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Is there an easy way to track donations from alcohol/big pharma lobbyists to the Republican party? I'm betting quite a bit of money, rather than concern for th

Is there an easy way to track donations from alcohol/big pharma lobbyists to the Republican party? I'm betting quite a bit of money, rather than concern for the prole's welfare, is behind this. Sessions said this in March: "I reject the idea that America will be a better place if marijuana is sold in every corner store. And I am astonished to hear people suggest that we can solve our heroin crisis by legalizing marijuana – so people can trade one life-wrecking dependency for another that’s only slightly less awful,” he told law enforcement officials in March. Our nation needs to say clearly once again that using drugs will destroy your life." As it happens, a person close to me who was a true alcoholic (physically dependent, would have seizures if they didn't drink, tried AA and failed through the 12 steps a number of times) successfully stopped drinking by choosing to safely vape pot instead. They vape about every two days. How exactly did pot destroy this person's life? - edited to add big pharma

existencebox 9y ago
I was considering writing this on a throwaway but no, this makes me so incensed I have to speak up as myself. As a long-term, gainfully employed and rather successful engineer, marijuana was the _one_ reason I was able to get my unhealthily low body weight up to par after years of attempting other methods. I would go multiple days without eating/without an appetite, between this and my weight resulting in a multitude of unfortunate ailments. To say that pot "destroyed" my life is about as far from the truth as you can get. This is such a heartless decision, paramount in my mind to the same corrupt ideologues who enabled prohibition; and while I'm in no means surprised, I feel like there needs to be stronger action at this point to fight back.
- mr_spothawk 9y ago
  sessions isn’t talking about Med, he’s talking about Rec. fuck him, anyway. i’m glad weed gets you feeling better. it was only ever made illegal because racism and the cotton lobby. fuck this system. fuck these entrenched interests. fuck you, dad! i’m smoking weed no matter what u say!
  - cmurf 9y ago
    This is wrong. Sessions is absolutely talking about medical marijuana when he's heavily lobbying Congress to repeal Rohrabacher-Farr. The whole point of that amendment is to prevent DOJ from interfering in state legalized medical marijuana use.
- rufugee 9y ago
  Congratulations on your weight maintenance...that is wonderful. Regarding using a throwaway, I understand the impulse. It's sad that in 2018 we are judged by potential employers or peers for just saying that a plant should be legal. Personally, I decided last year to no longer hide my feelings on the matter. I believe this fear of being judged leads many of us to do so, and sadly, it impedes progress. So, I've started telling people openly and honestly how I feel. I'm no longer afraid to say it should be legal, and I'm not afraid for my wife, my children, my family, or my peers to know. I'm not a regular user, but I know many who are and lead happy, functional lives, including the person I mentioned in the original post. It should be legal.
Shivetya 9y ago
If you follow the donations in this sector its usually boring and more towards whomever is in power. I would concentrate more on police and sheriff PACs and those related to the prison systems; not private but public which are most covered by PACs while I find some things to like about this Administration as a Libertarian it stops when confronted with Sessions. then again all this opens the door to more opportunities to flip this to Congress and put pressure there. The previous Administration did not push this either, they did their typical chicken move of pretending it wasn't an issue. As in, if we don't enforce the law then that means we don't support it. Yet no effort to repeal
- chc 9y ago
  There have been multiple bills to reschedule marijuana over the past several years. They all died. There was another introduced this year and it met the same fate. I'm not sure why you'd blame Obama for the House's unwillingness to act.
- cmurf 9y ago
  The executive branch can't repeal laws, they can choose to selectively enforce them. Also, the previous administration via the state department, was working on unwinding the many agreements we have with other countries on marijuana legalization, it's hardly tenable to legalize it at a federal level while we're still giving (let's call it slush) money to governments who make it illegal, and punishing those who don't. This administration has castrated the state department, so near as I can tell, none of that effort is happening anymore. And in fact any government paying attention would refuse to take such moves seriously now that the AG is reversing the prior administration's efforts thus far.
aphextron 9y ago
I really wouldn’t worry about it too much at this point. The cat is out of the bag; there’s waay too much legitimate money involved in the weed business now, especially in California. There are a dozen storefronts within a few miles of me right now. California, Oregon, Colorado, and Washington are recieving hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue. On top of >60% public support for legalization, all the feds can do at this point is sit back and watch. It would be a governmental overreach not matched since the days of internment camps if they were to attempt enforcing federal law around this, not to even mention the political suicide of siding with the few people who still support prohibition.
- madengr 9y ago
  Though they do it for guns. Here in KS the law says firearms and accessory made in KS are exempt from federal regulation. Two guys were recently convicted in federal court for making a suppressor.

existencebox 9y ago

I was considering writing this on a throwaway but no, this makes me so incensed I have to speak up as myself. As a long-term, gainfully employed and rather successful engineer, marijuana was the _one_ reason I was able to get my unhealthily low body weight up to par after years of attempting other methods. I would go multiple days without eating/without an appetite, between this and my weight resulting in a multitude of unfortunate ailments. To say that pot "destroyed" my life is about as far from the truth as you can get. This is such a heartless decision, paramount in my mind to the same corrupt ideologues who enabled prohibition; and while I'm in no means surprised, I feel like there needs to be stronger action at this point to fight back.

mr_spothawk 9y ago
sessions isn’t talking about Med, he’s talking about Rec. fuck him, anyway. i’m glad weed gets you feeling better. it was only ever made illegal because racism and the cotton lobby. fuck this system. fuck these entrenched interests. fuck you, dad! i’m smoking weed no matter what u say!
- cmurf 9y ago
  This is wrong. Sessions is absolutely talking about medical marijuana when he's heavily lobbying Congress to repeal Rohrabacher-Farr. The whole point of that amendment is to prevent DOJ from interfering in state legalized medical marijuana use.
rufugee 9y ago
Congratulations on your weight maintenance...that is wonderful. Regarding using a throwaway, I understand the impulse. It's sad that in 2018 we are judged by potential employers or peers for just saying that a plant should be legal. Personally, I decided last year to no longer hide my feelings on the matter. I believe this fear of being judged leads many of us to do so, and sadly, it impedes progress. So, I've started telling people openly and honestly how I feel. I'm no longer afraid to say it should be legal, and I'm not afraid for my wife, my children, my family, or my peers to know. I'm not a regular user, but I know many who are and lead happy, functional lives, including the person I mentioned in the original post. It should be legal.

Shivetya 9y ago

If you follow the donations in this sector its usually boring and more towards whomever is in power. I would concentrate more on police and sheriff PACs and those related to the prison systems; not private but public which are most covered by PACs while I find some things to like about this Administration as a Libertarian it stops when confronted with Sessions. then again all this opens the door to more opportunities to flip this to Congress and put pressure there. The previous Administration did not push this either, they did their typical chicken move of pretending it wasn't an issue. As in, if we don't enforce the law then that means we don't support it. Yet no effort to repeal

chc 9y ago
There have been multiple bills to reschedule marijuana over the past several years. They all died. There was another introduced this year and it met the same fate. I'm not sure why you'd blame Obama for the House's unwillingness to act.
cmurf 9y ago
The executive branch can't repeal laws, they can choose to selectively enforce them. Also, the previous administration via the state department, was working on unwinding the many agreements we have with other countries on marijuana legalization, it's hardly tenable to legalize it at a federal level while we're still giving (let's call it slush) money to governments who make it illegal, and punishing those who don't. This administration has castrated the state department, so near as I can tell, none of that effort is happening anymore. And in fact any government paying attention would refuse to take such moves seriously now that the AG is reversing the prior administration's efforts thus far.

aphextron 9y ago

I really wouldn’t worry about it too much at this point. The cat is out of the bag; there’s waay too much legitimate money involved in the weed business now, especially in California. There are a dozen storefronts within a few miles of me right now. California, Oregon, Colorado, and Washington are recieving hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue. On top of >60% public support for legalization, all the feds can do at this point is sit back and watch. It would be a governmental overreach not matched since the days of internment camps if they were to attempt enforcing federal law around this, not to even mention the political suicide of siding with the few people who still support prohibition.

madengr 9y ago
Though they do it for guns. Here in KS the law says firearms and accessory made in KS are exempt from federal regulation. Two guys were recently convicted in federal court for making a suppressor.