议员[巴尔尼直率]介绍票据decriminalize个人大麻用途

Rep. 巴尔尼直率(D-MA)在他的诺言在2008年3月21日成功介绍什么他称“让路给严肃的罪犯比尔” 出现 在HBO 真正的时间与比尔Maher。 共同赞助票据是Reps。 Ron保罗(R-TX)， Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)， Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)和山姆Farr (D-CA)。

星期四的文本 新闻发布从Rep。 坦率的国会网站，跟随。

####

议员，第4个区，马萨诸塞2252 Rayburn大厦 · 华盛顿特区， 20515 · (202) 225-5931

2008年4月17日

直率在个人大麻用途介绍立法去除联邦惩罚

议员在选择允许它与Recommendation医生的状态并且归档比尔允许对大麻的医疗用途

议员巴尔尼直率今天介绍了瞄准的两党立法去除对对大麻的单独用途的联邦制约。 一张票据将去除联邦惩罚为对大麻的个人使用，并且其他-版本，其中直率在国会上几个在先的会议归档了-在选择使它的用途为医疗目的合法以医生的推荐的状态将允许对大麻的医疗用途。 代表性Ron保罗(R-TX)加入了直率，联邦惩罚票据的共同赞助。 共同赞助医疗大麻票据是Rep。 保罗，与Reps一起。 Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)， Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)和山姆Farr (D-CA)。

议员直率发表了解释立法的以下声明。

“我认为它是济贫法执行保持在建立作为罪行某事社会不严重实际上希望检控的书立法。 In my view, having federal law enforcement agents engaged in the prosecution of people who are personally using marijuana is a waste of scarce resources better used for serious crimes. In fact, this type of prosecution often meets with public disapproval. The most frequent recent examples have been federal prosecutions of individuals using marijuana for medical purposes in states that have voted – usually by public referenda – to allow such use. Because current federal law has been interpreted as superseding state law in this area, most states that have made medical use of marijuana legal have been unable to actually implement their laws.

“When doctors recommend the use of marijuana for their patients and states are willing to permit it, I think it’s wrong for the federal government to subject either the doctors or the patients to criminal prosecution. More broadly speaking, the norm in America is for the states to decide whether particular behaviors should be made criminal. To make the smoking of marijuana, whether for medical purposes or not, one of those extremely rare instances of federal crime – literally, 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.”

To those who say that the government should not be encouraging the smoking of marijuana, my response is that I completely agree. But it is a great mistake to divide all human activity into two categories: those that are criminally prohibited, and those that are encouraged. In a free society, there must be a very considerable zone of activity between those two poles in which people are allowed to make their own choices as long as they are not impinging on the rights, freedom, or property of others. I believe it is important with regard to tobacco, marijuana and alcohol, among other things, that we strictly regulate the age at which people may use these substances. And, enforcement of age restrictions should be firm. But, criminalizing choices that adults make because we think they are unwise ones, when the choices involved have no negative effect on the rights of others, is not appropriate in a free society.”

“If the laws I am proposing pass, states will still be free to treat marijuana as they wish. But I do not believe that the federal government should treat adults who choose to smoke marijuana as criminals. Federal law enforcement is a serious business, and we should be concentrating our efforts in this regard on measures that truly protect the public.”

by RAW STORY Link to Article 4/17/2008

Who is Barney Frank? Below is an excerpt from Wikipedia, a link to the complete article can be found here.

Frank is one of the most liberal members of the House, and has been outspoken on many civil rights issues, including gay rights. In 1987, he spoke publicly about his homosexuality for the first time. He said in a 1996 interview: “I’m used to being in the minority. I’m a left-handed gay Jew. I’ve never felt, automatically, a member of any majority.”

Reprimand

In 1990, the House voted to reprimand Frank when it was revealed that Steve Gobie, a male escort whom Frank had befriended after hiring him through a personal advertisement, claimed to have conducted an escort service from Frank’s apartment when he was not at home. Frank had dismissed Gobie earlier that year and reported the incident to the House Ethics Committee after learning of Gobie’s activities. After an investigation, the House Ethics Committee found no evidence that Frank had known of or been involved in the alleged illegal activity.^[2] Regarding Gobie’s more scandalous claims the report by the Ethics Committee concluded, “In numerous instances where an assertion made by Mr. Gobie (either publicly or during his Committee deposition) was investigated for accuracy, the assertion was contradicted by third-party sworn testimony or other evidence of Mr. Gobie himself.”^[3

Also, a biography for Barney Frank can be found here>> Barney Frank bio.