Drug War Mythology (An ESSENTIAL Read)

[Frackal]

Crack Cocaine is not addictive FACT

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) supported legislation in the mid-1990s that would have imposed the death penalty for people convicted of importing two ounces or more of marijuana.


THE DRUG WAR MUST END

 

[Frackal]

Typical cocksucker republican Newt is... piece of fat shit - The war on drugs is bi-partisan, but the false-christian phony moralists of the repubs are the champions of this siege. They are quite the artists at destroying our liberties, aren't they.

 

[p0ink]

WTF was that? These words ring totally untrue. The current laws and state of the American "system" shows that it is indeed the American public that feels the government is the answer. You go on and on to point out the sucess of other Foreign nations in the EU, Canada and Australia with their sucess in their policies in contrast to the US. Then you go and say some shit like that, a total contradiction.

yes, many other countries have made responsible decisions concering drug use, but that's pretty much it. disarming citizens, heavy taxation, government controlled health care, etc just help foster the idea that big government is the answer to everything.

plus, the majority of people (here) that are proponents og big government are foreigners.

 

[manny78]

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) supported legislation in the mid-1990s that would have imposed the death penalty for people convicted of importing two ounces or more of marijuana.


THE DRUG WAR MUST END

are you serious ? Death penalty for importing pot ? WTF ? What about alcohol then ?

 

[p0ink]

are you serious ? Death penalty for importing pot ? WTF ? What about alcohol then ?

"Gingrich introduced H.R. 4170, “The Drug Importer Death Penalty Act of 1996,” on September 25, 1996. The bill failed to gain majority support in Congress."

that is from the end notes.

"Death Penalty for
Two Ounces of Marijuana!
(from September/October 1996 Marijuana Policy Report)
Picture this: An indiscreet American college student returning from a vacation in Mexico is caught with two ounces of marijuana in his pocket. A judge is forced to sentence him to spend the rest of his life in federal prison. If this is his second offense, he will be executed.

Could this really happen in America? Yes, if U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA) and his cronies have their way.


U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA) introduced H.R. 4170,
the "Drug Importer Death Penalty Act of 1996."
On September 22, 1995, Gingrich promised "to pass legislation mandating the death penalty for anyone caught smuggling 'commercial' quantities of drugs into the United States," according to The Washington Post.

"To stop the influx of drugs into the United States, Gingrich called for life sentences without parole for anyone who crosses the U.S. border with commercial quantities of illegal drugs. Drug dealers, he said, should receive capital punishment. A bill will be put before Congress in September with the harsher penalties, Gingrich said," reported The San Francisco Examiner on August 18, 1996.

On September 25, 1996, mere days before Congress adjourned for the year, Rep. Gingrich introduced H.R. 4170, the "Drug Importer Death Penalty Act of 1996." Within a few days, the bill had attracted a coalition of 26 Republican co-sponsors.

But what are these "commercial quantities" of which Gingrich speaks? While the bill purports to increase penalties for major drug traffickers, it would actually catch small-time drug users. Individuals convicted of importing "100 usual dosage amounts" of several illicit substances, including marijuana, would be sentenced to federal prison for life without parole.

If convicted of a second offense -- presumably the first offense would have to be committed prior to the enactment of this law -- the defendant would be sentenced to death.

Federal law -- as established by the 1994 crime act -- already allows the death penalty for being involved with the cultivation or distribution of 60,000 marijuana plants (or seedlings) or 60,000 kilograms of marijuana.

According to a DEA memo dated October 20, 1988, the DEA defines a marijuana dosage unit to be 0.5 grams -- therefore 100 dosage units would be 50 grams, or less than two ounces of marijuana.

Although H.R. 4170 is effectively dead because Congress has adjourned the 1995-96 session, the MPP urges people to write letters to their U.S. representatives strongly opposing this bill. If members of Congress don't hear loud voices of protest from their constituents now, this legislation could very well be reintroduced in 1997.

Because Congress was busy passing appropriations bills during the final days of September before adjourning for the year, Congress failed to pass any omnibus crime or drug bills -- although a methamphetamine bill (S. 1965) and a rohypnol bill (H.R. 4137) were enacted. In the next Marijuana Policy Report, the MPP will analyze the appropriations bills that fund the DEA, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and other federal agencies."

this next part is what makes me sick. the co-sponsors are ALL republicans. so much for limited government.

When H.R. 4170 died at the end of the 104th Congress (in December 1996), it had the following 26 co-sponsors:

09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. Bob Barr ..................... R-Georgia
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. Thomas Bliley ................ R-Virginia
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. Jim Bunn ..................... R-Oregon
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. Charles T. Canady ............ R-Florida
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth .............. R-Idaho
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. Jon Christensen .............. R-Nebraska
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal .................. R-Georgia
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. Robert Dornan ................ R-California
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. Phil English ................. R-Pennsylvania
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. Jon D. Fox ................... R-Pennsylvania
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. Enid Greene .................. R-Utah
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. Van Hilleary ................. R-Tennessese
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. Y. Tim Hutchinson ............ R-Arkansas
09/27/96 ... U.S. Rep. Jay Kim ...................... R-California
09/27/96 ... U.S. Rep. William J. Martini ........... R-New Jersey
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. Susan Molinari ............... R-New York
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick ................... R-North Carolina
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt ............ R-Washington
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. Mike Parker .................. R-Mississippi
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. Bill Paxon ................... R-New York
10/02/96 ... U.S. Rep. Rob Portman .................. R-Ohio
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. .. R-Wisconsin
09/26/96 ... U.S. Rep. Gerald B.H. Solomon .......... R-New York
09/27/96 ... U.S. Rep. Bob Stump .................... R-Arizona
09/27/96 ... U.S. Rep. Randy Tate ................... R-Washington
09/27/96 ... U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts, Jr. .............. R-Oklahoma

 

[the nature boy]

they're all republicans, too funny.