House GOP passes bill to force Obama to crack down on legal weed in states that allow

[Sóley]

...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/...k-down-on-legal-weed-in-states-that-allow-it/


House GOP passes bill to force Obama to crack down on legal weed in states that allow it
By Eric W. Dolan
Thursday, March 13, 2014 15:58 EDT

H.R. 4138: ENFORCE the Law Act of 2014 https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/113-2014/h124


Legislation approved by House Republicans would seek to force President Barack Obama to crack down on marijuana in states that have made the drug legal for medical or recreational use.

The House passed the Enforce the Law Act by a vote of 233-181 on Wednesday. The bill was introduced by Reps. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Jim Gerlach (R-PA) to allow Congress to sue the president for failing to faithfully execute laws.

“The Constitution gives Congress the responsibility to write the laws and the Executive to enforce them,” Gowdy said Wednesday in a statement. “We don’t pass suggestions. We don’t pass ideas. We pass laws. Regardless of our politics, I hope my colleagues have enough regard for our work to expect those laws would be faithfully executed.”

A committee report submitted by Goodlatte cited the Obama administration’s decision to not intervene with marijuana legalization efforts in various states as an example of executive overreach.

Colorado and Washington both legalized the recreational use of marijuana through statewide voter referendums in 2012. In addition, 20 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana. Federal law, however, still considers the possession and sale of marijuana to be a crime.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced last year that the Department of Justice would not challenge states’ marijuana legalization laws as long as they maintained an “appropriately strict regulatory system.”

The decision not to enforce federal drug laws “in entire states is not a valid exercise of prosecutorial discretion,” the Republican’s report stated.

“Rather, the guidance to U.S. Attorneys establishes a formal, department-wide policy of selective non-enforcement of an Act of Congress. This infringes on Congress’s lawmaking authority by, in effect, amending the flat prohibitions of the [Controlled Substances Act] to permit the possession, distribution, and cultivation of marijuana so long as that conduct is in compliance with state law. This crosses the line between permissible discretionary decisions made by prosecutors on a case-by-case basis and an impermissible suspension of the law by executive fiat,” the report added.

The report also cited numerous decisions by the Obama administration regarding immigration and the Affordable Care Act as examples of executive overreach.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said in a statement that the bill would be “dead on arrival” and Obama has threatened to veto it “because it violates the separation of powers.”


Disheartening to say the least, these animals need to reap what they sow.

 

[Classic Seeds]

figures the republicans have never believed in being able to vote and change a law they made or support no matter how dumb it is. there they are with their heads up their ass's saying they have all the rights to dictate how we live and the majority vote does not count because they don't like it .well retards the people have spoken and once again you failed to listen or be able to obey the very constitution and principals our government is supposed to be based on crawl back under your rocks your not needed or will your clown show gather any support from we the people aloha cls

 

[BOMBAYCAT]

Here in Colorado the tax money from recreational pot is starting to roll in for Jan and Feb and it is a large sum. The first 40% goes to the schools and the politicians are starting to argue about how to spend the rest. I don't think the politicians will give up that money source. MMJ and Recreational sounds like a states rights issue to me and I can't see why anyone wants to take that on.

 

[Sóley]

Plus this is about the legislation actually passing the house, by and overwhelming majority of the Republican party.

Edit:
I am sorry if it has already been posted

 

[rives]

The title of the article is misleading, and the article is focusing on one relatively minor side effect (although major to us) - there are a multitude of laws that Obama has either directed his minions to disregard, enforce selective portions of, or enforce differently at different times. Unfortunately, mj falls into this large group. There are mechanisms in place to change the laws, but it's easier for him to simply work around them. Unfortunately, his solution is only as long-lasting as his term or his mood of the moment. It's pretty laughable that Obama thinks that this legislation violates the separation of powers - as the head of the executive branch, his job is to enforce the laws that Congress enacts. Article 2 of the Constitution reads, in part, that it is the responsibility of the President to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed."

Let's change the damn law.

 

[Sóley]

Much respect to you.

 

[bombadil.360]

I dunno rives, what about the part of the constitution that states that the people are the actual boss, and elected officials merely represent that boss to navigate through the beurocratic infrastructure called government, and in CO and WA the boss has spoken, and that is the end of it, at least constitutionally speaking that is.

 

[rives]

Unfortunately, the state's rights argument doesn't put an end to it - there has been a bunch of legislation that was voted in at the state level and subsequently ignored or pre-empted by the feds. Gay marriage, voter registration, etc. You would think that after the Civil War we would have a better handle on how to resolve those issues.

Interestingly, one of the big problems with legalizing mj outside of a medical umbrella is going to be the treaties that we are signatory to (and strangely enough, originated and forced other countries into signing).

 

[Sóley]

Republicans are all for states rights except for when it's something they don't agree with.

 

[sodalitas]

This is the house, not the senate.

 

[Agaricus]

Executive orders aren't specifically addressed in the constitution but they've been used since George Washington was president. A few presidents have issued well over 1000, FDR more than 3500. There's pretty well established precedent. Our current president who shall not be named has been pretty frugal in his use of executive order. So far, fewer than any other president since Mckinley with the exception of Gerald Ford.

They're subject to judicial review but until then have the force of law.

IMO the government has misused the Commerce clause for a long time to justify prior restraint as an end-run around state laws that they don't like. You're growing weed for the local pot shop so there's an automatic presumption that it will be sold out of state, out of the country, or to the Indian tribes. I think that the order to allow the states to do their own regulation is very defensible on constitutional grounds, it just pisses off the opposition.

 

[RoadRash]

I would accuse them (the House GOP) of stoned thinking, but they are obviously engaged in a state of more like Neanderthal thinking.

Maybe what they NEED is some stoned thinking.


I could say something sarcastic about their kids always getting off with a slap on the wrist when they get caught with pot.

Like Obama and his Shroom-mobile. A high-school toker like many of us, yet he continues to incarcerate for mere possession.

 

[Ph-patrol]

Republicans have no problem with hard liqueur and tobacco but thy associate cannabis with hippies and they associate hippies with protest and protest is anti american activity.
So they drink there scotch and smoke their Cubans with there small minded thinking.

Its just a plant.

 

[LayedBack]

Its almost maddening that they literally can ignore the MAJORITY VOTE of a state as if it doesn't even matter. The people have spoken and yet they have absolutely no problem fighting it and showing their true colors as pieces of trash egomaniacs, most of which probably have money in private prisons. Back in the olden days such a thing would cause a fucking revolution, but we're all so complacent and confused about what to do. The government has made it so the common people don't really have a say in anything any more. And we seem a little too willing to accept that. But hey I guess you can't just assemble a bunch of muskets and torches these days because we can't really ever win a fight like that, heh.

 

[Ph-patrol]