cannabisnews.com: SHAME!!! Congress Barrs Democracy - Again!





SHAME!!! Congress Barrs Democracy - Again!
Posted by FoM on July 30, 1999 at 19:29:05 PT
Contact Wayne Turner 
Source: ACT UP Washington, DC
Washington, DC -- AIDS and pro-democracy activists condemn action taken today in the US House of Representatives to quash the democratic will of the people of the District of Columbia. 
   The House approved Rep. Bob Barr's amendment attached to the DC Budget Bill, which prevents the District from using it own local funds, to "enact, or carry out any law, rule, or regulation" that reduces penalties, including the sick and dying patients, protected by DC's medical marijuana Initiative 59.   Barr's Amendment passed by voice vote, with barely audible opposition from members of Congress, until DC activists Karen Szulgit and Anise Jenkins yelled 'Shame on you' and "Free DC" from the House Gallery, until they were arrested by Capitol Police. The two gatherered thousands of the over 32,000 petition signatures submitted, in order to place Initiative 59 on the November 3, 1998 ballot.  "We're outraged," states Initiative 59 sponsor Wayne Turner, "Congress has held our vote totals secret for over nine months, and now we can't certify the results, and enact the will of the people of DC."    Under procedures established by Congress in DC's Home Rule Charter, common citizens may propose changes to District law through voter initiatives. 5% of DC's registered voters must sign petitions in order to place a measure on the ballot. Once the election has been held, the totals must be tallied, and the results officially certified by the DC Board of Elections and Ethics.    The proposal is then transmitted to the DC Council, and Mayor, and then Congress. Congress has 30 legislative days in which to review , and may then pass a resolution of disapproval, by a majority in both the House and the Senate, and signed by the President, which would overturn the proposed legislation.   "Barr's amendment stops the democratic process in its tracks, by preventing the results of Initiative 59 from being legally certified by the DC Board of Elections and Ethics, and continuing the legislative process that Congress itself has established" states Turner.   Initiative 59, when implemented, would allow seriously or terminally ill patients to use, under a doctor's supervision, small amounts of marijuana to ease their suffering, such as a treatment for AIDS wasting syndrome, and to counter the nausea associated with chemo-and radiation therapy. The Measure's original sponsor, Steve Michael, died from AIDS last year.    California, Oregon, Alaska, Nevada, Arizona, and Washington State all passed medical marijuana initiatives in 1996 and 1998. However only in the District of Columbia has Congress blocked the democratic process.For more information, contact:Wayne Turner at (202) 547-9404http://www.actupdc.org/ DC Budget Bill Heads To House Floor - 7/29/99 http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread2259.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on August 02, 1999 at 17:45:10 PT:
House Votes to Nullify D.C. Med. MMJ Initiative
JULY 29, 1999Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Advocacy Group Accuses Congress of Giving Patients and D.C. Voters a Slap in the FaceWashington, D.C. The U.S. House of Representatives voted today to add an amendment to the D.C. spending bill (H.R. 2587) that would prevent the results of the November 1998 vote on the Washington, D.C., medical marijuana ballot initiative from taking effect.   Directors of the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), which co-ran the D.C. Initiative 59 campaign this past November, are outraged. "The House seems intent on thwarting democracy and making sure that hundreds of seriously ill people in the District of Columbia remain subject to arrest and imprisonment for using medical marijuana," said Chuck Thomas, MPP's director of communications. "This is a slap in the face to patients and D.C. voters." MPP is a non-profit, Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization that lobbies Congress and state legislatures to remove criminal penalties for the medical use of marijuana.BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON TODAY'S HOUSE VOTE:   In October 1998, just 13 days before Election Day, Congress passed a law that prohibited the D.C. city government from spending any money to count the votes on Initiative 59. While exit polls showed that the medical marijuana initiative passed by a 69-31 margin, nobody knows the official results of that vote, even today. (A legal challenge to last year's ban was heard by a federal judge in December 1998, but a decision has not yet been issued.)   If the ban is not extended in the final version of the new D.C. spending bill, the D.C. government will be permitted to count and certify the votes this coming October 1. On July 20, the House Appropriations Committee removed a rider to the bill that would have extended the ban. Nevertheless, U.S. Rep. Bob Barr (R-Georgia) proposed an amendment on the floor of the House today to prevent the results of Initiative 59 from being enacted into law. The amendment passed by a voice vote.   If Rep. Barr's amendment is not subsequently removed in the House/Senate conference committee, Congress will have effectively nullified the results of an election. If, on the other hand, Rep. Barr's amendment is removed and the initiative vote total is released in October -- or if the federal judge rules in favor of democracy -- then Congress will still have 30 working days to prevent the medical marijuana law from taking effect, as per its usual authority to review new D.C. laws.
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Comment #2 posted by Achene on July 31, 1999 at 20:53:57 PT
Land of the free??? nfm
NFM NFM NFM
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on July 31, 1999 at 16:15:30 PT:
Mixed Bag for DC in the House 
NewsPlanet Staff Friday, July 30, 1999 / 09:38 PM http://www.planetout.com/SUMMARY:Congress won't prevent gays and lesbians in the U.S. capital from adopting and medical pot votes will be counted, but needle exchange programs and democratic representation are blocked.The federal government's appropriations for Washington, DC, while critical for the survival of the city which cannot otherwise benefit from its sole "industry," has absolutely no consequences for any member of Congress since the city has only a non-voting Delegate in the House of Representatives. This makes its annual budget a perfect showcase for politicians' positions on social issues. While there were somewhat fewer and gentler amendments of that sort proposed this year than last, their outcomes as the House approved the final $4.7-billion package by a vote of 333 - 92 on July 29 were a mixed bag for gay and lesbian, AIDS and DC "home rule" activists. The bill moves next to a House-Senate conference committee, and there's even the possibility of a Presidential veto. The big victory of the day for gays and lesbians was the narrow defeat by 215 - 213 of a proposal by Representative Steve Largent (R-OK) to prohibit use of federal or city funds for adoptions by couples unrelated by blood or marriage. Last year when Largent introduced the same rider, it was passed by 227 - 192, although it was later removed in a House-Senate conference committee. The gay and lesbian Log Cabin Republicans believe their lobbying helped make the difference, as 35 Republicans joined House Democrats in rejecting the rider, including five Republicans who had previously supported the amendment. Three Republicans spoke out in opposition on the floor of the House: open gay Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), Mark Foley (R-FL) and Heather Wilson (R-NM). Largent's proposed ban on adoptions by same-gender and other unmarried couples was opposed by the nation's largest child welfare organization, the Child Welfare League of America, and by the American Psychological Association, as well as by the American Civil Liberties Union and national gay and lesbian groups. About 3,100 children in Washington, DC are awaiting adoption. Washington, DC has been profoundly affected by AIDS: its death rate from AIDS is seven times the national average and AIDS is its leading killer of people aged 30 - 34, while the city leads the nation in new HIV infections with shared needles its second leading route of transmission. Although the House Appropriations Committee had defeated a proposal to prohibit use of federal or city funds to support any agency offering a clean needle exchange program, that ban was proposed on the House floor by Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) and was passed by a vote of 241 - 187. That was a narrower margin than the the one that passed Tiahrt's same rider last year. More than 110 cities in more than 30 states now have needle exchange programs, despite a continuing general ban on the use of federal funds for this purpose. President Bill Clinton (D) had threatened to veto the appropriations bill if the needle exchange ban were attached. Among those lobbying to allow funding of needle exchange programs in DC was former President Ronald Reagan's (R) Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, who wrote to House Majority Leader Dennis Hastert saying, "I am now writing to express my strong belief that local programs of clean needle exchange can be an effective means of preventing the spread of the disease without increasing the use of illicit drugs." Seven federally-funded studies have supported that contention, but needle exchange opponents fear sending "mixed messages" about drug use. The House Appropriations Committee had also defeated a rider that would have continued last year's federal prohibition against Washington, DC counting the votes on a 1998 local initiative to legalize medical use of marijuana. While the full House did not continue the vote-counting prohibition, Representative Bob Barr (R-GA) did propose a rider to block the vote from taking effect. The House agreed by a voice vote to prohibit funds from being used to legalize or reduce penalties for the possession, use or distribution of any Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act, a group which includes marijuana. The House did give Washington, DC a few goodies; in fact, in the words of Democratic floor leader for the appropriations bill Representative James Moran (D-VA), "In terms of appropriations, the city got everything it wanted, plus." These included a record-breaking five year package of tax cuts for local residents, money to work on drug abuse and expand overcrowded prisons, funds to clean up the Anacostia River, and a program to assist local residents to attend college. However, the city was again prohibited from using either federal or local funds to support its lawsuit to gain a voting Representative in the House, although Representative Ernest Istook (R-OK) said he'd ask the House-Senate conference committee to allow the city to use its own funds for that purpose. The House tied in rejecting a proposal to that effect. Newshawk: DdC
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