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Missouri Congressman Backs Bill To Decriminalize
05-05-08|The Associated Press|By Sam Hananel

A bill that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana is garnering support from Missouri Rep. William Lacy Clay.

Clay, a Democrat from St. Louis, has signed on as a co-sponsor of the measure to eliminate federal penalties for possessing up to 100 grams — or about 3.5 ounces — of marijuana for personal use.

The measure also would remove penalties for the not-for-profit transfer of up to 1 ounce of marijuana between adults.

"I certainly don't approve of drug use, but we need to stop wasting tax dollars on prosecuting small personal marijuana users in federal court," Clay said Monday. "We have wasted billions of dollars on a phony war on drugs that is filling up our prisons and failing to stop the flow of illegal narcotics into this country."

Clay is one of only three lawmakers currently supporting the bill, introduced last month by Rep. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. Clay called the bill "a reality check" that would allow law enforcement "to fight real threats to public health and national security."

The other co-sponsor is Texas Rep. Ron Paul, a former Republican presidential candidate.

One hundred grams of marijuana would make about 120 to 130 individual cigarettes, according to Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a legalization advocacy group.

He compared that amount to one person buying a few cases or a keg of beer for personal use.

St. Pierre said the measure is the first time in more than 20 years that a federal measure supporting decriminalization has been introduced in Congress.

"A very large group of people around the country that want to see marijuana laws reformed now have something that you can talk about with your representative at the local level," St. Pierre said.

When he introduced the bill, Frank called the prosecution of marijuana smokers a waste of law enforcement resources, particularly the targeting of those who use marijuana as a legal medical treatment under California law.

"If the law I am proposing passes, states will still be free to treat marijuana as they wish," Frank said. "But I do not believe that the federal government should treat adults who choose to smoke marijuana as criminals."

Frank also has offered a separate measure that would grant protection to states that allow medicinal use of marijuana. About a dozen states have legalized medical marijuana use, but federal law considers all forms of marijuana illegal.

Tom Riley, a spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the decriminalization bill shows "an embarrassing understanding of the way law enforcement works on this issue" and predicted it would gain very little support.

"This idea that we're spending scarce law enforcement dollars chasing after college kids with a couple of joints in their pocket is ludicrous," Riley said.

He said the average inmate convicted under federal marijuana possession laws had more than 100 pounds of the drug, not just an amount for personal use.

Riley also called marijuana "a serious drug of abuse for teens" that is not just a gateway to more potent drugs, but a serious problem on its own.

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Donation links to NORML (The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) | MPP (Marijuana Policy Project)

 

Victor_vicious

Isn't that amazing. Now its not just a gateway drug, its a serious problem on its own. Must be the new 'standard line'. They know the 'Gateway Theory' isn't flying anymore so it gets to be a 'serious problem on its own'. What next, drinking and smoking leads to Marijuana use? If, in fact, no one is getting arrested for possession of small amounts Marijuana, 800,000 people were either in possesion of 'other drugs', or I want to know what they did with 100 pound times 800,000 people arrested. Notice the careful wording, 'at the Federal Level'. Since 90% of arrests are at the local and state level, this information is possible accurate. If it is then whats the beef, pass the law. According to him it won't be any change so what is his F$%%^&*& problem with passing it.? Don't reporters ask questions anymore. VV

Buzzby

Clay needs a reality check. I haven't heard of a single personal possession case in a federal court in the last decade. The DEA itself has announced that they don't have the time to waste on such cases. They're after the bigger growers, distributors, and transporters.

This is the practical value of the bill. Without conflict with federal laws, the states will be free to do as they please within the federally established limits. It's greatest value, I think, is symbolic. It tells us that the federal government has given up on Reefer Madness and that the path to a more rational way of dealing with cannabis is open.

That's the reality of the current situation. But if the federal government dropped it's minor possession laws, the states would have a lot less impetus to maintain costly laws that lead to local police chasing after college students with a couple of joints in their pockets.

In those few cases where marijuana proves to be a serious problem, how would maintaining draconian penalties keep them from occurring? Prohibition doesn't work! It never did and it never will. Under the current laws, teenagers find it easier to get marijuana than tobacco or alcohol. Under the current laws, they find it difficult to seek help if they develop an abuse problem. It should be quite obvious to anyone without an ideological axe to grind that prohibition is a total failure, that liberalized laws don't lead to a major increase in use, and that a medical problem is best dealt with by medical professionals, not legislators.

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"If freedom-loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China's oppression in China and Tibet, we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world."
~ Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, 03/22/2008

Swabeky

Don't forget to write your congressmen and woman everybody, only 3 of 400+ members of the house are for this.