Pubdate: Fri, 26 Oct 2012
Source: North Shore Sunday (Beverly, MA)
Copyright: 2012 GateHouse Media,sInc.
Contact:  http://www.wickedlocal.com/northshoresunday
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3465
Author: Steven S. Epstein, Esq.
Note: Attorney Steven S. Epstein of Georgetown is a founder of the 
Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition and the coordinator of the 
Massachusetts Sixth Congressional District Cannabis Club that put 
this question on the ballot. He has written many letters and columns 
lauding liberty and cannabis.
Author: http://mapinc.org/author/Epstein
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n604/a12.html
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n031/a06.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/states/MA  (Massachusetts)

SHOULD CONGRESS REPEAL MARIJUANA PROHIBITION?

Georgetown - In 2010, a majority of voters in the 7th and 8th Essex 
House districts supported instructing their representative to vote in 
favor of legislation that would allow the state to regulate the 
taxation, cultivation and sale of marijuana to adults.

This year voters in the 8th Essex House District, 22nd Middlesex 
House District and the First Essex and Middlesex Senate District, all 
within the 6th Congressional District, have the opportunity to 
express their support for the repeal of the federal prohibition of 
marijuana so that states may regulate it as they choose.

The question is in support of HR 2306, "Ending Federal Marijuana 
Prohibition Act of 2011," sponsored by Barney Frank and Ron Paul and 
18 other members of the 112th Congress. The bill is the equivalent of 
the 21st Amendment that repealed alcohol prohibition, so that it 
would remain a federal crime to transport or import it into any 
state, territory or possession of the United States for delivery or 
use therein in violation of the laws thereof. While it rightly took 
an amendment of the Constitution to impose a federal prohibition of 
alcoholic beverages, many legal scholars believe the federal 
prohibition of marijuana is a usurpation as it violates the Commerce 
Clause and the Ninth and Tenth Amendments of the United States 
constitution. ("Adherance to Constitution will bring prosperity," 
Georgetown Record, June 28, 2011). Whether they agree on 
constitutional principles or view marijuana prohibition as "a luxury 
taxpayers can no longer afford" ("What's next for marijuana reform?" 
MetroWest Daily News, Jan. 7, 2010), national polls find a majority 
support ending it. Certainly the overwhelmingly support for 
decriminalizing an ounce or less of marijuana by the voters in 2008 
proves that most of us know the thundering of opponents to marijuana 
law reform was and is without substance. A poll conducted last fall 
for the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition and NORML by DAPA 
Associates found 58 percent of Massachusetts voters support 
legalizing marijuana and regulating it in the same manner as other 
agricultural commodities with sales prohibited to underage persons.

Voters in Colorado, Oregon and Washington vote this year on 
legalizing and regulating cannabis in their states.

If they do can the federal marijuana prohibition stand much longer? 
The prohibition was the product of crony capitalists deceiving the 
public to hijack our legislatures to eliminate the competition posed 
by a plant valued for its nutritious seeds, strong fiber, medicinal 
and entheogenic ("generating the divine within") qualities from the 
dawn of agriculture. The feared competition came from the inner stalk 
that scientists discovered in the first third of the 20th century 
could be a green resource in the place of fossil carbons and trees.

If the question is on your ballot please join me in sending a message 
from the privacy of the voting booth to whoever wins the seat for 
Congress and the rest of the state and nation that the time to repeal 
the prohibition that never should have been is now. 
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom