House Stops Pot for VA Docs

It's time to declare an end to marijuana being illegal. It's been time for quite some time. And it is the Federal Government that needs to declare marijuana - medicinal, recreational or other - legal.

The U.S. House nixed VA [D]ocs in recommending medicinal marijuana.  Start and Stripes News:

A House committee has struck down a measure allowing Department of Veterans Affairs doctors to discuss and recommend medical marijuana to veterans in states where the drug is legal, blocking it from debate Wednesday on the House floor.

The “Veterans Equal Access” measure has been debated and voted on the past three years in the House as an amendment to the VA appropriations bill, and it passed the House with a vote of 233-189 in 2016. After Tuesday’s vote of the House Rules Committee, it won’t have that chance this year.

President Donald Trump needs to drop his anti-marijuana platform. Business Insider:

Michael Collins, the deputy director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said in an email that Trump continues to send "mixed messages" on marijuana.

"After stating during the campaign that he was '100%' in support of medical marijuana, he now issues a signing statement casting doubt on whether his Administration will adhere to a congressional rider that stops DOJ from going after medical marijuana programs," Collins said.

AG Jeff Sessions also needs to drop the war against marijuana. New York Daily News (June 13, 2017):

 Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants protections for states’ medical marijuana programs to go up in smoke.

The nation’s top prosecutor sent a letter to top congressional leaders opposing the so-called Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, which prohibits Department of Justice funds from being used against medical marijuana users and organizations in compliance with their own states’ laws.

Marijuana is the least of our problems. As a Libertarian, I believe that all drugs should be legalized (that's a whole 'nother post), but a good start is dropping this overblown and expensive war on pot.

Trump, Sessions and other Republicans, and all other politicians (party affiliation irrelevant) - as well as our law enforcement agencies - need to let go of this belief that marijuana usage resembles anything close to how it is portrayed in "Reefer Madness."

How successful, or how much a failure, is the "War on Drugs"? Well, that depends which sources you read and how factual and believable you decide it is.

Additional reading:
Ancient roots of medicinal marijuana. Nugs.com
Marijuana use in Ancient Egypt. Newstarget.com
Medicinal Marijuana could save $ 1 Billion in Medicaid costs. HuffPoo Post
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Grammar 7/27/2017