The people who are elected to make the laws that bind you

Rep. Lamar Smith from Texas on Fox News recently criticized the Obama administration's approach to marijuana and wants stricter drug law enforcement. Rep. Smith recently introduced H.R 5231, a bill would criminalize Americans working in Switzerland trying to save lives with heroin assisted treatment, for example.

“Rep. Lamar Smith (Texas), the top Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee who would likely become chairman of the committee under a GOP majority, accused the administration of being too lax in its enforcement of drug laws.

"The administration is clearly sending the message that they don't think it's bad to use marijuana," Smith said on Fox News. "So they're encouraging the use of marijuana. And that simply is not a good thing to do."

Smith blamed the administration's decision to not enforce federal laws against marijuana dispensaries in states that have legalized the drug for medicinal purposes. Smith blamed the administration's approach on drug laws for recent statistics showing an increased use of marijuana.

"We ought to be enforcing our drug laws, not backing away from them," said Smith, who also lamented a recent revision of criminal sentencing guidelines that reduced sentencing guidelines for crack-cocaine traffickers.”

Possibly Rep. Smith is referring to the 1,663,582 total arrests for drug abuse violations in the US in 2009, with someone being arrested for a drug offense every 18 seconds as being too lax. Maybe he’s referring to these ‘non-enforcements’, this ‘non-enforcement’, or possibly this ‘non-enforcement of federal drug laws as being too lax. After all, President Obama promised those raids would end while he was campaigning, and he gave respectful and thoughtful consideration to a question about the legalization of marijuana.

You know what? I did something about it. I took a total of 1 minute and 23 seconds out of my day to call Speaker Pelosi’s office urging her to cancel the vote on H.R 5231, a bill sponsored by Rep. Smith. I registered to vote when I received my driver’s license, which took all the effort of answering a few questions.

We can either stand by idly and watch our friends, neighbors, brothers and sisters be thrown into the back of a police cruiser after having their door smashed down in the middle of the night or we can take a stand and vote. Why should those who seek to criminalize non-violent, consensual behavior be allowed to impose their morals on us then utilize our money to do so in the most violent manner possible?

Register to vote, make a difference in your community.

Legalizing Marijuana is Top Idea on Republican Voting Site

Currently on the Republican website “AmericaSpeakingOut.com”, the issue of Marijuana legalization has become the most voted on issue. In the “Open Mic” section, where web users are encouraged to “start your own debate”, Marijuana legalization stands at the top, with 1,800 votes.

In second place is…also marijuana legalization, with 1,003 votes. If you add up all of the similarly worded marijuana legalization topic votes, vs. all the non-related votes, you get 5,088 votes for marijuana legalization, and 3,097 votes for all other topics. The message is clear: people, on both sides of the aisle, want marijuana legalized. However, Washington, as always, is so far removed from the population at large, and so soaked in both rhetoric and money that you would never be able to tell from Congressional debates on/around the subject that this was the case. Frankly put, the writing is on the wall that this is what the people want, and in addition to outright opposition, you now have a sort of filibuster, or suing for time, taking place on the national level.

Whether it be the Obama administration’s claim that “legalization isn’t in our vocabulary” (see his derision here with commentary from The Young Turks), or our continued support (both direct and indirect) of devastating chemical attacks on the environment in both Mexico and Columbia.

What remains to be seen now is how the GOP will tackle this. In a surprising way, the GOP (often thought of as the more out-of-touch party on this issue), has been much more receptive to its more vocal members in the past few years. The Tea Party Takeover of the GOP has been swift and decisive, and not only are many Tea Partiers in favor of reducing or ending the War on Drugs, but today’s Republican Party is more malleable than it has been in over a decade.

If marijuana legalization takes off in the conservative blogosphere and grassroots networks, then who knows? Maybe the final push drug policy reformers have been waiting for will come from the Right.

Rep. Mark Souder Resigns!

Rep. Mark Souder, the man who authored the HEA Aid Elimination Penalty, has resigned after acknowledging an affair with one of his female staffers. SSDP and the congressman from Indiana have a lot of history. In fact, if it weren't for Souder, SSDP might not even exist.

Souder has been one of the most vicious drug warriors in Congress. The HEA Aid Elmination Penalty has resulted in the loss of financial aid for over 250,000 students and he has done his best to oppose medical marijuana legislation. In the Showtime documentary, In Pot We Trust, you can see SSDP's new executive director Aaron Houston attempting to lobby this "foaming at the mouth prohibitionist" about medical marijuana.

Souder was chairman of that subcommittee between 2001 and 2007. During those years, nearly 200,000 students were denied college aid for drug violations, according to data unearthed by a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), a longtime nemesis of Souder. (Here's Souder complaining the student group "harassed" him in his home district.) In Souder's own state, 8,903 students were denied aid during that time.

Opponents of Souder's law argued that it would be difficult to craft a more counter-productive public policy. Souder responded by calling those opponents -- largely teachers organizations and church groups -- a "small but determined coalition of drug-legalization groups."

This is a huge victory for anyone who supports sensible and evidence based approaches to both drug policy and sex education for youth. Souder's open seat gives Democrats an unexpected opportunity.

For a real good laugh, watch this video below of Souder being interviewed by his mistress, Tracy Jackson (also married), about his testimony in support of, you guessed it, abstinence only sex education.

Tancredo says Legalize Drugs!

Former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo said its time to consider legalizing drugs. The conservative is coming from this at a very common sense level - prohibition doesn't work. He realizes we have nothing to show for the wasted resources and lives that have resulted in a clogged criminal justice system and a prison overcrowding crisis. And as Tancredo says himself:

"It is now easier for a kid to get drugs at most schools in America that it is booze."

One person in opposition to Tancredo's stance gave the same ol' same ol' "what about the children?" excuse. "Kids will look at that and say,'Well, it must be all right because it's legal now."

I just gave a presentation to high school juniors and seniors in Oakland, CA. I asked the students a simple question: "If heroin or meth became legal today - how many of you would go out and use them?" Not a single hand went up and a few of them shouted "hell no!"