Joker in the House
– posted by thehim
I’ve heard politicians say stupid things before, but the quote that Dominic Holden got out of State Representative Chris Hurst (D-Crazytown) over his reluctance to hold a hearing on the recently introduced House Bill to decriminalize marijuana possession is one for the ages:
Representative Christopher Hurst (D-31), a former narcotics officer and ex-cop who chairs the Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee, refuses to give the bill a hearing. “I am concerned that [the bill] is in direct conflict with federal law,” which makes possessing any quantity of marijuana a crime, he says. “If we tell citizens of Washington that marijuana is no longer a crime, and they cross the border and get arrested… or if they go out on their boat [and are arrested by the Coast Guard], they are not going to be happy with us.”
What?
Let me get this straight. The reason that we can’t save the state over $7 million annually - while simultaneously reducing the amount of young people we saddle with criminal records - is because someone might get arrested elsewhere for pot possession and then be angry at the Legislature for giving us too much freedom.
And this man chairs a committee in Olympia? Dear lord.
Let’s try that logic in a few other places.
- We can’t allow women here to drive cars because one of them may go to Saudi Arabia and expect to be able to drive
- We can’t allow gay people to live freely and show affection in public because one of them may travel to another country and be executed
- We can’t allow people to criticize the government because they may get arrested in China for doing the same thing
- We can’t allow women to wear bikinis because they may go to Iran and end up violating their indecency laws
I could go on. I shouldn’t have to. That’s a disgrace.
January 26th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Tennessee has some dry counties, so you’ll thank us when we bring back prohibition.
January 26th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
90% of politics is upholding the status quo. The dignity or logic of this effort is beside the point. Establishment men have to do this for the same reason cows eat grass: its their nature.
January 26th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
…a former narcotics officer and ex-cop who chairs the Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee, refuses to give the bill a hearing.
This is the past-tense version of the line about getting a guy to understand something when his salary depends upon him not understanding it.
Interesting that he refuses to give the bill a hearing because he believes it will pass. Most obstructionist legislators lack such honesty, I’ll give him that. Americans can be such foolish prudes…
January 30th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
To be fair, I think he’s mostly referring to state borders in that first part … you know, like if your live in a state like Utah that has been tolerant of polygamy, and then you move to a state that’s not, like Texas, they might try to take your kids away!
I do hope that’s what he talking about, because he must know that personal marijuana use is not a top priority for law enforcement in British Columbia.