Thanks to the work of many activists in this state and some courageous legislators, a number of bills related to marijuana legalization were introduced in Texas in this year's legislative session. Unfortunately, few of them seem likely to be passed in the few days remaining before the legislators adjourn for the year.
One bill, SB 339, has already passed the state Senate, and, if I understand the process, will be on its way to Governor Abbott for his signature. According to the Texas House Research Organization:
SB 339 would create the Texas Compassionate Use Act, under which the Department of Public Safety (DPS) would be required to license dispensers of low-THC cannabis to certain patients with intractable epilepsy and to establish and maintain a secure, online compassionate-use registry that would contain:
the name of each physician who registered as a prescriber of low-THC cannabis for a patient;
the name and date of birth of the patient;
the dosage prescribed;
the means of administration ordered, which could not include smoking;
the total amount of low-THC cannabis required to fill the patient’s prescription; and
a record of each amount of low-THC cannabis dispensed by a dispensing organization to a patient under a prescription.
In other words, this is an extremely limited approval of low-THC cannabis with heavy restrictions for only one medical condition. It's far from the broader medical marijuana programs some states have established and does nothing to decriminalize marijuana possession or use here in Texas.
A sample of the opposition thinking to legalization can be found in the remarks of Representative Mark Keough, who seemed to think it pretty odd that Texas NORML has a website that contains--remain calm please--a training guide for activists.
It's hard to imagine someone like Keough having similar concerns about the National Rifle Association, which also has a website that contains training material for activists.
This is relevant, because the NRA is supporting another bill working its way through the Texas legislature. HB 910, which Keough co-authored, would extend the right to openly carry handguns to those who with a concealed carry license.
Now, I don't have a problem with HB 910. I have a problem with some of the open-carry idiots here in Texas who make us responsible gun owners look bad, but I'm a big fan of the Second Amendment. The arguments in favor of HB 910, that it helps protect our Second Amendment rights, carry a lot of weight with me.
So do arguments based on the rest of the Bill of Rights, like the Ninth Amendment, which to my mind gives Americans the right to grow and consume naturally occurring plants.
And this is why I think the Texas legislature has turned chicken. Standing up for open carry in Texas requires no courage on the part of state legislators. Standing up for the rights of Texans to use marijuana, whether it be for recreational, agricultural, or medicinal purposes, would actually take some courage. It would require our legislators to be brave enough to tell the people who think that "Reefer Madness" was a documentary that they're wrong. It would require our legislators to be brave to stand up for rights that are not specifically listed in the Bill of Rights but are clearly covered by the Ninth Amendment.
It would also require people like Mark Keough, who's a Christian minister, to be brave enough to recognize that his own Bible clearly states that the God he worships gave to humanity every herb bearing seed, which includes marijuana.
But our legislators seem to lack the kind of courage that leads one to do the right thing instead of the popular thing. At least most of them do. Here are some of the Texas legislators who showed courage this session by standing up for the rights of Texans:
Representatives Marisa Marquez, Joe Moody, David Simpson, Elliott Naishtat, and José R. Rodríguez.
Senators Kevin Eltife and José Rodríguez.
My Second Amendment rights aren't facing any particular threat these days, despite what the drama queens of talk radio say. However, the Ninth Amendment rights of many Texans are still being denied by the state's anti-marijuana laws. Around 70,000 Texans are arrested each year for possession of a Constitutionally approved and Biblically endorsed plant, and that's a travesty.
The Texas legislature meets every two years, so we won't have another chance to fix this problem until 2017. Still, we've made some progress in large part because of years of effort by groups like Texas NORML. With America becoming more favorable toward legalization, maybe by 2017 more of our legislators will have the courage to face this issue.
In the meantime, we remain a state that celebrates drunkenness and guns, but is too chicken to stand up for its marijuana-using citizens.
Texas Legislature Online
Texas NORML
Representative Keough's Statements
House Research Organization Analysis of HB 910
House Research Organization Analysis of SB 339
Video of Texas NORML's 8th Annual Marijuana March
No comments:
Post a Comment