from a three story funnel being held by people on the top for being drunk by a person on the ground floor.

[Axle_techie]

27. I used to smoke constantly

I was an asset to my job, successful in my personal life, and relaxed in high stress situations. Your roomie needs to realize it is not for him, but just because he is unable to cope does not mean that others cannot as well.

[obxhead]

29. I know lots of people who wander around in a self important,

short sighted daze, leaving doors opened and unlocked and lights on all over the house etc. People who have never smoked a joint in their life.

I also know many more people who use pot on a daily basis and lead full, productive, society befitting lives as well. Punishing the many because a few should not do something is illogical and stupid.

[bengalherder]

35. Since your roomate is a loser

Nobody else should smoke weed.

Sheesh.

I had a housemate who drank a quart of whiskey a day. When he moved out due to non-payment of rent a few months later, his closet was full of bottles. However, despite that experience I don't immediately assume that everyone else who uses liquor is a stone loser.

If you resent him that much find another gig.

In the meantime, I'm sure you have habits that drive your housmates batty too. Being judgemental might be among them.

[SpiralHawk]

36. How irresponsible of you to have chosen that roommate

your Republicon Family Values roommate-choosing 'skills' do not entitle you to whine...Try acting like an American an accepting responsibility for your own choices in life...

[nebenaube]

38. The enemy there is stoned too...

Funny how no one in history has ever 'conquered' that place...

[craigmatic]

13. I like how he waited until after they lost the House to put forth this symbolic legislation.

[Uncle Joe]

40. It may not be symbolic, I believe this cuts across party lines at least insofar as the

American People are concerned.

I also know that's not a guarantee that it will pass.

[kestrel91316]

14. Um, I hate to break it to you, but one can NOT "grow corn and wheat

in national forests". Just FYI. I doubt legalization of cannabis would somehow magically get around the fact that one cannot plant nonnative species for commercial production in our national forests. If it grew there naturally as a native species, it could be harvested from the wild.

If it's federally legal, it will be legal to grow it as a crop on private agricultural land. Which is where it belongs - not as a non-native species in an alien ecosystem.

[kurtzapril4]

19. As far as I know

the big pot farms on federal land are a real problem, vis a vis destruction of the immediate environment, and the run-off of chemicals and pesticides. Not to mention the importation of cheap, illegal labour to tend the farms. These pot farms are often booby-trapped, kinda scary. Making it legal would take out most of the negatives, IMO.

However, Cheatgrass and Kudzu were planted legally, and asian ladybeetles imported with the blessing of the Gov't. They didn't work out so well.

Pot would belong in row-crop on the plains, just like all the other row-crops. Not in our national forests.

[sarcasmo]

15. Smartest state in the union, imho.

[HereSince1628]

17. I'm glad to see this

I am glad to see states take this on and demonstrate measurable outcomes so the rest of us can make better informed decisions.

[backtomn]

18. How about JOBS, JOBS, JOBS.....

I would be more positive about this if people were actually returning to work.....or if this actually created more than 50 jobs.

We need some focus here. Get things back on track....then worry about this. This is like Repubs worrying about sex ed classes when the economy is suffering.

[DeadEyeDyck]

22. Dorreto factories will be opening up everywhere

[truedelphi]

24. There was a recent article in a Calif newspaper, that Mendocino County was

able to salvage a valuable part of its police budget, only by its confiscation of the assets of several pot farms that the plant had been grown on, and receiving the tax monies from the legal marijuana cultivation manors.

It strikes any thinking person as completely absurd that the one way our citizenry can stave off the wolf at the door would be in growing this plant, yet authorities oppose this. Whatever the risks to society that are posed by this plant, the possibility of having no money for any income for the citizens or any tax revenues for government programs seems to recommend the legalizing of this drug.

But of course, in part, the losers of this "drug's" legalization would be people who run the District Attorney office, in all the many counties in our land. Fewer legal cases, fewer dollars, and why do these people care if those dollars come from the beleagured tax payer?

This is why, perhaps, that Kamela Harris, opposed the passing of Prop 19. But her doing so cost her a good 9% of the total vote and meant that she squeaked by in her election over Cooley.

[RKP5637]

25. There's big enforcement money in keeping pot illegal. n/t

[timo]

30. screw a national forrest

I have a huge propagation house sitting unused because the plant market sucks right now, plus over 11,000 sq ft of shade house and nursery that I could be using to grow the dank in/on and a shitload of acres of tree farms that I could have weed growing between the palm trees.....I am all for legalizing the devils lettuce!!

[patrice]

31. Would that include Hemp? It de-natures Pot, you know, so I suppose legalization efforts

are going to be limited to just Pot.

Too bad, because you'd think hemp would be good for entrepreneurship too.

[Scruffy1]

33. Just take your soma

I've come to believe that the drug epidemic in America has a lot to do with the corporate takeover of America.

[avaistheone1]

34. I am thinking along those same lines.

I know so many good young and middle aged people who are on anti-depressants - it's sad.

I can't believe that this is something that is natural or right.

[punkin87]

37. Finally a Congressman that is sane and courageous!

'bout time!

[Uncle Joe]

39. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[Democrats_win]

41. Give-the-rich-a-tax-cut Polis can go "f" himself--he's my congressman!

Yes, pot should be 100% legal. Nevertheless, Polis has not represented the poor people of Adams County, Colorado. We need to get rid of this jerk asap. "F" this rich jerk. Get rid of him!