SENATE BILL: The Regional Exemption Act of 2014 (Failed)

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This bill undermines federal authority and creates a system by which Regions may resume the drug war at their choosing. I urge the Senate to reject this bill.

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I urge the Senate to firmly reject this attack upon federal authority and personal liberty.

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This bill will literally allow Regions to restart the racist Drug War. Why on Earth would the Senate even consider passing such a bill?

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This is literally an open invitation for racist policies to resume at the Regional level. And no one seems even a bit bothered by that?

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There are some instances where yes, the federal government must impose freedoms on the regions. If this never happened, integration would have taken much longer to achieve nationwide, among other things. I support the rights of regions to do as they please, but not when it involves discrimination.

My biggest worry with this bill is public safety. If one region has wildly different drug laws than another, it creates a nightmare on law enforcement and the medical community, to name a few.

That, and no one should be thrown in jail for doing something that's perfectly legal in one Region but not in another. That's ridiculous. Or what if a Region resumes drug testing, and someone moves to that Region from another that doesn't? That person may face jail time for failing a drug test for engaging in a perfectly legal activity elsewhere.

These Bring Back the New Jim Crow bills should be euthanized as quickly as possible. They are a step into the past, not the future.

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There are some instances where yes, the federal government must impose freedoms on the regions. If this never happened, integration would have taken much longer to achieve nationwide, among other things. I support the rights of regions to do as they please, but not when it involves discrimination.

My biggest worry with this bill is public safety. If one region has wildly different drug laws than another, it creates a nightmare on law enforcement and the medical community, to name a few.

That, and no one should be thrown in jail for doing something that's perfectly legal in one Region but not in another. That's ridiculous. Or what if a Region resumes drug testing, and someone moves to that Region from another that doesn't? That person may face jail time for failing a drug test for engaging in a perfectly legal activity elsewhere.

These Bring Back the New Jim Crow bills should be euthanized as quickly as possible. They are a step into the past, not the future.

So your argument is basically that any responsible drug laws are racist and merely a cover to bring back Jim Crow  

http://www.drugpolicy.org/race-and-drug-war
http://newjimcrow.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Jim_Crow

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People should be able to do what they want with their bodies. This isn't a ridiculous concept. I don't believe in forcing people into rehab, because as someone who kicked an addiction myself (smoking) other people telling you to quit and/or forcing you to quit is patently not helpful. You have to want it for yourself. I'm all for making rehab a fully funded option, but I'm not for forcing people who don't want to go to it to go to it. The individual should be able to select rehab, not have it imposed upon him or her.

This drive to bring back the drug war is literally ridiculous. We have seen no problems from the legalization of soft drugs, GAworth's ridiculous and nonsensical storyline aside. There's no reason to give Regions the right to resume incarceration of drug users and attacks upon personal liberty. This bill needs to fail.

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Motion for a final vote.

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Motion for a final vote.

I object, I want to introduce an amendment.

I withdraw my motion.

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I ask the Senate to reject this insane step backwards in Atlasian drug policy.

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Nay

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AYE

Why is a self-described libertarian voting to allow the drug war to resume?

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AYE

Why is a self-described libertarian voting to allow the drug war to resume?

  This bill simply gives the regions the ability to determine their own drug policies rather than having radical, addict-enabling legislation shoved down their throats at the federal level.  Also, anyone who has been paying attention knows that I'm not advocating a return to the drug war era.  However, the status quo has also been a disaster.  We need a new approach and that is what I have been fighting for.

None of the drugs that are legal in this Republic are addictive. People do not get addicted to Marijuana, 'Shrooms, or LSD. The harder drugs are decriminalized, yes, but there are still criminal penalties for the sale of said drugs and there are safe alternatives out there, with the needle sharing program having been made permanent and those incarcerated for use transferred to rehab centers. There's literally no reason to undo the great, progressive strides we have made in Atlasian drug policy. It's madness. It's reaction. It's ridiculous.

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If this bill (unfortunately) passes, I urge the President to veto it. In the absence of a veto, I will immediately introduce legislation to repeal this bill, should it become law. We have come too far to undermine and reverse the great strides toward ending the New Jim Crow to throw it all away to satisfy the enemies of personal freedom, the private prisons industry, and federal authority.

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Thank you for preserving freedom and liberty in Atlasia, Mr. Vice President.

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Maybe next time   I suppose the silver lining is that (IIRC), only Senator Ben joined me in my drug reform efforts last time.  This bill got the support of half the Senate and came *this close* to passing the Senate.  Good to see that there's at least a trend in the right direction in the Senate.

The growth of fascist elements within the Senate is indeed disturbing.