Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2009
The Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2009 is a bill in the United States House of Representatives introduced by Barney Frank on June 18, 2009 as. Its passage would eliminate federal criminal penalties for possession of up to and nonprofit transfer of up to an ounce of cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act. It does not change the regulation on the manufacturing or the sale of cannabis.
The Bill incorporates the basic recommendations of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse. The commission published its findings in 1972 and recommended that then-president Richard Nixon decriminalize possession of marijuana in amounts that constituted "simple possession."
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, the Marijuana Policy Project, and the Drug Policy Alliance had a large hand in the formation of bill, working closely with Rep. Frank. The bill also as mentioned earlier relied heavily also on information and advice from the federally funded National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse.
Rep. Frank says that it's time "for the politicians to catch up with the public on this. The notion that you lock people up for smoking marijuana is pretty silly."Supporters
People
- Barney Frank, J.D. U.S. Representative, Bill Sponsor
- Ron Paul, M.D. U.S. Representative, Bill Co-Sponsor
- Barbara Lee, M.S.W., U.S. Representative
- Tammy Baldwin, J.D., U.S. Representative, Bill Co-Sponsor
- Michael Capuano, U.S. Representative, Bill Co-Sponsor
- Maurice Hinchey, U.S. Representative, Bill Co-Sponsor
- Dennis Kucinich, U.S. Representative, Bill Co-Sponsor
- George Miller, U.S. Representative, Bill Co-Sponsor
- Jared Polis, U.S. Representative, Bill Co-Sponsor
- Dana Rohrabacher, U.S. Representative, Bill Co-Sponsor
- William Lacy Clay, Jr., U.S. Representative
- Earl Blumenauer, J.D., U.S. Representative
- Fortney Stark, M.B.A., U.S. Representative, Bill Co-Sponsor
- Jim McDermott, M.D., U.S. Representative, Bill Co-Sponsor
