TX House okays recreational marijuana

[BrownieMomma]

Surprised by this news this morning!

A Tea Party Republican sponsored a House Bill to legalize recreational marijuana on religious grounds.

Totally did not expect that...

ksat.com/content/pns/ksat/news/2015/05/06/texas-house-committee-approves-bill-to-make-marijuana-legal-for-.html

AUSTIN, Texas - A proposal seeking full legalization of marijuana on religious grounds has cleared an unlikely legislative hurdle.

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Republican state Rep. David Simpson of Longview argues marijuana comes from God and therefore shouldn't be banned by government.

The tea party stalwart has repeatedly championed what he calls the "Christian case" for legalization.

Simpson's bill (HB 2165) languished for weeks before the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.

Three committee Democrats and two Republicans surprisingly voted to support it Wednesday, though, and it passed 5-2.

That makes Simpson's bill eligible for consideration to reach the House floor before the legislative session ends June 1, although that's still highly unlikely.

State law currently makes no exceptions even for medical marijuana, making outright legalization unthinkable.

Still, advocates hailed the committee vote as "unprecedented progress" for Texas marijuana rights.

Nearly three out of five Texas voters (58%) support making marijuana legal for adults and regulating it like alcohol, according to a statewide survey conducted by Public Policy Polling in September 2013.

Four states have adopted laws that regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol. Two of them, Colorado and Washington, have established regulated systems of marijuana cultivation and sales.

Alaska and Oregon are in the process of implementing similar systems.

Statement from Heather Fazio, Texas Political Director for the Marijuana Policy Project:

“Marijuana prohibition’s days are numbered in the Lone Star State. Texas voters recognize that punishing adults for consuming a substance that is safer than alcohol is a waste of law enforcement resources and an affront to individual liberty. It appears most of the committee members agree.

“State officials are increasingly becoming fed up with the failed federal government policy of marijuana prohibition, and they’re taking action. Like most Americans, most Texans are ready for a more sensible, fiscally sound.

[DGayle]

I'm all for 100% legalized recreational pot, but I'm very bothered by how religion is now openly the reason for passing laws.

[Trynn]

Well, sometimes laws that need to get passed don't always have the best logic behind them. I learned in criminal justice class that apparently the only way they got a child beater convicted was because the lawyers managed to convince the courts that the child was an animal, (as are all humans) and you can't beat animals.

So, fucked up logic or not, at least it's happening?

[doggie]

maybe this will mellow the crazies out a bit and Texas won't look like it needs truckloads of tinfoil hats.

[onlyme]

Well, sometimes laws that need to get passed don't always have the best logic behind them. I learned in criminal justice class that apparently the only way they got a child beater convicted was because the lawyers managed to convince the courts that the child was an animal, (as are all humans) and you can't beat animals.

So, fucked up logic or not, at least it's happening?

I just read that the other day too. So weird.

The law is like medicine. You find what will work and apply it. I'm glad for the places where cops won't be stopping and harassing people for having a baggie in their pocket, but I worry about what the government is doing to it. When I was younger the thought was if you legalize it the government will ruin it and I'm afraid that's what happening. There were no OD's on pot when I was a kid. That would have gotten you teased. How much would a person have to consume to OD? Now it seems like it happens quite a bit.