A Tea Party-backed Republican state rep in Texas has introduced a bill that would remove marijuana from Texas drug laws, and instead see the cannabis plant “regulated like tomatoes, jalapeños or coffee.” The bill was introduced on Monday by Rep. David Simpson (R) who has stated that “[c]urrent marijuana policies are not based on science or sound evidence, but rather misinformation and fear.”
His argument is a simple one, an elegant line of reasoning that I myself once used on my extremely Christian parents when I was expelled from high school after a track coach caught me and two of my friends hitting on bowl of hash:
“[E]verything God made is good.”
Right? Even an atheist might let that one slide, although my parents didn’t buy it for one single solitary second.
In a statement, Rep. Simpson wrote:
“All that God created is good, including marijuana. God did not make a mistake when he made marijuana that the government needs to fix. Let’s allow the plant to be utilized for good — helping people with seizures, treating warriors with PTSD, producing fiber and other products — or simply for beauty and enjoyment. Government prohibition should be for violent actions that harm your neighbor — not of the possession, cultivation, and responsible use of plants.”
Legalize nature, Texas!
David Simpson
Simpson told radio host Chad Hasty that he did not believe that there needed to be “a big government solution” to legalizing cannabis. He’s right and his plan is a remarkably straightforward way to end marijuana prohibition on a state level:
“We don’t’ need a registry or more bureaucracies. We just need to hold accountable for their actions,” he explained. “Under the new covenant, if you look at Romans 13 [in the Bible], the role of the civil magistrate is to control or to punish when you have harmed your neighbor. And I don’t want the civil magistrate telling me how to worship and when to worship and dealing with my relationship with God or even coming into my home and telling how to do this or that.”
He lost me a little bit with some of that Bible stuff, but he’s still, at root, offering his constituents—be they liberal, conservative or libertarian—something reasonable. Something they can all agree on even if they’re coming at it from different places. No one should be arrested for possessing or growing something found in nature. Why go to the expense to enforce totally unenforceable pot laws? Even people who don’t smoke pot stopped giving a shit about it a long time ago. It’s time for the state and federal laws to reflect the fact that times have changed—just a teensy tiny bit—since the days of Harry Anslinger and J. Edgar Hoover.
“I think this would allow parents to be involved more with their children, and teach them — like with coffee or tea or with water. Respect it, and know that it can harm us if we don’t treat it right.”
I kinda like this guy. For a Christian Tea partier from Texas, he seems pretty okay to me. Rep. Simpson, next time you’re in Los Angeles, look me up. I’ll totally smoke you out, dude…
Listen to the interview below from KFYO radio:
H/T Raw Story