Barney Frank Calls For Decriminalization Of Small Amounts Of Marijuana

Politico:

Rep. Barney Frank will soon introduce legislation to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana, the Massachusetts Democrat said during an appearance on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher."

Frank offered no details on his legislation, and it's not at all clear that he could ever get it to the House floor for a vote. A Frank aide was unaware of his plans other than his statement on HBO.

Read the whole story: Politico

Comments

[Boboday555]

American Hillbilly Logic:
Tobacco kills over 400,000 Americans each year.
Tobacco is legal.

Pot has never killed anyone EVER!
Pot is illegal.

No wonder America is a global laughingstock...we let the inbred inmates run the asylum.

[seanosul]

if you get caught with a bag of weed and a gun in the uk - they are more concerned about the gun. if you get caught with a bag of weed and a gun in the US- they are more concerned about the weed

[research]

But, But...What if the Hippies come back?!?!??!

[THEDEVILCOMES]

They can't there your grandmothers and grandfathers the hippies of yesterday-in the 60's most of your hippies were in there twenty's and this is 2008 so your looking at Americans between the ages of 52-80's somethings marching can't see that happening old people who use to smoke grass not weed but GRASS. Three finger lid- match box-shake. Ok so i'm old school and i haven't died from any overdose!!!! Beer and hard liquor has created Org like MADD-DUI-JAIL TIME-PRISON TIME-HURTS FAMILIES ALL ACROSS THIS NATION,and it sold to children on a daliy bases. Now some in our goverment will pretend it hurt's you which is a lie or Bill Clinton would never have been our President he would have ended up as a stoner. Mary Ann from the island is about the age of the hippie years. Come on grown ups who used to smoke stop taking Pharm and come back to mother nature. PEACE NOT WAR -TWO FINGERS

[research]

Yeah as pot use peeked, alcohol use was way down and so were fatal traffic accidents.

[Boboday555]

So?
If the hippies return so might Brotherly Love.
Something that's been totally absent since this War Mongering, Evangelical Chrisitan, neo-con animal, revolution began.

[danton59]

Why not, Absinthe is legal again. Both are good for you in samll amounts !

[shockmagog]

"In 2003, a total of 20,687 persons died of alcohol-induced causes in the United States (Tables 23 and 24). The category 'alcohol-induced causes' includes not only deaths from dependent and nondependent use of alcohol, but also accidental poisoning by alcohol. It excludes unintentional injuries, homicides, and other causes indirectly related to alcohol use as well as deaths due to fetal alcohol syndrome."

Source: Hoyert, Donna L., PhD, Heron, Melonie P., PhD, Murphy, Sherry L., BS, Kung, Hsiang-Ching, PhD; Division of Vital Statistics, "Deaths: Final Data for 2003," National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 54, No. 13 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, April 19, 2006), p. 10.

"An exhaustive search of the literature finds no credible reports of deaths induced by marijuana (since the dawn of recorded history). The US Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) records instances of drug mentions in medical examiners' reports, and though marijuana is mentioned, it is usually in combination with alcohol or other drugs. Marijuana alone has not been shown to cause an overdose death."

Source: Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), available on the web at http://www.samhsa.gov/; also see Janet E. Joy, Stanley J. Watson, Jr., and John A. Benson, Jr., "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base," Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Research, Institute of Medicine (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999), available on the web at http://www.nap.edu/html/marimed/; and US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, "In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition" (Docket #86-22), September 6, 1988, p. 57.

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/causes.htm

[shano]

L.E.A.P.

Law Inforcement Against Prohibition

Join up!

[Jonny38103]

I think we need to be very careful here. Actually letting people be free rather than just talking about it......... well, that's just plain dangerous. Next thing you know, Americans will be wanting to decide by themselves who they're allowed to sleep with, how they worship and whether or not they want their tax dollars spent on stupid wars. This is craziness, I tell you.

[newshawk14]

Years ago, California did exactly that. If you were caught smoking a joint in public, you could be
given the equivalent of a traffic ticket, that you could pay by mail, and never have to go to court.
I never noticed any increase in usage or untoward societal effects, other than it saved the state
a ton of money.

[lochnessmonster]

Oh my! Didn't any of you see "Reefer Madness"? The world as we know it will come to an end! Everyone will go crazy, crazy I tell you!

[KarenZipdrive]

I'll drink to that!

[NoFactsJustTruth]

Pharmaceutical lobbies would spend BILLIONS in OUR country's legal but corrupt bribery system, just as they've always done, to prevent ANY legalization. Now, the privatized prison industry would join in with their lobbyists because it represents a HUGE part of their political prisoner inmates for PROFIT.

Outlaw ALL lobbies NOW! Publicly (taxpayer) finance ALL elections to stop legalized BRIBERY.

Then, perhaps, such RATIONAL legislation would stand a chance in CONgress.

[fredamae]

.....................in the meantime, FIRE the Lawmakers who OPPOSE Congressman Frank's Bill if they are recipients of any Lobbyist Monies.

[IndependentMeans]

This is such a no-brainer. Meanwhile, Joe Lieberman is working on a national 10 Commandments weekend, WTF?!

[RossalGondamer]

The tie and hair style are out of style.

[bigdaddyvike]

McInsane: "Barney Frank wants to legalize marijuana. Marijuana turns people into homosexuals."

[hjo4]

It's about time, we worry about the wrong things in this country sometimes.Legalize reefer :) Go Barney Frank