Posted on 01/12/2014 10:49:32 AM PST by Libloather
Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer (D) this week said he's opposed to laws legalizing marijuana.
While Maryland legislators are expected to take up several proposals to legalize the drug this year, the Democratic minority whip said he's concerned it’s a gateway to harsher narcotics.
"I'm not a proponent of the legalization of marijuana," Hoyer said Thursday during a taping of C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" program, which will air Sunday.
The position puts Hoyer on the same page as Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), but at odds with a recent shift in public opinion.
O'Malley said earlier in the week that he's "not much in favor" of the legalization proposals members of the state's General Assembly plan to introduce in both chambers this year.
“I’ve seen what drug addiction has done to the people of our state and the people of our city,” O'Malley said Wednesday in an interview with Baltimore's WEAA radio station.
Public sentiment, meanwhile, has shifted sharply in favor of legalization in recent years. A CNN/Opinion Research poll released Monday found that 55 percent of Americans support the move to legalize the drug — up 12 points from 2012 and 39 points from 25 years ago.
A Gallup poll released in October put the level of support at 58 percent.
Interest in decriminalizing marijuana has skyrocketed since voters in Colorado and Washington state voted last year to legalize the drug for recreational use.
While marijuana remains illegal under federal law, the Justice Department announced last year that it wouldn’t attempt to block state efforts to legalize it. Colorado venders began selling it openly on Jan. 1.
"By regulating marijuana like alcohol, Colorado voters hope to reduce crime and keep marijuana away from kids," Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) said as the sales began.
Along with Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Polis has sponsored legislation to eliminate the federal laws criminalizing the drug.
At least 18 other states and Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana to some extent, though most of those laws relate to the treatment of medical conditions and require a doctor's prescription.
Hoyer this week noted that a former Baltimore mayor, Kurt Schmoke, had advocated for legalizing pot several decades ago. Hoyer said he supported that move at the time, but has since changed his tune based on his discussions with drug-treatment experts.
"My initial reaction was a positive one," Hoyer said. "Then as I talked to people who deal with drug abuse issues, with rehabilitation issues, I became convinced that marijuana was, in fact, a threshold drug and that it would lead to the use of harder, very harmful drugs.".
Ornery...I’d say more like unstable. You’re apparently fine with committing felony assault against people smoking pot because you are judge and jury.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruel_and_unusual_punishment
Before the 1890’s, torture was specifically allowed:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture_and_the_United_States
If a society deems it acceptable, it's neither cruel nor unusual. That's how it was interpreted in the US until then.
So, yes, the US allowed it for a very long time. By the way, have to ever heard of “waterboarding?”
I thought you had, Lurker.
Well, the local park used to be a grand place for kids. Spent a lot of time there, growing up. Flying kites, tossing baseballs. Family picnics. Feeding the ducks. That is, before homo pervs started hanging out in the bathrooms, and dopeheads would zonk out on the picnic benches.
Do I believe in ruthless vigilanteism to remedy such situations? Yes, I do. Unapologetically so. Just as was done throughout the history of this country.
I believe in personal responsibility and accountability and of “manning up.”
It would appear you don't. You want to let criminals off easy, allowing them the opportunity to hurt others and as their punishment, in your world, you want to put them in a secure hotel with three meals a day, Oprah on the tube, and a library and workout room.
Get real, Lurker.
Why don’t you just call the cops?
If people are passed out on benches, I highly doubt it’s from weed. More likely alcohol, heroin, or mentally ill homeless.
I don’t do drugs, nor do I advocate it. Weed is the number one revenue source for the cartels. The WOD is a failure. It’s easier for a high school student to get weed than alcohol.
You believe in torturing American citizens. I don’t.
You believe in permitting the Federal government to violate both the 9th and 10th Amendments. I don’t.
It’s pretty clear who the fascist in this conversation is.
It ain’t me.
L
Well, the dopeheads that have been buying all that dope have been the ones empowering and enriching the cartels via their purchases, leading to endless thousands murdered. Do “they” share any moral responsibility in their actions? Or do they really just HAVE to have their dope, and some poor Mexicans be damned?
Not that any of this really matters much anymore. America has dived headlong into deviancy, as typified by both the push for fag-marriage and the endless appetite, and now celebratory promotion, of dope. The country is wallowing in depravity. America has historically been a force of unparalleled greatness, but now it’s descending into a truly evil entity.
It’s about the money. They want the money. Within 5 years it will be legal all over the place.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fascism
I believe in citizens choosing proper punishment, not a dictator. Go throw your words elsewhere, because you show your ignorance.
I am supporting the legalization of all drugs with my three points. You are the one selectively applying state's rights for only potheads.
Go cry on DU, Lurker. Crud, you don't even have anything to back p the first thing in your argument, while I can at least point out references that prove your points all wrong.
Huh, “Lurker,” indeed.
Sure there is. The WOD is the perfect way to pay unionized thugs in uniform, create a massive police state, erode other Constitutional rights — especially the right to bear arms and the right to be safe and secure I your home.
In short WOD is perfect for tyrants because 50% of the right are willing to sacrifice all that at the alter of saving idiots from themselves.
No 2 is already the law.
Voluntary intoxication is no defense under USA law.
“Obviously, I am not a Fascist.”
Obviously, you are.
You don’t believe in the Constitutuon.
You don’t believe in the Bill of Rights.
You believe in torturing Americans.
You’d be right at home wearing a well pressed brown shirt and a snappy arm band in Germany in 1943.
Well, the news, today, was that the Mexican drug cartel had moved right into run legal marijuana stores in Colorado. So, instead of reducing crime, it appears that legalization, along with lax immigration has invited the criminal element from Mexico right into our own communities. What will be next?
Really, you are such a lightweight. You point to nothin that can prove your assertions.
You’ve been fun to play with, DU Lurker. I look forward to playing wih you, soon. But you will need to understand the value of specific references and not unsubstantiated, blanket statements.
In your parlance, “It takes one to know one.”
Childish, really.
And that is perfectly logical because of how successful we've been at keeping alcohol out of the hands of teenagers, right?
Well, that’ll give lar enforcement something legit to worry about, I mean as opposed to using paramilitary police to kick in the doors of someone smoking a joint.
Wow, think of all of the millions of democrat voting government employees who would loose their jobs!!
No wonder Hoyer doesn’t like the movement to legalize pot
George Shultz, Casper Weinberger, William F. Buckley all thought marijuana should be legal.
And so do I.
There is no reason for it to be illegal. At all.
If you don’t want to smoke it, then don’t.
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