Marijuana advocates have highlighted Davies’ case as the latest evidence that President Barack Obama has misled in his claims that …He’s not interested in harshly enforcing federal marijuana laws in states that have legalized the substance to some degree. Last year, Obama claimed his administration wouldn’t focus on prosecuting recreational marijuana users in Washington and Colorado — which had both just passed laws legalizing cannabis for recreational use — because there were “bigger fish to fry.”
Obama received a personal plea from Davies’ wife, Molly, earlier this year, who asked the president to consider his comments in the context of her husband’s case.
“Mr. President, my husband is not a criminal and shouldn’t be treated like one. Matt is not a drug dealer or trafficker. He’s not driving around in a fancy car and living in some plush mansion — trust me,” Davies wrote. “My husband is a regular guy, and we’re a regular, middle-class family. Yet even though Matt took great pains to follow state and local law, he is currently facing a severe prison sentence. This all seems so surreal.”
People More Evolved than Obama on Pot
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- CEO Gary Johnson will be featured as the keynote speaker at the CannaCon Cannabis Expo being held from Aug. 14 – 17, 2014 at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington.
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- In 2010, Perry told Jon Stewart that he believed in a federalist approach to marijuana laws — that is, to allow states to determine their own approach and to tell the federal government to butt out.
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- Taylor West, the group’s deputy director, said the private “VIP reception” is designed to let marijuana insiders hear from Paul, who supports legislation to legalize medical marijuana and give the pot industry access to banking.
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- In a state of the city address earlier this year, Bloomberg made it clear that he supported a promise by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to push marijuana decriminalization. “I support Governor Cuomo’s proposal to make possession of small amounts of marijuana a violation, rather than a misdemeanor, and we’ll work to help him pass it.” A similar effort specific to NYC has made some progress, but faces an unclear path forward with New York lawmakers.
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- House members voted 242 to 186 in favor of the amendment, offered by Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Sam Farr (D-CA), Reid Ribble (R-WI), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Joe Heck (R-NV), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Don Young (R-CA), Jared Polis (D-CO), Tom McClintock (R-CA), and Dina Titus (D-NV) as an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2016 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations bill.
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- Some may think of Cranston as more of a meth guy thanks to Walter White, his character on AMC’s hit show “Breaking Bad,” but in real life he’s spoken out against current pot laws, suggesting that recreational marijuana use isn’t a big deal — and shouldn’t be treated like it. “[T]o me, marijuana is no different than wine,” he said in an interview with High Times. “It’s a drug of choice. It’s meant to alter your current state — and that’s not a bad thing. It’s ridiculous that marijuana is still illegal. We’re still fighting for it … It comes down to individual decision-making. There are millions of people who smoke pot on a social basis and don’t become criminals. So stop with that argument — it doesn’t work.”
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- Palin spoke out on marijuana in 2010, saying she didn’t support legalizing it but also calling it a “minimal problem” for the nation. “However, I think we need to prioritize our law enforcement efforts,” Palin said. “If somebody’s gonna smoke a joint in their house and not do anybody any harm, then perhaps there are other things our cops should be looking at to engage in and try to clean up some of the other problems we have in society.”
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- Amash is also a co-sponsor of the “Respect State Marijuana Laws Act.”
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- Back in 2009, when Beck had a Fox News show, he suggested that marijuana legalization could be a worthwhile solution to raging drug violence on the nation’s border with Mexico. “I think it’s about time we legalize marijuana,” he said. “We have to make a choice in this country. We either put people who are smoking marijuana behind bars or we legalize it, but this little game we’re playing in the middle is not helping us, it is not helping Mexico and it is causing massive violence on our southern border.”
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- King hasn’t been shy about advocating for a legal marijuana industry that could give easy access to recreational users and revenue to the states. “Marijuana should not only be legal, I think it should be a cottage industry,” he said in an interview with High Times. “My wife says, and I agree with her, that what would be really great for Maine would be to legalize dope completely and set up dope stores the way that there are state-run liquor stores.”
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- Savage slammed Obama for perpetuating the war on drugs while on HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher” in 2009. “The proof will be in the policy. The war on drugs has gotten a really bad rap, when you ask people if they support the war on drugs they say no … [Obama’s] budget once again has the same old drug warrior policy … I reject the assumption that everybody who is using drugs needs treatment or is an addict and needs to get arrested … Not all drug use is abuse.”
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- Clinton has supported decriminalizing marijuana for more than a decade and more recently has spoken out against the war on drugs. “I think that most small amounts of marijuana have been decriminalized in some places, and should be,” he said back in 2000 in an interview with Rolling Stone. “We really need a re-examination of our entire policy on imprisonment.” He’s since spoken about the issue of marijuana and drug prohibition a number of times. Last year, he appeared in the documentary, “Breaking the Taboo,” where he argued that the war on drugs has been a failure.
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- n a 2013 American Conservative op-ed chock full of moderate Republican views, Huntsman snuck in a call to “applaud states that lead on reforming drug policy.” While Obama and his administration have responded to state marijuana reforms by saying they must enforce federal laws against marijuana, the president has the power to reschedule the drug, which would allow federal authorities to shift resources away from a prohibitive approach.
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- Young is also a co-sponsor of the “Respect State Marijuana Laws Act.” Hopefully he’ll choose his words carefully when explaining who he thinks should grow marijuana.