Fetterman highlights need for ‘safe, pure, taxed’ marijuana in 4/20 push to legalize weed

Posted on April 20, 2024 by Latest Political News on Fox News

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., made his case for marijuana legalization ahead of April 20, known as a holiday of sorts for those who enjoy smoking or otherwise consuming the drug.

"Right now, we're doing this interview in Washington, D.C., and right now I could leave [and] go buy marijuana legally," Fetterman told Fox News Digital in an interview on Friday. He compared the capital's policy on the drug to that of his home state Pennsylvania, which only allows residents to legally use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

"Pennsylvanians wanted this five years ago," he claimed, recalling his time campaigning throughout the state. "We're still not there."

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Fetterman noted that most of the states surrounding the Keystone State had already made the drug legal for adults. "It's not complicated. Other states have done that," he said.

Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, which surround Pennsylvania, have legalized marijuana for adult recreational use in small amounts.

The origins of 4/20's association with marijuana are not agreed on, but it has been speculated that the holiday could have started in several ways. Some theorize that the number 420 was used by police to reference the drug, while others point to Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," noting that when the numbers are multiplied they equal 420. Despite the various theories, there does not appear to be consensus on how the day began.

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"It needs to be safe, pure, taxed and available," Fetterman said, explaining that illegally purchased versions of the drug are difficult to trace and could be cut with dangerous substances, such as fentanyl.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, marijuana in small amounts has been made legal for recreational use by adults in 24 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and two U.S. territories.

"Any adult should be allowed to do that legally without any criminal … blowback," the Pennsylania senator said.

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Fetterman told Fox News Digital that he has encouraged President Biden directly to take federal steps towards "liberalizing" the drug.

He has also lobbied Biden to deschedule marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), under which the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) currently lists it as schedule I. This schedule includes drugs "with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse." Marijuana is included in the list of schedule I substances, alongside heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), ecstasy, and peyote, among others.

Fetterman stressed he doesn't believe "anyone [should] have their lives impacted criminally for a nonviolent marijuana charge."

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As for illegal markets that still exist in states where marijuana has been legalized, he noted that no states have implemented the policy perfectly, "but I think you'll see that that will continue to evolve."

"Marijuana is going to continue" to become cheaper as policy develops, and "that will absolutely eliminate any of [those] illegal markets," he claimed.

The senator also emphasized the bipartisan nature of efforts to reform marijuana policy. "Republicans want legal weed. Democrats want legal weed," he said. "And I think this is a [place] where we could come together in a bipartisan way to say, 'Look, let's do this and just get on with it.'"

Texas AG Ken Paxton sues 5 cities over marijuana amnesty policies, cites drug’s reported links to ‘psychosis’

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Latest Political News on Fox News

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed lawsuits against five Texas cities – Austin, Denton, San Marcos, Killeen and Elgin – over their marijuana amnesty and non-prosecution policies.

The litigation charges that the five municipalities adopted ordinances or policies instructing police not to enforce Texas drug laws concerning possession and distribution of marijuana, which the state attorney general's office describes as "an illicit substance that psychologists have increasingly linked to psychosis and other negative consequences."

"I will not stand idly by as cities run by pro-crime extremists deliberately violate Texas law and promote the use of illicit drugs that harm our communities," Paxton said in a statement Wednesday. "This unconstitutional action by municipalities demonstrates why Texas must have a law to ‘follow the law.’ It’s quite simple: the legislature passes every law after a full debate on the issues, and we don’t allow cities the ability to create anarchy by picking and choosing the laws they enforce."

The ordinances notably prevent city funds from going toward or personnel from even testing suspected marijuana seized by police officers, with limited exceptions.

The attorney general's office said Paxton "remains committed to maintaining law and order in Texas when cities violate the lawful statutes designed to protect the public from crime, drugs, and violence. He continues to seek accountability for the rogue district attorneys whose abuse of prosecutorial discretion has contributed to a deadly national crimewave."

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The lawsuits stress that Texas Local Government Code forbids any political subdivision from adopting "a policy under which the entity will not fully enforce laws relating to drugs." Further, the Texas Constitution notes that it is unlawful for municipalities to adopt ordinances that are inconsistent with the laws enacted by the Texas Legislature (Article 9, Section 5).

Namely, with the Democratically-run city of Austin, Paxton's lawsuit takes issue with an order that became effective on July 3, 2020, instructing the Austin Police Department not to make an arrest or issue a citation for marijuana possession unless in the investigation of a violent felony or high priority felony-level narcotics case.

A ballot measure known as Proposition A to further eliminate low-level marijuana enforcement later won the vote in 2022, and the City Council codified it into law as the Austin Freedom Act.

In addition to limiting police from filing marijuana possession charges unless they come as part of a high-level probe or at the direction of a commander, the measure also states that no city funds or personnel shall be used to request, conduct, or obtain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) testing of any cannabis-related substance, except in some limited circumstances. It adds the caveat that the prohibition shall not limit the ability of police to conduct toxicology testing to ensure public safety, nor shall it limit THC testing for the purpose of any violent felony charge.

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Austin, Denton, San Marcos, Killeen and Eligin are all considered "home-rule" jurisdictions, meaning they have the "full power of self-government" and do not need grants from the state legislature to enact local ordinances.

In Killeen, located next to the once embattled Fort Hood, since renamed Fort Cavazos, voters approved a Proposition A of their own in 2022.

It similarly states that officers should not make arrests for marijuana possession or drug residue alone. If there is probable cause to believe a substance is marijuana, officers can seize the substance. But the ordinance requires that police then also write a detailed report and release the individual if possession of marijuana is the sole charge.

In Denton, located in the Dallas Fort-Worth metro area, another similar measure enacted by City Council known as Proposition B says officers cannot issue citations or make arrests for Class A or B misdemeanor marijuana possession. Elgin, considered a suburb of Austin, and San Marcos, which sits on the corridor between Austin and San Antonio, also both adopted similar ordinances designed to stifle marijuana enforcement in conflict with state law, according to Paxton's lawsuits.

The litigation comes after headline-making news out of California, where a judge recently ruled a woman who stabbed her boyfriend 108 times before slicing her own neck as police tried to stop her will not serve any prison time because she had fallen into a pot-fueled psychosis after getting high on drugs at the time.

Though unrelated, the marijuana lawsuits were filed just a day after the Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to temporarily halt Paxton's scheduled testimony in a whistleblower lawsuit that was at the heart of the impeachment charges brought against him in 2023, delaying what could have been the Republican’s first sworn statements on corruption allegations.

House Dem tells mother of fentanyl victim she lacks ‘background to understand’ border chief’s impeachment

Posted on January 20, 2024 by Latest Political News on Fox News

Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., told a mother who lost her daughter to fentanyl that she was being "used" by Republicans during a House Homeland Security hearing on Thursday.

Goldman's remarks to Josephine Dunn, whose 26-year-old daughter Ashley lost her life to fentanyl-laced pills, came during the committee's hearing titled "Voices for the Victims: The Heartbreaking Reality of the Mayorkas Border Crisis."

Dunn had been invited by Republicans to take part in the hearing and share the story of how she lost her daughter to fentanyl as Congress continues on with the impeachment proceedings against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Expressing his "sincere condolences" to Dunn for the loss of her daughter, Goldman said that he wanted to "apologize in some ways" to Dunn because she was "being used as a fact witness for an impeachment investigation."

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"Obviously, given what your experience has been, you don't have the background to understand what a high crime and misdemeanor is and how it relates to this," he added in his remarks to Dunn.

Goldman's remarks drew the ire of Dunn, who told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Friday that the lawmaker is "unaware about what my understanding, about what my education, what my experience is in any of those areas when it comes to misdemeanors or high crimes."

"I have my opinions, and for him to assume that I want to just put more money into a system that has had plenty of money placed into it and is still broken is incorrect. Please don’t think for me. I have a brain, I can think and speak for myself," she told the outlet.

During the hearing, Dunn grew visibly frustrated with Goldman as he attempted to question her.

"You would agree, would you not, that it would help to stop the fentanyl trade and fentanyl trafficking from coming into this country if we had more law enforcement officers at the border and more resources and technology to stop the fentanyl from coming in?" he asked Dunn. "Do you agree with that?"

Dunn rejected Goldman's premise, saying "Border Patrol is now being used to make sandwiches and to screen people and let them into our country. So I disagree with you."

Moments later, Dunn added: "I would like the border patrol to be able to do the job that they were hired to do. Every border patrol officer that I have spoken to has told me that their hands are tied by this administration and Mr. Mayorkas. I’ve been to the border, sir, have you?"

Goldman responded that he was the one asking the questions at the hearing.

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Further highlighting the moment in a post to Facebook, Dunn wrote, "Pardon me sir, but you know nothing of my experience, my background or my understanding. Also, in all of my research, you have yet to travel once to the Southern Border of the United States. Is that why you avoided my question?"

"Are you unable to return to your constituency and explain your lack of understanding of the border, lack of experience at the border or was it something else? I would think you could have heard what I actually said. Not what you wanted me to say," she added.

Last September, Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens announced that agents had seized over 2,700 lbs. of fentanyl as part of the more than 69,000 lbs of narcotics seized between ports of entry. The seizures also included 40,000 lbs. of marijuana, 13,000 lbs. of methamphetamine and 11,000 lbs. of cocaine.

That amount of fentanyl, which does not include the amount seized at ports of entry, is more than enough lethal doses to kill the entire population of the United States. While significantly more is caught at ports of entry – with over 22,000 lbs caught at the ports of entry at the southern border this fiscal year – the stat highlights the danger of fentanyl moving between the ports and potentially past overwhelmed agents in the field.

Opioids were involved in more than 100,000 overdose deaths in 2022. Fentanyl is the most prominent opioid, which is produced primarily in Mexico, using Chinese precursors, and then trafficked across the southern border. The drug is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine and is often cut with other drugs, meaning that the user doesn’t know that they are ingesting fentanyl.

While opioid deaths have risen sharply in recent years, the Biden administration has pointed to data suggesting that overdose numbers are slowing and has tied that flattening to its drug strategy, which involves going after smugglers, increasing technology at ports of entry and providing additional funding for treatment and prevention within the U.S.

But the administration has faced criticism from Republicans over its handling of the fentanyl crisis, particularly at the southern border, which they say has exacerbated the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. Some Republicans, including those on the 2024 trail, have called for military action in Mexico to take out drug labs run by the cartels.

Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.