Up in Smoke.

Written By: - Date published: 2:38 pm, January 5th, 2018 - 23 comments
Categories: Abuse of power, accountability, class, class war, crime, discrimination, drugs, International, law, Politics, racism, Social issues, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, us politics, war - Tags: , ,

In 2013, the US Department of Justice instigated a “hands off” policy towards states that legalised marijuana. That’s just been reversed by Jeff Sessions who, according to Time Magazine reckoned “the Obama-era memos that directed prosecutors not to interfere with state activities when it came to legal pot undermined the rule of law.” (Time)

Republicans are pissed, with Colorado’s Senator Cory Gardiner saying he’s “prepared to take all steps necessary” to fight the change. (The Guardian)

It would appear that Jeff Sessions is pursuing his own personal crusade here, and doesn’t seem to be cognisant of the fact that an oft touted strand of Republican thought is about getting government out of peoples’ lives.

So just a few days after California legalised marijuana (The Guardian), prosecutors at the federal level have been instructed to hammer the crap out of anyone breaking federal law, no matter what individual state law says.

It makes you wonder what it is about this (cough) “home of democracy” that empowers just one unelected and unaccountable  man to apparently change policy around law on nothing more than a personal whim.

23 comments on “Up in Smoke. ”

  • Comments are now closed

  2. joe90 2
    5 January 2018 at 4:26 pm

    Now and then.

    Press Sec. Sanders, today: "The president believes in enforcing federal law," regardless of the topic, including marijuana. President Trump on marijuana, July 29, 2016: "I think it should be up to the states, absolutely." pic.twitter.com/9lTwzDjK6m— NBC News (@NBCNews) January 4, 2018

    https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/949031000314662913

  3. Draco T Bastard 3
    5 January 2018 at 6:07 pm

    I wonder if the GoP is trying to break the Union.

    • ropata 3.1
      6 January 2018 at 2:10 pm

      The GOP isn’t interested in democracy, as it interferes with the corporate plunder of America. Corporations will take over, but the military will be used to suppress any notion of state secession from the kleptocracy. The Union will continue as a kind of plutocratic dictatorship with some meaningless democratic fluff, as modelled by Russia and China.

  4. paul andersen 4
    5 January 2018 at 7:22 pm

    right wingers always try and claim they are for keeping out of peoples lives , but are usually the first to invade,,,, either countries ,others bedrooms,recreational pursuits.

  6. R.P. Mcmurphy 6
    5 January 2018 at 9:04 pm

    smoking pot is a human right that has become totally entangled with faux morality, fake christianity and the punitive desires of ineffectual kiwi capons on radio skwarkbak.
    in new zealand it has become the cash cow of the justice industry. cops lawyers judges courts prisons are all sucking on the public tit because of a commodity that is basically non taxable.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 6.1
      6 January 2018 at 6:15 pm

      All cultivated commodities are untaxable if that’s the way you look at it. Gummint can’t tax the spuds that grow in the back yard unless I start selling them.

  7. North 7
    6 January 2018 at 8:42 am

    My God the picture on that post! Grandpappy of numerous Hitler Youth.

  8. timeforacupoftea 8
    6 January 2018 at 10:19 am

    The Obuma era is over chaps.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 8.1
      6 January 2018 at 5:03 pm

      However, judging by the way you deliberately spelled his name wrong, he’s still occupying space inside your head rent-free, and POTUS is utterly obsessed with him. 😆

  9. simbit 9
    6 January 2018 at 1:14 pm

    Never been so much quality ganja available, hell you can even order the shit on-line!

    The distinction between crops and varieties is more meaningful than the often spurious comments on craft beers (matching beer and food? BFD…).

  10. ropata 10
    6 January 2018 at 2:13 pm

    Quite a significant development after 47 years of the failed war on drugs. NZ should have decriminalised decades ago.

  11. greywarshark 11
    6 January 2018 at 5:48 pm

    How come the USA created mayhem in Afghanistan running a raid on illegal drugs.
    Are they trying to start a long-term spurious war on drugs there to give them an excuse to stay on and get a nice build up of hate and damnation to prevent settlement of anything and the possibility of Afghanistan getting its country back.

  12. One Anonymous Bloke 12
    6 January 2018 at 6:00 pm

    It makes you wonder what it is about this (cough) “home of democracy” that empowers just one unelected and unaccountable man to apparently change policy around law on nothing more than a personal whim.

    Since when has the USA been “the home of democracy”? Most people here rate eg: Norway far higher than ‘Murica (as do many Lefties in ‘Murica), and what about ancient Greece? The ‘American Dream’ has been fucked since the 1970’s (cf: Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail), if it was ever real in the first place.

    As for Sessions, it remains to be seen whether his white man’s overbite will prove more than he can chew. The backlash from eg: Colorado Republicans has been swift and staunch, so let’s see how “empowered” he looks in a few weeks time.

    • Ed 12.1
      6 January 2018 at 6:03 pm

      America is a plutocracy.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 12.1.1
        6 January 2018 at 6:07 pm

        Source: Noam Chomsky. It’s polite to provide attribution.

        • Bill 12.1.1.1
          6 January 2018 at 7:32 pm

          You’ve no idea where Ed picked up the term.

          • One Anonymous Bloke 12.1.1.1.1
            6 January 2018 at 7:46 pm

            Nor have you or Ed, probably, and I reckon it was Chomsky. I note that you also assume he “picked it up” rather than figured it out for himself, so thanks for labouring my point.

            • greywarshark 12.1.1.1.1.1
              7 January 2018 at 11:21 am

              Perhaps every time we say something we should pay tribute to you OAB as your wisdom is ubiquitous.

  13. Tricledrown 13
    7 January 2018 at 11:18 am

    Gopers look for issues that keep Christian fundies voting for them is abortion etc.
    The Moral high ground to bring in working class votes.
    As we continually see though that they are not able to uphold those Morals as individual’s.
    Hypocracy.

  14. Macro 14
    7 January 2018 at 1:59 pm

    With around 60% of US citizens now in favour of decriminalising or legalising Pot and 90% supporting its medical use – maybe it is time for the Repugnants to pass a law –

    Here’s a thought: Instead of letting the Department of Justice dictate the country’s drug agenda, what if lawmakers actually, you know, did their jobs and passed a law? Congress could just repeal the Controlled Substances Act––particularly the part that classifies marijuana as a Schedule I substance with no accepted medical use.

    Removing marijuana’s classification in the CSA––and beginning to recognize legitimate medical purpose on a federal level––would be smart not just as policy, but also because it would remove all such power from Sessions, making his decrepit decision moot.

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/republicans-instead-of-whining-about-jeff-sessions-legalize-pot?ref=wrap
    But that would be a bridge too far for them.
    Better to go down in a screaming heap at the forthcoming mid-terms than actually do something useful for the US.

  15. spikeyboy 15
    7 January 2018 at 8:48 pm

    Mostly, the war on drugs was designed as a way to disenfranchise people who were not to the liking of conservative white people. It always went against scientific and medical advice but was a useful way to disrupt and shrivel groups opposed to the powerful since it was an easy way to enter houses and arrest leaders. Ehrlichman who was an aide of Nixon and implicated in Watergate and did time for his role admitted as much recently.

    The war on drugs was first used against Black America and anti-Vietnam war protesters. It is still used heavily and with terrible consequences against Black America

    https://harpers.org/archive/2016/04/legalize-it-all/

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