Mississippi State Senator Deborah Jeanne Dawkins has introduced a bill that would reverse state law and legalize the use of marijuana for specified medical purposes.
SB 2369 would amend the Mississippi Code concerning marihuana. The text of the bill simply states that it is:
“An act to authorize the medical use of marihuana by seriously ill patients under a physician’s supervision; to define certain terms; to provide an exemption from criminal and civil penalties for the medical use of marihuana; to provide limitations on the medical use of marihuana; to provide a legal defense for patients and primary caregivers; to amend sections 41-29-113 and 41-29-115, Mississippi code of 1972, to transfer marihuana from schedule i to schedule ii under the controlled substances law; to amend section 41-29-139, Mississippi code of 1972, to exempt the medical use of marihuana from criminal penalties under the controlled substances law; and for related purposes.”
This bill, if passed, would effectively nullify federal marijuana laws through non-compliance with the state no longer following federal marijuana laws. In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled against medical marijuana in the states in the case Gonzalez vs Raich. The attorneys general of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, three strongly anti-drug states from the usually conservative South, filed a brief supporting Raich on the grounds of states’ rights. Already, 18 states have marijuana laws on the books – 2 of which are full legalization and not just for medical purposes – leading to an effective nullification of unconstitutional federal laws and regulations on that plant.
While federal agencies still make arrests and prosecutions, the number they have the manpower to carry out are becoming minute in comparison to the many who act without ever running in to federal trouble. The fact of the matter is this – the federal government simply doesn’t have the resources to handle 18 states defying them. And, each new state that joins them makes the house of cards that is the unconstitutional federal war on weed – that much closer to full collapse.
Another section from this bill reads:
“The Legislature would prefer for the federal government to permit marihuana to be prescribed by physicians and to be dispensed at pharmacies. However, the federal government has shown no indication that it will change federal policy with regard to medical marihuana, as evidenced by the federal government’s reluctance to allow even FDA-approved clinical trials to move forward.
According to the United States Sentencing Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, more than ninety-nine (99) out of every one hundred (100) marihuana arrests are made under state law, rather than under federal law. Consequently, changing state law will have the practical effect of protecting from arrest the vast majority of seriously ill people who have a medical need to use marihuana.”
It goes on to state that physician would not be subject to arrest or in any other penalized for prescribing marihuana, nor would caregivers that help those with a valid prescription for the medical use of marihuana.
SB 2369 was assigned to the Judiciary, Division A and last updated on January 23, 2013.
ACTION ITEMS
If you live in Mississippi, contact your state legislator. Let him or her know of your concern over the federal governments continued usurpation of state powers and that you feel that this is a state matter and should be addressed by the citizens of the state and that you expect their support of this legislation. Click here for contact information.
If you live outside of Mississippi, still contact your state legislator. Inform him or her that you hope similar legislation will be introduced in your state.
LEGISLATIVE TRACKING
Track the status of marijuana laws in states around the country here:
http://tracking.tenthamendmentcenter.com/marijuana/
