Legal pot business owners ponder possibility of death row after Trump administration policy shift

Crovax said:

There is no law allowing slavery still in the US code

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Prison labor is getting pretty close to slavery, state-mandated.

Thoreau72 said:

Like so many others, the 8th Amendment doesn't matter anymore. Americans LIKE cruel and unusual punishment. The more cruel and unusual, the better. They LIKE torture, as long as it's done to muslims and people with dark skin, and they like obscene prison sentences for people who have committed victimless crimes.

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I think we should balance the budget by putting executions on pay TV.

JacksinPA said:

Yes knee jerk to equate legally licensed weed operators with Death Row inmates. It's probably unconstitutional ('due process') & patently ridiculous. To quote Gilbert & Sullivan's 'Mikado': Let the punishment fit the crime.

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There are no legally licensed weed operators.

JacksinPA said:

If it ever got to the SCOTUS, the 8th A. would Trump any death sentence conviction. Never happen.

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And the 10th would put a stop to "legal" marijuana. Probably sanctuary anything at the same time.

jimbo said:

There are no legally licensed weed operators.

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That is not an accurate statement. On a state level there are many. Even on the federal level there is a process whereby one can apply to receive medical marijuana grown by the federal government in Mississippi.

Thoreau72 said:

That is not an accurate statement. On a state level there are many. Even on the federal level there is a process whereby one can apply to receive medical marijuana grown by the federal government in Mississippi.

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There is no state law that overrules a federal law.

gdgyva said:

i seem to remember a bunch of people going kinda nutz as Arizona tried to administer immigration laws as they saw fit
and they were all from the left...maybe not you specifically, but they were democrats and progressives
Texas, Arizona...a number of states have tried to curb illegal immigration, and it was all about that being a federal thing

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Arizona was ruled against by the courts because they were stopping random brown people, demanding they prove they're citizens and then rounding them up and jailing them if they couldn't prove it on the spot, American or not. That's not "administering immigration laws as they see fit", it's explicit racial discrimination and violates the constitution. States do have the right to administer immigration laws as they see fit as long as it's constitutional, which this wasn't.

jimbo said:

There is no state law that overrules a federal law.

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No, but there is the Tenth Amendment, and it makes it very clear that the powers NOT delegated to the federal government (growing pot is not one of those powers) are reserved to the States.

Thoreau72 said:

No, but there is the Tenth Amendment, and it makes it very clear that the powers NOT delegated to the federal government (growing pot is not one of those powers) are reserved to the States.

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But the powers are delegated to the federal government. The laws are federal, not state. The same goes for the sanctuary anything laws.

I'm personally not opposed to pot, but the course of action is to call on your congress critters to change the law, not vote to ignore it.

jimbo said:

But the powers are delegated to the federal government. The laws are federal, not state. The same goes for the sanctuary anything laws.

I'm personally not opposed to pot, but the course of action is to call on your congress critters to change the law, not vote to ignore it.

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Correct, specific and enumerated powers are delegated to the federal government by the US Constitution, primarily in Article I, with a few random things mentioned in other parts. The Tenth Amendment makes it clear that powers not delegated to the federal government are retained by the states and the people.

Look, and nowhere will you find an enumerated power for that government to tell the citizen what he may or may not ingest. It's not there.

The federal government has usurped power and authority to have its drug prohibition. That renders those claims invalid, and the law invalid. Government bureaucrats are notorious for claiming powers not belonging to them.

Thoreau72 said:

Correct, specific and enumerated powers are delegated to the federal government by the US Constitution, primarily in Article I, with a few random things mentioned in other parts. The Tenth Amendment makes it clear that powers not delegated to the federal government are retained by the states and the people.

Look, and nowhere will you find an enumerated power for that government to tell the citizen what he may or may not ingest. It's not there.

The federal government has usurped power and authority to have its drug prohibition. That renders those claims invalid, and the law invalid. Government bureaucrats are notorious for claiming powers not belonging to them.

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Again, though, the states have abrogated their rights to the federal government long ago. The correct course of action is to repeal the law giving the feds control. I am not in favor of spending billions fighting a losing battle over a relatively harmless personal decision. I just don't like states deciding which federal laws they will follow.

The real question is why if this so unpopular, hasn't Congress taken it up? They could do this in 5 minutes on a Tuesday morning and President Trump would sign it by noon.

jimbo said:

Again, though, the states have abrogated their rights to the federal government long ago. The correct course of action is to repeal the law giving the feds control. I am not in favor of spending billions fighting a losing battle over a relatively harmless personal decision. I just don't like states deciding which federal laws they will follow.

The real question is why if this so unpopular, hasn't Congress taken it up? They could do this in 5 minutes on a Tuesday morning and President Trump would sign it by noon.

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The states abrogated their rights long ago? By what mechanism was that done?

I agree with you that the poor laws by the feds should be repealed, but that ain't gonna happen for a number of reasons. Rational policy and governance is NOT a hallmark of the federal government.

Why hasn't Congress taken this up? Well, it's been way too busy trying to figure out how it was the Russians stole the last election I suppose, or too busy trying to figure out which congressional aide to molest? I'm way too cynical to even begin to think that Congress will do anything right or principled. They are too busy enabling our illegitimate bombing of Yemen and Syria to do anything that resembles proper governance, but I digress.

I as a citizen have no obligation to obey illegitimate legislation, including the drug laws. That's where I'm at.

Back on topic, the states have begun to assert their Tenth Amendment powers regarding the asinine drug policy foisted upon us. I say bravo. Yes, there is a crisis of responsible governance in this country. At the moment and in some small ways, the state governments are doing a better job than the federal leviathan.

jimbo said:

There is no state law that overrules a federal law.

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Sure there are. The feds generally lack the will to do anything about it.

There are even cases of the federal government allowing (aiding in the?) violation of federal laws. The IRS issues ITINs to allow illegal immigrants to work - why is that done, if not to collect revenue (withholdings) from the (illegal?) paychecks of illegal immigrants?

The Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) is a tax processing number issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to ensure that people – including unauthorized immigrants – pay taxes even if they do not have a Social Security number and regardless of their immigration status.

ITINs allow the IRS to bring in billions of dollars the federal government otherwise would have no way of collecting. This fact sheet explains what ITINs are, who has them, and the purposes for which they are used.

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https://www.americanimmigrationcoun...out-individual-tax-identification-number-itin

JacksinPA said:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/po...s-owners-ponder-possibility-death-row-n858946

In a move apparently designed to appease President Trump’s recent promise to execute narcotics traffickers, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions this week released a memo urging federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for "dealing in extremely large quantities of drugs."

Smarting from Sessions’ opposition to state-legal marijuana in places like California, Colorado and Washington state, the new guidelines sent chills through some in the cannabis community.
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I think this knee-jerk move has not been clearly thought out, which seems to be a hallmark of Trump administration decisions in the war on drugs. No licensed, commercial pot grower or dispenser will ever wind up on Death Row.

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In the new budget passed last week there are no funds provided to the Justice Dept to enforce the Federal ban on cannabis in those States which have a med program in place. And that's a good thing !!

JacksinPA said:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/po...s-owners-ponder-possibility-death-row-n858946

In a move apparently designed to appease President Trump’s recent promise to execute narcotics traffickers, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions this week released a memo urging federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for "dealing in extremely large quantities of drugs."

Smarting from Sessions’ opposition to state-legal marijuana in places like California, Colorado and Washington state, the new guidelines sent chills through some in the cannabis community.
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I think this knee-jerk move has not been clearly thought out, which seems to be a hallmark of Trump administration decisions in the war on drugs. No licensed, commercial pot grower or dispenser will ever wind up on Death Row.

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That seems like a great use of time and money

:roll:

gdgyva said:

i seem to remember a bunch of people going kinda nutz as Arizona tried to administer immigration laws as they saw fit

and they were all from the left...maybe not you specifically, but they were democrats and progressives

Texas, Arizona...a number of states have tried to curb illegal immigration, and it was all about that being a federal thing

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Of course, a conservative ignores what the real issue was. It was the fact Arizona was racially discriminating and targeting hispanic people with the equivalency of "show me your papers"

jimbo said:

Again, though, the states have abrogated their rights to the federal government long ago. The correct course of action is to repeal the law giving the feds control. I am not in favor of spending billions fighting a losing battle over a relatively harmless personal decision. I just don't like states deciding which federal laws they will follow.

The real question is why if this so unpopular, hasn't Congress taken it up? They could do this in 5 minutes on a Tuesday morning and President Trump would sign it by noon.

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Prohibition of Weed funds several large industries, industries who lobby congress. For starters, for profit prisons would go out of business if weed were legal. They donated 1.6 million in 2016.

https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=G7000

Then there is the law enforcement aspect, Domestic Law Enforcement receives 9 billion a year, the overwhelming majority of that for pot. Without that money, police departments would have to cut back drastically on personnel. Not to mention the money they make on seizures and civil forfeiture, and here's the thing, they don't even need to charge you with a crime to take your property and sell it. Just suspect you of a crime. And Sessions have greenlit them to seize more property. The DEA alone has 3.2 billion in assets from 2007 to 2016.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/18/15985810/jeff-sessions-civil-asset-forfeiture
Economics | Drug War Facts

And all that money the cops are spending to fight weed, is getting made by someone selling a product. Like Guns, Kevlar, Vehicles, Contractors that build the jails, etc. They all lobby Congress to.

Fact is the only reason we keep it illegal is so Conservatives can profit off incarcerating people and seizing property. And then point to the crime wave that comes about from any type of prohibition as a reason they should get voted in, so they can crack down and make more money.



Reagan started privatizing prisons after this, and throwing money at imprisoning people. Despite knowing full well that the war on drugs was bogus, and was used to target minority communities.

"You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities," Ehrlichman said. "We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did." -Nixon domestic policy chief John Ehrlichman

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https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/poli...chard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie/index.html

By the time Reagan hit office, views on weed were softening, States had started to decriminalize, a few were playing with the idea of Medical Marijuana. But being the Oligarch puppet that he was, he saw marijuana as an opportunity to bring us closer to a corporate police state.


So that's why Congress doesn't fix it in five minutes.

chuckiechan said:

No one ever accused the media of having common sense. The death penalty was part of Bill Clintons “Contract with America” and was used in one case. It was directed at the cocaine cartel smugglers, not legal pot growers.

It is clear to sentient people that pot is not what was included in the “opioid crisis” context of this threat.

Leave it to the national media to add to the crazies psychosis about Trump.

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Contract with America is now Bill Clinton's? Lmao, is American history even taught in Russia?

Sent from a memo written by Nunes and edited by Trump.