Rep. Barney Frank Educates George Will and Paul Ryan on Marijuana Legalization

T

The Dude

Banned
December 19th, 2011 By: Erik Altieri, NORML Communications Coordinator

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the primary sponsor of HR 2306: The Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011, appeared on ‘This Week with Christiane Amanpour’ on ABC with fellow guests George Will of the Washington Post and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).

The conversation found its way to marijuana legalization which led to Barney Frank calling out the hypocrisy of most of his conservative colleagues.

“It’s a great embarrassment to the conservatives,” said Frank, “They want to tell people who they can have sex with. Come on, all this is big government! Who can I have sex with? Who can I marry? What can I read? What can I smoke? You guys, on the whole — not all of you — but the conservatives are the ones who intrude on personal liberty there.”

The debate got heated between Frank and George Will. “I mean, personal liberty, if someone wants to smoke marijuana who’s an adult, why do you want to make them go to jail?” Frank questioned.

“I need to know more about whether it’s a gateway drug to other drugs, I need to know how you’re going to regulate it,” George Will replied.

“Anything is a gateway to anything,” Representative Frank shot back, “That’s the slippery slope argument which is a very anti-libertarian argument. The fact that if somebody is doing something that’s not in itself wrong, that it might lead later on to something else then stop the something else. Don’t lock them up for smoking marijuana.”

Will defended himself claiming, “What you’re calling a cop-out, I’m calling a quest for information.”

“How long’s it going to last, George?” Frank asked, “We’ve been doing this for decades.”

Watch the clip below:



You can read more coverage of this story here and here.

Tags: ABC, Barney Frank, debate, george will, legalization, media, News, paul ryan, tv


This entry was posted on Monday, December 19th, 2011 at 2:25 pm and is filed under Cannabis and Culture, News, Pot and Politicians. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a trackback from your own site.
 
up is down, left is right, and front is back. frank is one of the biggest liberal big government lovers out there and he's schooling two neocons on smaller government.
 
Yea, marijuana, a schedule I drug, is a gateway to schedule II drugs; Cocaine, Oxycodone, Morphine

Under the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition, men have at all times, and in all countries, called in some physical aid to their moral consolations - wine, beer, opium, brandy, or tobacco.
Edmund Burke
 
Barney is pointing the wrong finger, the Obama admin is currently cracking down on medical marijuana dispensaries in California, several have shut down over the last couple of weeks. His own party is making it illegal to dispense medical marijuana.

The Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, the oldest dispensary of its kind in the state, quietly shut down over the weekend, the victim of a federal crackdown, it is among dozens of dispensaries that are closing after the state's four U.S. attorneys announced in October that they were cracking down on cultivation and retail sales. Federal prosecutors sent letters to dozens of dispensary owners and landlords that warned that they faced criminal charges or seizure of their assets if they did not shut down.
 
The Dude said:
December 19th, 2011 By: Erik Altieri, NORML Communications Coordinator

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the primary sponsor of HR 2306: The Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011, appeared on ‘This Week with Christiane Amanpour’ on ABC with fellow guests George Will of the Washington Post and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).

The conversation found its way to marijuana legalization which led to Barney Frank calling out the hypocrisy of most of his conservative colleagues.

“It’s a great embarrassment to the conservatives,” said Frank, “They want to tell people who they can have sex with. Come on, all this is big government! Who can I have sex with? Who can I marry? What can I read? What can I smoke? You guys, on the whole — not all of you — but the conservatives are the ones who intrude on personal liberty there.”

The debate got heated between Frank and George Will. “I mean, personal liberty, if someone wants to smoke marijuana who’s an adult, why do you want to make them go to jail?” Frank questioned.

“I need to know more about whether it’s a gateway drug to other drugs, I need to know how you’re going to regulate it,” George Will replied.

“Anything is a gateway to anything,” Representative Frank shot back, “That’s the slippery slope argument which is a very anti-libertarian argument. The fact that if somebody is doing something that’s not in itself wrong, that it might lead later on to something else then stop the something else. Don’t lock them up for smoking marijuana.”

Will defended himself claiming, “What you’re calling a cop-out, I’m calling a quest for information.”

“How long’s it going to last, George?” Frank asked, “We’ve been doing this for decades.”

Watch the clip below:



You can read more coverage of this story here and here.

Tags: ABC, Barney Frank, debate, george will, legalization, media, News, paul ryan, tv


This entry was posted on Monday, December 19th, 2011 at 2:25 pm and is filed under Cannabis and Culture, News, Pot and Politicians. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a trackback from your own site.
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Yea I watched that last Sunday. You could see that both Will and Ryan were very uncomfortable with this discussion and were noticably relieved when Ammonpour changed the topic.

Frank is right about the hypocrisy of Republicans on the "Big Government" issue. They just want the Government to be big in the areas which they prefer, like the millitary and to be honest Frank is correct. The right wing is far more repressive of personall liberties then the left are. As I've been so found of saying, the right wing is all for liberty and freedom until someone actually practices them.
 
SmarterThanYou said:
up is down, left is right, and front is back. frank is one of the biggest liberal big government lovers out there and he's schooling two neocons on smaller government.
Click to expand...
Watch the video, use your head and be objective. He not only schooled them he pwned them. Frank was dead on right with his criticisms. The Repelican party is far more for big government then liberals and are far more invasive of our personal liberties too.
 
webbway said:
Barney is pointing the wrong finger, the Obama admin is currently cracking down on medical marijuana dispensaries in California, several have shut down over the last couple of weeks. His own party is making it illegal to dispense medical marijuana.

The Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, the oldest dispensary of its kind in the state, quietly shut down over the weekend, the victim of a federal crackdown, it is among dozens of dispensaries that are closing after the state's four U.S. attorneys announced in October that they were cracking down on cultivation and retail sales. Federal prosecutors sent letters to dozens of dispensary owners and landlords that warned that they faced criminal charges or seizure of their assets if they did not shut down.
Click to expand...
Strawman. He isn't making it illegal to dispense medical marijauni you nitwit. At the federal level it's been illegal since 1914 aind on this issue Federal law trumps State Law.
 
The Dude said:
December 19th, 2011 By: Erik Altieri, NORML Communications Coordinator

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the primary sponsor of HR 2306: The Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011, appeared on ‘This Week with Christiane Amanpour’ on ABC with fellow guests George Will of the Washington Post and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).

The conversation found its way to marijuana legalization which led to Barney Frank calling out the hypocrisy of most of his conservative colleagues.

“It’s a great embarrassment to the conservatives,” said Frank, “They want to tell people who they can have sex with. Come on, all this is big government! Who can I have sex with? Who can I marry? What can I read? What can I smoke? You guys, on the whole — not all of you — but the conservatives are the ones who intrude on personal liberty there.”

The debate got heated between Frank and George Will. “I mean, personal liberty, if someone wants to smoke marijuana who’s an adult, why do you want to make them go to jail?” Frank questioned.

“I need to know more about whether it’s a gateway drug to other drugs, I need to know how you’re going to regulate it,” George Will replied.

“Anything is a gateway to anything,” Representative Frank shot back, “That’s the slippery slope argument which is a very anti-libertarian argument. The fact that if somebody is doing something that’s not in itself wrong, that it might lead later on to something else then stop the something else. Don’t lock them up for smoking marijuana.”

Will defended himself claiming, “What you’re calling a cop-out, I’m calling a quest for information.”

“How long’s it going to last, George?” Frank asked, “We’ve been doing this for decades.”

Watch the clip below:



You can read more coverage of this story here and here.

Tags: ABC, Barney Frank, debate, george will, legalization, media, News, paul ryan, tv


This entry was posted on Monday, December 19th, 2011 at 2:25 pm and is filed under Cannabis and Culture, News, Pot and Politicians. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a trackback from your own site.
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I love you, you love me, GO Barney!
 
SmarterThanYou said:
up is down, left is right, and front is back. frank is one of the biggest liberal big government lovers out there and he's schooling two neocons on smaller government.
Click to expand...

So, besides hating on Barney, do you as a libertarian agree with him or not?

George Wills, how many more studies do we need on marijuana, could alcohol also be a gateway drug, I believe it could by George's definition, give it up, already, there is no good reason not to makes this drug legal.

I know you agree.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Watch the video, use your head and be objective. He not only schooled them he pwned them. Frank was dead on right with his criticisms. The Repelican party is far more for big government then liberals and are far more invasive of our personal liberties too.
Click to expand...
mott, stop the hackery. liberals AND conservatives are for big government. BOTH are far more invasive of our personal liberties, just different ways and means.
 
Rana said:
So, besides hating on Barney, do you as a libertarian agree with him or not?

George Wills, how many more studies do we need on marijuana, could alcohol also be a gateway drug, I believe it could by George's definition, give it up, already, there is no good reason not to makes this drug legal.

I know you agree.
Click to expand...
if you know I agree, why are you asking me if I agree?
 
“It’s a great embarrassment to the conservatives,” said Frank, “They want to tell people who they can have sex with. Come on, all this is big government! Who can I have sex with? Who can I marry? What can I read? What can I smoke? You guys, on the whole — not all of you — but the conservatives are the ones who intrude on personal liberty there.”
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He sounds like he read one of my posts. Except I would call them religious radicals rather than 'conservatives'.
 
Rana said:
The only problem there is the Republican party panders for their vote.
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One of my frustrations. I have no problem telling them it is absolutely against the principles of the party. Responsibility does not require a government solution.
 
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