As you may have heard by now, the US Conference of Mayors unanimously passed a resolution on Monday urging radical change of federal involvement in marijuana laws. The resolution includes:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the United States Conference of Mayors reaffirms its support of fair and effective criminal justice and drug policies and reiterates its previous call for the reclassification of marijuana under federal law; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States Conference of Mayors recognizes that its members have differing views on how to treat marijuana in their cities, and believes that states and localities should be able to set whatever marijuana policies work best to improve the public safety and health of their communities; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States Conference of Mayors believes that federal laws, including the Controlled Substance Act, should be amended to explicitly allow states to set their own marijuana policies without federal interference; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that until such time as federal law is changed, the United States Conference of Mayors urges the President of the United States to reexamine the priorities of federal agencies to prevent the expenditure of resources on actions that undermine the duly enacted marijuana laws of states.
Powerful stuff and a pretty strong indictment of the federal government and this administration.
So… what was the ONDCP’s response?
Thank you, @USmayors, for unanimously supporting the Administration’s approach to #DrugPolicyReform. More: http://t.co/QihhsHmQvR #uscm2013
As Dan Riffle noted: “It takes a special brand of cynicism to operate the ONDCP twitter feed.”
Update: It appears that the Mayors also somewhat contradictorily unanimously endorsed the drug czar’s overall drug policy statement. That could be explained by the fact that the administration’s drug policy document is full of good-sounding things that have little to do with actual drug policy.
Instead of falling on their swords that claim a defeat as a win,,,problem is the “tweet” won’t change the peoples attitude now,,the train is going too fast to tweet their way out of it.
I wonder if they know that the primary readership for that twitter consists mostly of people on our side who simply wish to track the insanity they spew for later reference.
It’s only good propaganda if the people reading it give a shit.
It should be noted, however, that a section in support of the policy does exist in the first page, but nowhere in that section is there support for raids or other encroachments upon rights… it is in support of what the policy is ON PAPER, not in practice. You know, concentration on effective treatment?
According to the GAO the drug czar and his agents have failed to provide the structure for congress to re-write the laws for “treatment instead of incarceration”.
In other words Kevin Sabet has failed to convince investors to build the required rehab centers to handle the flow of marijuana arrests that could afford the costs.
I am sure the drug car will act like the softer prohibition is being put in place but for now and until the economy picks up the incarceration of low level marijuana arrests will continue filling our justice system and prisons..
That’s what I’m saying.
And let’s consider the politics of this situation. It is true that they unanimously approved the VERY anti-war-on-pot message, but had they done that on page one, the WH would have been very upset with them. So they have to bury the truth on page 60-whatever so it appears that this wasn’t the biggest resolution out of all of them. It’s gotten a lot of coverage regardless, but they made sure to give everyone something to celebrate.
So the president gets to feel good about the “policies” that are in place (but not really in use), and we get to feel good knowing that there are actually RATIONAL PEOPLE in politics who can examine poll numbers and shifting trends within their own communities. BUT! They really did have to cater to everyone here. And if you really examine the wording, it is clear what they actually support is not what is currently in place — but rather what is in “planning stages” a.k.a. the circular file.
/endcrazyrant
it should also be noted that all of the fluff from the czar about treatment, compassion and reason was lifted straight from the playbook of DPA. gotta be careful about what you ask for.
Who is this I’m hearing giving a speech for an unidentified conference?
“”Russ Belville
It looks as though my friend and member of the Idaho Three, Lindsey Rinehart, is going to be on ABC’s The View. Shucks, I remember when she was guest on my li’l ol’ show.””
Lindsey will be leaving ID for NYC at o6:30 in am so not sure if she will be on tomorrow’s show or the next days,,now I gotta watch network television,,,something I haven’t done for a long time.
Thank you, Mr. Gooding.
puh-lease,,clay or gooding,,I ain’t Republican
the ladies on the view have pull with the white house. i think michelle obama is the boss of that family, and her religion says kannah bosm bad, beer good, end of story.
☮ Moms4MJ
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Our esteemed U.S. mayors deserve a break from the drug war.
Imagine what mayors face each day, being on the front lines of local gang violence over drug turf while handcuffed to Washington, D.C. elites who use drug wars to play games with the U.S. Constitution, enrich the rich, and foment international intrigue.
Feds are armchair soldiers compared to mayors. It’s the mayors whose job includes making sure drug war blood gets scrubbed off the streets every day. It’s the mayors who invest their scarce community tax funding into worthless efforts to jail and force unnecessary drug treatment onto disaffected minorities, a campaign that sucks their communities dry while making their own jobs suck.
To this end, the mayors are to be richly congratulated for coming forward to demand drug law reform. The only question I have is: What took you so long???
☮ US Conference of Mayors Tells Feds to Respect Local Marijuana Laws
Most Americans Want Marijuana Laws to Change leap
Is Your Mayor In The Majority?
To the Honorable
As your constituent, I am writing to encourage you to support a bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors resolution that urges the federal government to allow states and cities to implement their own marijuana laws without interference.
The resolution will be voted on this month at the Conference’s annual meeting in Las Vegas, and you can read it at http://MarijuanaMajority.com/mayors?mayor=true
An increasing number of states and cities across the country are moving away from the criminalization of marijuana and are setting new policies they feel work better for their communities. Whether or not you think marijuana should be criminalized in YOUR CITY, I hope you at least agree that our voters’ federal tax dollars should not be spent arresting people who are abiding by local laws in other cities.
A recent Gallup poll showed that 64 percent of Americans want states to be able to set their own marijuana laws without federal harassment. And the Pew Research Center recently found that the majority of Americans now think marijuana should be legalized, regulated and taxed like alcohol. Keeping marijuana illegal is ineffective at preventing use, results in people getting criminal records they don’t deserve and allows violent drug cartels and gangs to make billions of dollars in tax-free profits every year in the black market.
But as an increasing number of states around the country have begun to chart a new course away from marijuana prohibition, the federal government has too often interfered with effective implementation of these local reforms.
That’s why a bipartisan group of local leaders is working to get the U.S. Conference of Mayors to pass a resolution urging the feds to stop standing in the way of change.
Again, you can see the resolution, as well as the list of mayors who have already signed on as co-sponsors, at: http://MarijuanaMajority.com/mayors?mayor=true
This issue is important to me, and I thank you in advance for your time and consideration.
Sincerely, your constituent,
Or the mayors could simply tell their governors and attorneys general to complete their jobs and instruct the feds to remove marijuana from Schedule 1 since it does have medical value. States control the feds, not the other way around.
“and believes that states and localities should be able to set whatever marijuana policies work best to improve the public safety and health of their communities”
.
.
Agreed. Of course, what “works best to improve public safety and health” is respecting fundamental human rights (like the right to decide what to put into your own body). And what absolutely does NOT work to improve public safety and health — what in fact does the exact opposite — is criminal prohibition. And that’s true everywhere.
When our Mayor handed out bags of pot to patients in 02.
“We take violations of the law seriously, and today the federal drug laws were broken in Santa Cruz, in the presence of the mayor and City Council,” DEA spokesman Meyer said. “The message I got was that officials there have not upheld their oath to uphold and enforce the law.” My kinda town…
Santa Cruz joint effort hands out medical pot