Obama’s nominee for a top DOJ slot has said states should legalize marijuana. That’s a huge deal

I have never been impressed with Holder; lets hope things change with a new head running the DOJ!

The Post's Sari Horwitz reports that Obama intends to nominate Vanita Gupta, currently director of the ACLU's Center for Justice, to lead the civil rights division of the Justice Department. Gupta also currently leads the ACLU's National Campaign to End Mass Incarceration. Horwitz writes:

Gupta, 39, who was born in the Philadelphia area to immigrant parents, has been praised by a wide array of political activists for her civil rights work, especially on prison reform, an issue on which liberals and conservatives have found common ground.

"This country has spent 40 years relentlessly ratcheting up the number of people going to prison and dramatically expanding the time we hold them there," she writes. "We've spent decades criminalizing people with drug dependency, passing extreme sentencing laws, and waging a war on drugs that has not diminished drug use."

She's written extensively about the failures of the war on drugs, informed partly by her experience defending dozens of black men wrongfully charged with minor drug offenses in Texas in the early 2000s. She's also called for reforming the incentives police departments face for arresting low-level marijuana users: Federal funding for local law enforcement is based partly on arrest numbers.

source

a reply to: AlaskanDad

I'm hopeful but I was with Obama too . The war on drugs has been nearby as bad as many real wars.

a reply to: AlaskanDad

Interesting...

One issue where the Feds support state rights revolves around a controlled substance. I wonder if its to distract away from the other areas where the feds bowl over states rights - like elections.

Could we get one free thinker in a position of power.

Or, just someone with a little common sense.

These Harvard Eggheads lack even a shred of real world experience.

a reply to: tavi45

So has the war on poverty. All it has done is create a government dependant population.

a reply to: Xcathdra

I wonder if we will truly get a person demanding change, or just a new face stuck onto the same old cannabis policies we have been seeing for decades?

Edit: Xcathdra, that was a great pun!

- the feds bowl over states rights -

Yes, Miss V is from Yale, Raised in Europe. Now to propose the dilemma that she will be marginalized... Little is known about her nationwide. But her agenda seems to remove most of our archaic drug laws and stop the crazy paranoia the war on drugs has put us through. I suspect she won't stand up to the GOP confirmation . Sad

a reply to: scattergun

Doesn't have to withstand negative GOP votes, unless I'm mistaken, because presidential appointees only need a majority of the Senate and not the 60 votes you may be thinking of. So if she's nominated in the lame duck session, no matter what occurs in November's election, she'll be confirmed.

We're going to need a pacifier after the spanking. If they legalize it on a federal and state level, it's because we're already in a lethargic enough state.

What about sabotage and retaliation from "competitors" ?

This could turn into a "Columbia" situation real fast.

He's riding an unstoppable tide.

I am personally keeping count of the casualties.

To date, the stuff has already 'ruined' one person's life, dammit.

Lets call him 'Patient Zero'.

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a reply to: guitarplayer

Lol what war on poverty? That's a new one to me. Either way we have so many on welfare because of massive income inequality and protection of big business.

Legalization = Luxury tax on the product. Uncle Sam got sick of middle manning the profits in the War On Drugs out to the private prison industry - so he is elminating the middle man and becoming the source. I have had this conversation with friends in real life who are super thrilled about the coming legalization - and I laugh. I then pull out my cigarettes and say "You know, I used to pay a buck for these. Then two. Then the government got involved and sued and now I pay five bucks a pack..."

And I live in the South where tobacco is cheap.

Don't worry though, there will still be plenty of people hooked on other controlled substances to keep those prisons overlfowing and making megabucks for Uncle Sam AND his friends in the private prison sector.

Forgive my ignorant question, but the article says she's heading to the top of the Civil Rights Division. Their website says:

The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, created in 1957 by the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, works to uphold the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans, particularly some of the most vulnerable members of our society. The Division enforces federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, disability, religion, familial status and national origin.

www.justice.gov...

So, my question is, why do her views on marijuana matter?

a reply to: charles1952

You bring up an interesting question.

I think seeing a revolving door between the ACLU and the DOJ is another overlooked but very important point of the article

What does civil rights have to do with criminal law? I do not see how it would make any difference whether or not this individual has any particular stance on marijuana.

Just for statistics sake, It appears that the early adopters have shown things are not going out of control.
If people find that they can use it to relax a bit instead of consuming massive amounts of alcohol... well I still would not want them on the road, but they would certainly not get in as many accidents. They may live longer, and probably reduce the complications of diabetes, which is rampant in the good old USA.

a reply to: xuenchen

Legalization has it's inevitable downfalls. Just as any policies.

I will never accept a system that will commit a non-violent offender to life in prison. It's just insanity at that point.

What a brilliant move!

Replace Mrs Gupta with a real politician who can put the reigns on the ACLU by spouting nonsense and sidestepping the real issues, then train her to sit on her hands for a few extra million a year. With that out of the way we can spend the next decade or two arguing mute points and skirting real issues until the current trend disappears. Onto the next roadblock..

A few extra million paid for by the lobbyists, headache gone.

This man didn't get into his position by being a puppet, he's solving big issues with proactive measures and minimal effort. What is the old saying? Work smarter not harder.

Oh man, you gotta love that smile, 64 pearly whites just gleaming with pride, and he earned all ten inchs of it.

omgoodness ACLU? Of course George has legalization as one of his big agendas because he knows that it will cause major passification of people who might otherwise rise up against his socialist revolution. Soros is no dummy, tapping into collectivist organization ACLU.