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Inquisition. House Republicans versus MPP (Marijuana Policy Project). March 27, 2001. Rob Kampia of MPP addressed the assembled forces of evil. Medical cannabis attacked by Bubba Bob Barr and other Republican dumb-asses in the US House of Representatives. DRCNet, MPP, and press reports. |
This page was last revised Friday, April 06, 2001 07:48 AM -0400. This page is at
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http://members.fortunecity.com/multi19/inquisition.htm
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TABLE OF CONTENTS (TOC). More how-to and tips. |
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*World Drug War Home Page. CLICK and bookmark both links. Add to favorites menu. Top link is latest revision. Bottom link is slightly older, mirror copy. |
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http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/index.html and |
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INTRODUCTION. [TopLink] |
This latest drama is just another horror in the long Republican night:
*Republicans lead U.S.
Drug War. Revised. Democrats follow Republican evil. Huge LINKS list! U.S. Drug-war Industrial Complex.
Republican fundamentalist holy war. Friendly Fascism. Drug war leaders are the rabid right,
hate radio, hate television, NRA (National Rifle Association), religious
right, (snortin\') George Bush the hypocrite, etc.. Republican-led
drug war disenfranchises (no voting rights) millions of voters (mostly
Democrat-voting blacks).
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/gop.htm -latest
revision.
http://members.fortunecity.com/multi19/gop.htm
-older copy.
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DRCNet on the Republican Inquisition. [TopLink] |
Section 8 [emphasis added] from:
The Week Online with DRCNet
Issue #179, 3/30/01
8.
Kampia vs. the Inquisition: House Republicans Rake Reformer Over the Coals
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/179.html#theinquisition
In a one-sided dog-and-pony show sponsored
by the House Government Reform Committee\'s criminal justice subcommittee
as part of the political run-up to Wednesday\'s Supreme Court arguments
on medical marijuana, GOP drug war zealots went out of their way to demonize
drug reform advocates and personally attacked the Marijuana Policy Project\'s
( http://www.mpp.org ) executive director, Rob
Kampia.
The committee hearing, which had no discernible purpose other than to allow a parade of anti-drug war zealots, drug war bureaucrats and grandstanding congressmen to wail and moan and gnash their teeth over the prospect of medical marijuana, rapidly degenerated into an opportunity for drug war stalwarts to take pot-shots at the reform movement.
The weight of Kampia, the only anti-prohibitionist witness, was counterbalanced by Joyce Nalepka of the anti-drug group America Cares, Inc., Betty Sembler of the Drug Free America Foundation, former California Attorney General Dan Lundgren, defeated congressional drug warrior and drug czar candidate Bill McCollum, Laura Nagel of the DEA, and Dr. Janet Joy, author of the Institute of Medicine\'s 1999 landmark report on medical marijuana.
Kampia told DRCNet that the reform community was represented only because MPP contacted committee staffers. \"We made inquiries once we heard about this hearing,\" he said. \"The only reason we were able to testify is because we made the effort.\"
\"What\'s really going on here is people are trying to legalize smoking marijuana and they\'re using cancer and AIDS patients as a prop,\" pronounced Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL) as the hearing opened.
\"This is really an effort by the druggies to legalize marijuana,\" chimed in Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA), who then turned on Kampia. \"I don\'t respect Mr. Kampia. You\'re not a wonderful person. You\'re doing something despicable and you\'re putting a nice face on it.\"
Subcommittee chairman Mark Souder (R-IN), infamous for authoring the Higher Education Act\'s smoke a joint-lose your loan provision, intoned solomonically for civility in the hearing, then told Kampia, \"You are an articulate advocate for an evil position.\"
The committee might have seen Kampia\'s pitchfork tail might twitching when he told the members, \"The Marijuana Policy Project believes that sick people as well as healthy people should not be put in jail for using marijuana.\"
Or perhaps they smelled the sulphurous fumes beginning to swirl around him as he added, \"But if we can keep sick people out of jail in the short run, then by God [or was it Beezlebub?] we\'re going to do it.\"
As for Barr\'s lack of respect for him, Kampia retorted, \"I\'ll be cordial with Congressman Barr, but I don\'t respect him because he\'s supportive of a policy that criminalizes seriously ill people who have their doctor\'s approval to use what is a legitimate medicine.\"
Kampia told DRCNet he was not surprised by the committee\'s behavior. \"They behaved approximately like I thought they would given our previous experience with Barr and Souder and the overall mean sentiment of House Republicans on drug policy issues,\" he said.
Still, Kampia added, such unpleasant confrontations are necessary. \"I wasn\'t going in there thinking I was going to convince anyone to think differently,\" he said, \"but I wanted to let them know they can\'t wage a vicious war on patients using marijuana without expecting to be criticized for it. Also, I knew there would be some media coverage, and that coverage could set the tone for the coverage around the Supreme Court case,\" added Kampia. \"I wanted that coverage to be clear on what the Supreme Court can and cannot do with regard to state medical marijuana laws.\"
Kampia has presumably returned to Hell pending further committee appearances.
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PERMISSION to reprint or redistribute any or all of the contents of The Week Online is hereby granted. We ask that any use of these materials include proper credit and, where appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If your publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet requests checks payable to the organization. If your publication does not pay for materials, you are free to use the materials gratis. In all cases, we request notification for our records, including physical copies where material has appeared in print. Contact: Drug Reform Coordination Network, 2000 P St., NW, Suite 210, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202) 293-8344 (fax), e-mail drcnet@drcnet.org. Thank you.
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MPP (Marijuana Policy Project) email. Press article links. [TopLink] |
=== Emphasis added later to the following MPP email excerpt. ===
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 06:32:40 -0800
From: Marijuana Policy Project <mpp@mpp.org>
Subject: MPP Testifies before Congress, Makes AP Wire
To: mppupdates@igc.topica.com
Reply To: mpp@mpp.org
On Tuesday, March 27, MPP\'s Rob Kampia was put through a grueling grilling before a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives. The hearing, "Federal Drug Law and the Constitution\'s Supremacy Clause," was intended to serve as a prelude for the medical marijuana case that is being heard before the U.S. Supreme Court today (Wednesday).
The House Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources -- chaired by Congressman Mark Souder (R-IN) -- is composed of nine Republicans and seven Democrats. Mark Souder, Bob Barr (R-GA), Dave Weldon (R-FL), and Jo Ann Davis (R-VA) accused Kampia and MPP of destroying our nation\'s youth, causing Kampia to respond that Congress should be looking at the cruelty of its federal laws, which criminalize seriously ill people. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee and the only Democrat to attend, appeared to be conflicted on the issue of medical marijuana -- but admonished his Republican colleagues for disrespecting Kampia, the only participant in the hearing to express an anti-prohibitionist position. A sixth House member, Benjamin Gilman (R-NY), briefly attended the hearing but did not ask questions.
Kampia testified on the first panel, along with Joyce Nalepka (America Cares) and Betty Sembler (Drug Free America Foundation). The second and final panel of witnesses comprised Dan Lungren (former Attorney General of California), Bill McCollum (former U.S. House member from Florida), Laura Nagel (DEA), and Dr. Janet Joy (author of the Institute of Medicine\'s 1999 landmark report on medical marijuana).
A complete transcript of the hearing will not be available for many months, but MPP plans to release a partial transcript in its newsletter, "Marijuana Policy Report."
==============================
Associated Press wire article (included below)
http://www.mpp.org/news/ap032701.html
Christian Science Monitor article
http://www.mpp.org/news/csm032801.html
MPP\'s news release on the Supreme Court case
http://www.mpp.org/releases/nr032801.html
==============================
MARCH 27, 19:52 EST
Marijuana Sparring Before Hearing
By JESSE J. HOLLAND Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP)
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