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MedicalPot.jpg
Medical marijuana is packaged for sale at the Northwest Patient Resource Center medical marijuana dispensary in Seattle. (AP photo)

Congressman asks feds to back off, let us deal with pot

November 19, 2012 @ 9:08 pm (Updated: 9:44 pm - 11/19/12 )

Congressman Adam Smith is asking the U.S. Attorney General and top DEA administrator to "take no action" against anyone in our state who chooses to smoke marijuana for medicinal or personal use.

Smith is among 17 members of Congress who signed his name to a letter requesting that states be permitted to function as "laboratories of democracy."

The letter points out "the tide of public opinion is changing, both at the ballot box and in state legislatures across the country."

Here's an excerpt:

The people of Colorado and Washington have decided that marijuana ought to be regulated like alcohol, with strong and efficient regulation of production, retail sales and distribution, coupled with strict laws against underage use and driving while intoxicated.

The voters chose to eliminate the illegal marijuana market controlled by cartels and criminals and recognized the disproportionate impact that marijuana has on minorities. These states have chosen to move from a drug policy that spends millions of dollars turning ordinary Americans into criminals toward one that will tightly regulate the use of marijuana while raising tax revenue to support cash-strapped state and local governments.

We believe this approach embraces the goals of existing federal marijuana law: to stop international trafficking, deter domestic organized criminal organizations, stop violence associated with the drug trade and protect children.

While we recognize that other states have chosen a different path, and further understand that the federal government has an important role to play in protecting against interstate shipments of marijuana leaving Colorado and Washington, we ask that your departments take no action against anyone who acts in compliance with the laws of Colorado, Washington and any other states that choose to regulate marijuana for medicinal or personal use.

The medical marijuana industry generated $1.7 billion in revenue nationwide last year, and is expected to grow to $8.9 billion by 2016, according to SeeChange Consulting Inc.

Washington's Office of Financial Management estimates a fully functioning marijuana market could generate revenue as high as $1,943,936,000 over five fiscal years. Total state costs are estimated at $65,726,000 over that time period.

The state is planning on a $250 application fee and a $1,000 issuance fee for each marijuana licensee.

Washington's marijuana measure takes effect December 6. The state has until December 1, 2013 to fully implement the recently-passed initiative.

By LINDA THOMAS

More from Linda Thomas

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Comments (21)


  • Add A Comment

  • John wrote...
    Hey Linda - Great Photo
    November 19, 2012 9:20 pm
    Great photo in front of the Library! Sorry, I don't have anything to say about pot, I'm a photographer.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cameron wrote...
    So Rep. Smith, what other criminal behavior can we decriminalize?
    November 20, 2012 5:37 am
    Pot? No big deal...right? Hey why not take your statement and apply it to prostitution Rep. Smith? Afterall it's about a woman's right to choose to do what she wants with her own body with ohter consenting adults...correct? Here is your statement from the letter modified " We believe this approach embraces the goals of existing federal Prostitution laws: to stop international trafficking, deter domestic organized criminal organizations, stop violence associated with the Prostition trade and protect children." You can cut and paste your statement Rep. Smith about a number of "crimes or criminalized behaviors". Don't just cherry pick the ones you think will get you re-elected.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • iotollah wrote...
    No Enforcement? Bovine Scat!
    November 20, 2012 6:17 am
    We already are having to avoid a long-loved neighborhood park because of the excessive pot smoke in the air. I am being punished by the acrid stench of pot smoke lingering on mass transit that I rely on to get to work. Yes, let's allow legislators to do more NOTHING while they are immune to the punishment that we upstanding citizens now must endure. Give Adam what he wants... and let him be the persistent victim of pot smoke, smoker antics and crime, and his own idiocy. If I have to enforce my own clean air and clean space, maybe Adam will ask the attorneys to leave me alone. After all, he ought to promote my Laboratory of Clean Air and Self Defense.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Bubonic33 wrote...
    Cameron and iotollah
    November 20, 2012 7:53 am
    Yes, prostitution should be legal, and I'm sorry your nose cant handle it. Yes, lets conform, no JAIL everyone who enjoys to smoke pot every now and then so your poor poor little sensitive feelings can stay unscathed. Ridiculous.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • iotollah wrote...
    Bubonic33
    November 20, 2012 11:08 am
    This isn't about feelings, this is about introducing substances into the public space that cause harm. I don't pour alcohol down your throat and your Right to Stink ends where my Right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness begins. Go ahead and be the guy who crosses that line, genius.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Uilleam wrote...
    Dopers
    November 20, 2012 6:21 am
    Nobody, especially the Feds, care if you are a stoner. This is just a political show for votes.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • 333 wrote...
    Uilleam
    November 20, 2012 7:27 am
    what? not shure your point? are you high?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Joel B wrote...
    We now have mob rule!
    November 20, 2012 7:38 am
    I did a report in High School in the 80's on the effect of Marijuana on the brain. Apparently in today's society as we have "Progressed" we have lost sight of protecting society. We now have mob rule. If we can just get enough votes, anything goes! I feel sorry for my kids, my future grandchildren who will live in an America who has lost moral standards!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • JustAnotherFish wrote...
    Moral Standards?
    November 20, 2012 8:48 am
    Like throwing people in jail for doing nothing more than wanting to responsibly enjoy a plant that grows nearly everywhere? That's some fine morality there.

    I'm sure your 80s high school report was based on some brilliant and unbiased research... There was also a cautionary "documentary" made in the 30s about marijuana's effect on the brain; you should probably cite "Reefer Madness" in your arguments against pot as well.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Lessmith50 wrote...
    Joel B
    November 20, 2012 8:57 am
    What a bunch of BS. I hate all the do gooders out there that hammer on Pot. It has been around for decades. If you want to cry like a little baby why dont you get on the alchohol band wagon. BOOZE has been ruining peoples lives forever. BUT THATS OK that garbage has been grandfather in. Booze destroys 1000s of times more lives than pot. Get a clue! IT IS HERE TO STAY. I for one am tired of paying for new prisons and 3 squares a day for some lazy pot head. Our prison population has tripled since dipstick Ronald Regan declaried war on drugs. That is a fact. Look it up. How has that worked. Let the murders and rapists out of prison early on good behavior and keep the lazy non violent pot heads stay behind bars. GREAT SYSTEM WE HAVE THERE!

    If you are ANY KIND OF GOOD PARENT you dont need to worry about your future kids lives. Its all about the choices that your children have.

    I say that last comment from life experiences. I have smoke pot for 30+ yrs and have raised 3 kids that never touched the stuff OR DRANK BOOZE. They were great students and are great people in todays society. I kept them busy so they didnt have idle time to HANG OUT with their so so friends. I as a responsible parent made sure my kids were safe. That is on me.

    Open your blind eyes, look around you. I Know for a fact of judges, lawyers, and many other professional people that smoke pot for years. They seem to be doing just fine. Keep your scare tactics to yourself. Because DUDE YOU JUST LOST THE VOTE! Go cry to someone who gives a rats A55! It looks like alot of people world wide are changing their minds.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Enthusiasm for states' rights may depend on the specific issue
    November 20, 2012 7:49 am
    Those of us who came of age in the 1960's clearly remember the controversy that proceeded and surrounded the Civil Rights Act. The Good Ol' Boys from down in the deep south kept insisting that the question of racial segregation should be left up to the states. If some state or another wanted to endorse discrimination and segregation based on race, then the FEDGOV should keep the heck out of the way. Why not insist that the "coloreds" keep to their designated doorways, restrooms, drinking fountains, schools, and neighborhoods?

    Most of those old segregationists are probably dead now. Still, you have to wonder if they would be so quick to proclaim the superiority of states rights over federal authority when the question shifts from "shall certain citizens of the state have the right to relegate other citizens of the state to second class status" to "shall the citizens of the state be legally allowed to smoke marijuana? (or) Shall same-sex marriage be permitted within the state?

    I suspect that enthusiasm for states' rights, at least among certain groups, depends a great deal upon exactly what type of right the people are agitating for.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Lessmith50 wrote...
    Chuck
    November 20, 2012 9:02 am
    i rarely read your rhetoric. It is always one sided. YOURS! But my question is How can this be a free country when the people speak and vote on a subject. Any subject and then the Feds come in and say WE DONT CARE WHAT YOU WANT and over rule the vote. I dont want some fear monger old man that has been in congress about 40 years to long telling me what i can or cannot do. That is NOT A democracy that is a dictatorship.

    just curious i thought it was WE THE PEOPLE not WE THE OLD MAN IN CONGRESS that has drank like a fish and smoked like a chimney, womanized all his life and beat his family. Why even vote for anything if BIG BROTHER just steps in and tell you to go .... yourself we dont care what you want.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Citizen of Krazy Town wrote...
    Unfortunately, this is the result when states let the federal government
    November 20, 2012 9:53 am
    Impede on their rights to govern themselves. Since the 1940's we have slowly but surely opened the doors to more and more top-down regulation and enforcement, mostly due to greed and politics, and now that the fox is in the henhouse, we are trying to shoo him out while he is busy setting up a rotisserie. Can't have it both ways people. You voted for it, you live with it.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • cdbtx wrote...
    Need to reclassify it
    November 20, 2012 9:55 am
    Nothing else is going to work.

    But here's the "REAL" kicker. It's not the DEA that's fighting it - it's the Healthcare industry. The DEA constantly cites their stance based upon comments from a wide range of medical groups.

    Also - for the liberals - keep in mind, you can't have the law and individual/State rights taylored to your desires.. You either support smaller gov't and less federal regulation with the majority of the rights belonging to the states or you don't.

    Speak out against Obamacare and you'll convince me that you support individual liberty and State rights.

    Otherwise, you're a hypocrite that doesn't support an ideology demonstrating narcissism and selfishness.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Publius wrote...
    "Laboratories of Democracy"
    November 20, 2012 10:04 am
    I wish that more took this view of state's rights. Why can't we try this approach with a little more than just pot?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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