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Last month, Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) announced he would file a bill to decriminalize marijuana possession at the federal level. Wednesday, Frank followed through, introducing the "The Personal Use of Marijuana By Responsible Adults Act of 2008," which would set a maximum $100 fine under federal law for possession or not-for-profit transfer of less than 100 grams of marijuana.

Frank did not comment publicly this week on the proposed legislation, but in a statement last month on his marijuana legislation, Frank said it was a waste of federal time and resources to prosecute minor marijuana offenses.

"I think it is poor law enforcement to keep on the books legislation that establishes as a crime behavior the government does not seriously wish to prosecute," he said. "For highly-trained federal law enforcement agents to spend time prosecuting people for smoking marijuana is a diversion of scarce resources from their job of protecting public safety."

Marijuana laws should be left to the states, he suggested. "The norm in America is for the states to decide whether particular behaviors should be made criminal. To make the smoking of marijuana one of those extremely rare instances of federal crime -- to make a 'federal case' out of it -- is wholly disproportionate to the activity involved. We do not have federal criminal prohibitions against drinking alcoholic beverages, and there are generally no criminal penalties for the use of tobacco at the state and federal levels for adults. There is no rational argument for treating marijuana so differently from these other substances."

Even if the Frank bill were to pass, which seems unlikely any time in the near future, it would have limited impact on the 800,000-plus marijuana arrests each year since the vast majority of them are made by state and local law enforcement. But it would send a very strong signal to the states that the federal government no longer considered pot-smoking a serious problem worthy of the criminal justice system.

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It would not affect federal laws prohibiting selling
marijuana for profit, importing and exporting marijuana, or cultivating marijuana.

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TripityDooDaDay said:
It's a good move. Certainly better than no effort.

Still it's funny how the proposal says we should be able to have it but not get it. lol

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It would not affect federal laws prohibiting selling
marijuana for profit, importing and exporting marijuana, or cultivating marijuana.

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How the hell would one come to legally possess it?

Nevermind that for now though. One step at the time if that's the way it's gotta be. Better than no step at all.

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Annapurna1 said:
imagine a stainless steel sphere the size of the earth..and a mosquito landing on it once every million years...after the sphere has been completely eroded away by friction..we will not be one microsecond closer to the day when the penalty for MJ possession is even reduced.. let alone decriminalized...so dont hold your breath waiting to inhale...

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creekfreek said:

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Annapurna1 said:
imagine a stainless steel sphere the size of the earth..and a mosquito landing on it once every million years...after the sphere has been completely eroded away by friction..we will not be one microsecond closer to the day when the penalty for MJ possession is even reduced.. let alone decriminalized...so dont hold your breath waiting to inhale...

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Its people like you who hinder the progress of such things happening.
WAKE UP

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geokills said:

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KillerPicklez said:
When is this going to be up for vote? I didnt see that mentioned anywhere.

AnarchoTrip said:
why is it that the link on wikipedia goes to a legit site, but then when I try to search for the exact thing on the U.S. House of Reps homepage, nothing shows up?

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When have you known government to move at lightning speed? This legislation was just drafted and introduced within the last 24 hours. Some matters can be discussed in congress for months, even years before being put up for vote. Then again, some matters can be put up for vote much sooner. That is why it is important to show strong support from the beginning. Let our representatives know that their constituents are actively engaged in politics and which politics we are supporting.

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