Marijuana Legalization and Taxation Act

[Gabu]

I just realized that we have an open spot because of Hughento's resignation and the subsequent withdrawal of his bill.

As introduced by Sen. Colin Wixted:

Marijuana Legalization and Taxation Act[/i]

§ 1 The possession, sale and consumption of marijuana and the plants needed for its processing, shall not be criminalized by the federal government of Atlasia.

§ 2 All federal activities related with it shall be immediately shut down, and the money currently appropriated to them shall be used for:

     A. The construction of treatment centres for alcohol, marijuana,
         and other drug abuses
     B. The fight against illegal drugs

§3 All people convicted by federal courts of the crimes repealed in this bill, shall be given amnesty from the punishment awarded to them by the said courts.

§4. Taxes on marijuana shall be set in the annual budget. Individual regions may set their own taxes on marijuana as they see fit.

I hereby open debate on this bill.

[Gabu]

Okay, I open votes on the following two amendments...

To strike section 1 and replace it with the following:

§ 1 The possession, sale and consumption of marijuana and the plants needed for its processing, shall not be criminalized by the federal government of Atlasia.

a. Marijuana with a THC content higher than 13% is prohibited for sale and mass distribution.

b. Marijuana with a THC content of any level shall be legal to grow, possess, and consume for private use.

To strike section 2 and replace it with the following:

§ 2 All federal activities dealing with the investigation and prosecution of said criminal activities as listed in Clause 1 shall be immediately shut down, and the money currently appropriated for these activities shall be appropriated as follows:

 a. A sum of no less than one-half (50%) and no greater than the whole (100%) of the appropriations and moneys procured by this bill must be designated towards the general Budgetary fund and the necessity of covering the present Budget’s shortfall and may not be authorized by the Senate to fund any other appropriations in this present Fiscal Year (2006).

 b. A sum of no less than none (0%) and no greater than one-half (50%) of the appropriations and moneys procured by this bill may be authorized by the Senate in future legislation to fund appropriations and expenditures exclusively with any or all of the following measures:
 i. The construction and funding of treatment centers for alcohol, marijuana, and other drug abuses.
 ii. The so-called "War on Drugs" against illegal drugs not decriminalized by this legislation

I hereby open voting on these two amendments.

All senators in favor, vote "aye"; all against, vote "nay".

[Gabu]

Aye, aye.

[Gabu]

NAY

Um, there are two amendments up for voting; we're not voting on the bill itself.

[Gabu]

With six votes in favor to, uh, one, I guess, against, these two amendments have passed.

[Gabu]

Whilst I don't usually interfere in the business of the Senate, I do find it slightly disconcerting that amendments seem to come up to vote almost immediately with little to no time to debate them, in this case a matter of two hours from the second being proposed to the vote being opened.

Given that we presently have a drive to make the Senate slow down to the point that people can keep up a little more, I'd counsel a little more consideration be allowed.

True, although there have been times when an amendment has gone without reaching enough votes one way or another for nearly a week while people argue about it.  It might be a good idea to give them formal debate time, though, I dunno.

[Gabu]

I would like to propose an amendment:

Clause 3 will be reworded to say:

All those convicted of crimes in federal courts that have been repealed in this bill shall be released from any sentence in prison they are presently serving and any outstanding fines owed. These provisions do not exonerate those who are presently in jail or paying fines for other crimes and misdemeanors.

Okay, I hereby open voting on this amendment.

All senators in favor, vote "aye"; all against, vote "nay".

---

Aye.

[Gabu]

Mr. President, I propose the following ammendment:

Clauses one (1), two (2), three (3), and four (4) shall be stricken.

Just vote against the bill when it comes to a vote.

[Gabu]

Mr. President, I suggest we move this along as fast as possible! It's 4/20!

We need to approve the above amendment and then I would happy to vote on it.

Vote for my Senate Procedural Resolution and we'll actually get rules that we can disregard on this sort of thing. 

We still need one more vote on Colin's amendment.

[Gabu]

With six votes in favor to one against, the amendment has passed.

The only problem I can see now is the cause of where it would be illegal after this is passed. As I am currently interpreting it is that the regions would have to pass specific legislation banning marijuana to have marijuana stay illegal. I am thinking about presenting an amendment concerning whether regions would have to pass specific illegalization and criminalization legislation to maintain its illegality.

Perhaps what we could do is add an amendment saying that marijuana will be by default illegal in the regions, but that each region is free to pass their own legislation legalizing it in the region.

[Gabu]

With six votes in favor to one against, the amendment has passed.

The only problem I can see now is the cause of where it would be illegal after this is passed. As I am currently interpreting it is that the regions would have to pass specific legislation banning marijuana to have marijuana stay illegal. I am thinking about presenting an amendment concerning whether regions would have to pass specific illegalization and criminalization legislation to maintain its illegality.

Perhaps what we could do is add an amendment saying that marijuana will be by default illegal in the regions, but that each region is free to pass their own legislation legalizing it in the region.

If we get rid of the federal laws against marijuana, my assumption is that the only valid laws would be state laws already on the books against substances that might be legitimately defined as marijuana. (sort of like what would happen if Roe v. Wade was overturned)

Other than that, marijuana would be functionally legal in any other jurisdictions, simply because no laws would exist on the books, except for this federal one.  I could be wrong on this, but that's my fundamental assumption and probably a good one to go off of.

As to the state laws I have no idea how many there are or where they are.

I think we should make an amendment saying that marijuana is in default "legal" pursuant to any state or regional clauses already on the books, but that any region may be allowed to draft legislation to define parameters dealing with any issues concerning marijuana not defined in this bill, or may be allowed to illegalize it in their region, if they so wish. 

The federal government would obviously not fund enforcement of this banning, that would be said region's responsibility.

I suppose it doesn't really make a difference whether we set the default to "legal" or "not legal", given that regions could just make their own legislation either way to make it be what they'd like it to be.

Currently it's set such that the default is "legal", so if we're fine with that, then we don't really need an amendment either way.

[Gabu]

Wait, I just actually realized something as well: to make something not criminalized (which is what this bill is doing) is not the same as legalizing something.  Marijuana is decriminalized in Canada, but that puts it in league with speeding, not cigarettes, in that it just means that it doesn't give you a criminal record; you still need to pay a fine.

Because of that, I hereby propose this amendment after we get NixonNow's blatant filibuster out of the way:

Section 1 shall be stricken and replaced with the following:

§ 1 The possession, sale, and consumption of marijuana, and the plants needed for its processing, shall not be considered illegal by the federal government of Atlasia.  Commercially sold marijuana cigarettes shall be subject to the same regulations as tobacco cigarettes, unless a regional law shall nullify this provision and provide its own.

At any rate, I hereby open voting on NixonNow's "amendment":

Clauses one (1), two (2), three (3), and four (4) shall be stricken.

♪ Nay nay nay nay nay nay ♪
♫ Nay nay nay ♪
♪ Nay nay nay! ♫

Nay.

[Gabu]

As we currently only have nine Senators, with five against to none in favor, this amendment has failed.

I now open voting on my amendment:

Section 1 shall be stricken and replaced with the following:

§ 1 The possession, sale, and consumption of marijuana, and the plants needed for its processing, shall not be considered illegal by the federal government of Atlasia. Commercially sold marijuana cigarettes shall be subject to the same regulations as tobacco cigarettes, unless a regional law shall nullify this provision and provide its own.

All senators in favor, vote "aye"; all against, vote "nay".

---

Aye.

[Gabu]

More votes on the amendment, please.

[Gabu]

With five votes in favor to one against, and with only nine senators, this amendment has passed.

Now it's time for Filibuster II: Electric Boogaloo.

Clause four (4) shall read "Cannibis in Atlasia shall not be grown in any type of soil, sand, or substitute".

I hereby open voting, yadda yadda yadda NAY

[Gabu]

It is the right of a Senator to filibust. His amendments are still germane, and as long as they remain so, I think its an excellent demonstration of democracy.

Personally, I think that it's an excellent demonstration of one person preventing the elected people from doing their job, but that's just me.  If we can allow one single person to stall every single bill for as long as he wants, that's kind of a lot of power, isn't it?

I also don't really see how an amendment striking the entire bill from existence is germane, but whatever.

[Gabu]

Since NixonNow has now resigned from the Senate, can we ignore his amendments, and I motion to bring this bill to a vote, unless their are any objections or more reasonable amendments.

Tradition is to wait twenty-four hours for more debate after an amendment passes, so I'll start counting from the passage of my amendment, which means that a vote will be called at around noon tomorrow.

[Gabu]

I fourth the motion, which I would have done had I not been here.   Sorry, folks.

I hereby bring this bill to a vote.  The final state of the bill is as follows:

Marijuana Legalization and Taxation Act[/i]

§ 1 The possession, sale, and consumption of marijuana, and the plants needed for its processing, shall not be considered illegal by the federal government of Atlasia.  Commercially sold marijuana cigarettes shall be subject to the same regulations as tobacco cigarettes, unless a regional law shall nullify this provision and provide its own.

§ 2 All federal activities dealing with the investigation and prosecution of said criminal activities as listed in Clause 1 shall be immediately shut down, and the money currently appropriated for these activities shall be appropriated as follows:

 a. A sum of no less than one-half (50%) and no greater than the whole (100%) of the appropriations and moneys procured by this bill must be designated towards the general Budgetary fund and the necessity of covering the present Budget’s shortfall and may not be authorized by the Senate to fund any other appropriations in this present Fiscal Year (2006).

 b. A sum of no less than none (0%) and no greater than one-half (50%) of the appropriations and moneys procured by this bill may be authorized by the Senate in future legislation to fund appropriations and expenditures exclusively with any or all of the following measures:
 i. The construction and funding of treatment centers for alcohol, marijuana, and other drug abuses.
 ii. The so-called "War on Drugs" against illegal drugs not decriminalized by this legislation

§ 3 All those convicted of crimes in federal courts that have been repealed in this bill shall be released from any sentence in prison they are presently serving and any outstanding fines owed. These provisions do not exonerate those who are presently in jail or paying fines for other crimes and misdemeanors.

§ 4 Taxes on marijuana shall be set in the annual budget. Individual regions may set their own taxes on marijuana as they see fit.

All senators in favor, vote "aye"; all against, vote "nay".

---

Aye.

[Gabu]

This legislation now has enough votes to pass; senators now have 24 hours to change their votes.

[Gabu]

Oops, I just realized that I never presented it to our president.

Uh... with six votes in favor to two against, this legislation has passed.

I secretly presented it to our president three hours ago for his signature.