Begging for What's Ours

Maryland House of Delegates attempts to lessen medical pot penalties

The Maryland House of Delegates approved a bill today that would dramatically reduce penalties for Marylanders who use marijuana for medical reasons.

The bill had bipartisan support and passed 73 to 62. The legislation would allow people charged with possession of small amounts of marijuana to present evidence that they have a medical condition that is helped by smoking marijuana.

The maximum penalty for possession of marijuana for medical purposes would be a $100 fine. There would be no jail term.

Of course, some are doing this for political reasons.

"I am not for expanding drug rights," said Del. Gail H. Bates, a Howard County Republican, "but ... there are times when medications do not work. I don't see this as being anybody's first choice."

Hey, Mr. Bates: This isn't about "drug rights."

This is something far more fundamental. I am the sole owner of my body, just as you are the sole owner of yours. It is not my decision to tell you what to eat or drink, nor is it your decision to tell me what to ingest. Just as it's wrong for the government to prohibit certain speech (we own our minds and the thoughts from them), it is wrong for the government to prohibit us from partaking in certain substances.

I'm glad there is a large portion of Maryland politicos and their Republican Governor Robert Ehrlich who support medical marijuana to one degree or another.

But it feels so utterly demeaning and insulting that we have to almost grovel over these little scraps of semi-sanity. Fuck I hate how it looks like we must wait for some legislature, governor, or mid-leve bureaucrat to "approve" of how we handle our lives. Adding INJURY to the insult is the fact that medical pot users will STILL be punished for using it.

I mean, come on! This is the sickening middle-of-the-road, I'm-too-afraid-to-take-a-principled-stand, we-can't-rock-the-boat, don't-alienate-[interest_group], pander-to-the-ignorant-and-frightened, and all-too-typical political BULLSHIT that is too pervasive in the world today.

The choice is quite stark. Either you believe in the individual liberty of humans who have the right to dispose of their earthly coils as they wish, or they don't and someone else must step in to guide their lives. This kind of legislative dithering is a shining example of how horribly unfit for office the majority of our politicians are. They're alternately too scared to lose public support or too scared to lose election funding and those things themselves are damning evidence of the public's weak-willed mindset towards these issues.

I would have voted for the bill if I was in that delegation. It's a step in the right direction. But it's a small, minor step that remains chained in collectivism.

UPDATE(3:45pm):
And then there's Florida.

The ongoing legislative debate on the voter-approved constitutional amendment in Florida to ban public smoking has intensified.

Less than a week after a Senate committee passed a bill watering down the new amendment that largely banned indoor smoking in workplaces, a House committee Tuesday reversed course and approved a strict anti-smoking measure.

The House version actually would ban smoking everywhere, except private homes, designated hotel rooms and tobacco shops. It would eliminate smoking in all bars and restaurants.

I can't think of the word I'm looking for. I'll just settle for wacky. Yessir, this is simply wacky.

Posted by Drizzten at March 19, 2003 02:26 PM