Late Night Reefer Madness

Senator Dodd says Smoke 'em if you got 'em (0.00 / 0)

Stuart Cooper of Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana confronts presidential candidate Chris Dodd (D-Conn) regarding his position on whether or not he will end the federal raids on patients and caregivers participating in state approved medical marijuana programs. Earlier in the same day Sen. Dodd, when asked the same question, told Stuart that he "would get back to him", little did he know it would only be 30 minutes later! Gotcha! To get involved or to learn more please visit www.granitestaters.com

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by: Scarce @ Wed May 23, 2007 at 22:46:44 PM CDT

I was thinking of you... (0.00 / 0)

...when I heard some of Rep. Cafero's "drugs are bad, drugs kill" comments.  We totally need a Scarcing of this hearing, maybe interspersing some quotes here with Mr. Mackey from South Park giving one of his awesome, "Drugs are bad, mmmkay?" lectures.

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by: Maura @ Wed May 23, 2007 at 22:51:11 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Penny Bacchiochi (R) supports medicinal marijuana (4.00 / 1)

Says she purchased marijuana for a very sick loved one.  Says the debate comes down to whether you support putting a sick person in jail for using marijuana to ease their suffering.

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by: Maura @ Wed May 23, 2007 at 22:52:52 PM CDT

Because I've already referenced this episode on Spazeboy's blog tonight (0.00 / 0)

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by: tparty @ Wed May 23, 2007 at 22:52:56 PM CDT

Frank Nicastro (D - Bristol) - against medical marijuana (0.00 / 0)

Says he took an oath to uphold federal laws.  Said he had recent cancer deaths in his family, doesn't want to prevent people from alleviating suffering, but believes this bill would force people to go out and break the law, which he thinks is wrong.

Says we should let the Feds resolve the issue, worried that we run the risk of losing federal grants if this passes.

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by: Maura @ Wed May 23, 2007 at 23:00:02 PM CDT

Themis Klarides (R) - supports medical marijuana (0.00 / 0)

I was thinking something nutty might come from Klarides given that she was the rep who said she was on the board of a rape crisis center and never heard that access to Plan B was a problem, but I see that she voted in favor of it.

She's telling some longwinded bizarre story about buying marijuana on the internet.  Hm, ok, I guess her point was that young people can find MJ on the internet or from a dealer, but elderly people might not know where to find it.

Makes the great point that there's no nexus between this bill and the idea that someone young is going to use medical marijuana as a gateway drug.

(Dude, this woman wouldn't support Plan B for rape victims, but she's okay with the weed for sick people.  Hm.  Whatever.)

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by: Maura @ Wed May 23, 2007 at 23:07:02 PM CDT

House Dems opposing the bill (to L alphabetically) (0.00 / 0)

Aldarondo - Waterbury
Amann - Milford
Backer - Stratford
Berger - Waterbury
Boukus - Plainville
Dargan - West Haven
Davis - Orange
Esposito - West Haven
Fawcett - Fairfield
Fontana - North Haven
Fritz - Wallingford
Genga - East Hartford
Graziani - Ellington
Guerrera - Rocky Hill
Janowski - Vernon
Leone - Stamford

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by: Maura @ Wed May 23, 2007 at 23:23:17 PM CDT

How can Steve Fontana-- North Haven, (0.00 / 0)

Chris Perone- Norwalk, William Tong- Stamford, Roldan- Hartford, be against the easing of a cancer patient's pain?

Shame on them. I understand the sell-outs taking the side of the GOP and their culture wars, but how can these Dem State Reps who we'd otherwise support side with the intolerant?

Fontana particularly owes us an explanation. Does he really think society would suffer if terminally ill patients were allowed to smoke pot? (to increase their appetite, and to ease their pain). Shame, shame, shame.

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by: TrueBlueCT @ Wed May 23, 2007 at 23:43:23 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Funny exchange (3.00 / 1)

Bow-tied Rep. Heatherington from New Canaan asks Mike Lawlor how one takes a marijuana plant and makes it "useable". 

Rep. Lawlor smiles and says he's never smoked or possessed marijuana himself (except for something about a pot brownie in law school?) so he doesn't have expertise in that area, but he tried to answer as best he could.

Rep. Heatherington's point was to pursue whether there was a way to have pharmacies process the plant in some way so that licensed pharmacists could distribute it.  He doesn't have a problem with medical marijuana, per se, but has problem with the realities of distribution right now.  Heatherington would like to see pharmacists distributing it with a doctor's prescription.

Heatherington ended up voting against it.  Lawlor gets props for candor.

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by: Maura @ Wed May 23, 2007 at 23:28:25 PM CDT

House Dems against the bill - M to Z (0.00 / 0)

BTW, I just want to note that I'm listing these just for informational purposes, not with implicit condemnation of these votes.  There were some reasonable opponents of this bill who didn't buy into the histrionic arguments that medicinal marijuana use by gravely ill people would turn it into a gateway drug for rampant recreational use, but who argued against the bill based on the perception that this bill is a law that somehow attempts to nullify a federal law or encourage people to break a federal law.

Mikutel - Griswold
Mioli - Westport
Morris - Norwalk
Nicastro - Bethel
Panaroni - Branford
Perone - Norwalk
Reinoso - Bridgeport
Reynolds - Gales Ferry
Roldan - Hartford
Roy - Milford
Sayers - Windsor Locks
Serra - Middletown
Tong - Stamford
Truglia - Stamford
Wilber - Colebrook

I think I got 'em all....

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by: Maura @ Wed May 23, 2007 at 23:36:33 PM CDT

Altobello- Meriden (0.00 / 0)

Seems to have been given a pass.

And wow, here comes Toni Boucher. "comes a time when marijuana has been engineered to be ten times stronger..."

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by: TrueBlueCT @ Wed May 23, 2007 at 23:45:57 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Mad for Reefer Madness (4.00 / 1)

A mock trailer for Reefer Madness, warning us of the dangers to come from this legislation.

The full version in all its cinematic glory.

There's now a musical film version, and a theatrical version which will be performed in New Milford in July.

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by: mikect @ Thu May 24, 2007 at 06:16:48 AM CDT

That was probably the craziest House session I've seen this year (0.00 / 0)

Hours and hours of madness. I'm downloading the video now and I'll post highlights later today.

...insane.

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by: ctblogger @ Thu May 24, 2007 at 11:07:09 AM CDT