Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Smoke if you got 'em

Not sure how I missed this, although I was outta the country at the time:
Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank, along with co-sponsors Ron Paul (R-TX); Maurice Hinchey (D-NY); Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA); and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), will reintroduce legislation today to limit the federal government’s authority to arrest and prosecute minor marijuana offenders.

The measure, entitled an “Act to Remove Federal Penalties for Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults,” would eliminate federal penalties for the personal possession of up to 100 grams (over three and one-half ounces) of cannabis and for the not-for-profit transfer of up to one ounce of pot – making the prosecutions of these offenses strictly a state matter.


I would put the chances of this going anywhere at "1 over a very large number" but hey, it's the effort that counts, right?

Massachusetts decriminalized the possession of marijuana last year (not that it is completely legal, but the penalty is now only a small citation, not jail time). But it is still highly illegal to sell the stuff, and probably to grow it too, so something is out-of-line in the commonwealth.

I would really enjoy seeing states-rights conservatives twist themselves into pretzels explaining how this is a bill that can't be passed because... um, well, it just can't.