Editorial: "Slippery Slope" - WSFA.com: News Weather and Sports for Montgomery, AL.

Editorial: "Slippery Slope"

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By Collin R. Gaston - bio | email

  • Editorials

  • Thursday, May 16 2013 7:20 PM EDT2013-05-16 23:20:04 GMT
    In my editorial on Tuesday I chided our legislators for being the last state to pass a no-brainer  bill legalizing home brewing.  Today I want to challenge them to be one of the first states to pass another no-brainer;
    In my editorial on Tuesday I chided our legislators for being the last state to pass a no-brainer  bill legalizing home brewing.  Today I want to challenge them to be one of the first states to pass another no-brainer;

  • Tuesday, May 14 2013 7:20 PM EDT2013-05-14 23:20:07 GMT
    Kudos, or perhaps, cheers to the Alabama Legislature for passing HB9, the home brewing bill. Legalized home brewing may not be up there with education reform or prison funding, but it was overdue. 
    Kudos, or perhaps, cheers to the Alabama Legislature for passing HB9, the home brewing bill. Legalized home brewing may not be up there with education reform or prison funding, but it was overdue. 

  • Thursday, May 9 2013 7:20 PM EDT2013-05-09 23:20:06 GMT
    What was the old Pan-Am gas station at the corner of Bibb and Coosa is now no longer.  Last weekend that landmark was demolished with nothing remaining where it once stood other than the outline of a foundation. What
    What was the old Pan-Am gas station at the corner of Bibb and Coosa is now no longer.  Last weekend that landmark was demolished with nothing remaining where it once stood other than the outline of a foundation. What
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MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) -

As of last week, 10 states had pending Legislation to legalize medical marijuana, Alabama was one of them. On Wednesday, the Alabama House Health Committee voted 12 to 2 in opposition of the bill thus thwarting it's progression to the house for a full vote. 

This is a good thing as we Alabamians already have our hands full dealing with another issue on a slippery slope, immigration, and don't need to start falling all over ourselves on this one as well.

 The bill introduced, HB 2/The Alabama Medical Marijuana Patients Rights Act would have "authorized the medical use of marijuana only for certain qualifying patients who have been diagnosed by a physician as having a serious medical condition."

Why would this have been slippery?  Number one, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy there is no such thing as "medical" marijuana under Federal law.  Marijuana continues to be a Schedule I substance meaning that it has no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.

Number two, the U.S. Department of Justice guidance explicitly states that marijuana remains illegal under Federal law.  Enforcing Federal law against significant traffickers in illegal drugs including marijuana remains a core Department of Justice priority.

Do we need a number three – it's illegal! and we haven't even mentioned all of the issues Alabama would have had trying to enforce compliance to very specific growing, distribution and prescribing standards. Who's going to fund and staff that control and compliance agency?

To be clear, while we have empathy for anyone sick and in pain, legislating an illegal drug is not something we are going to support and as it stands now, neither is Alabama.  

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