Texas lawmaker files bill to legalize marijuana
In Texas, a conservative lawmaker filed a bill to completely
deregulate marijuana in the Lone Star State Monday, proposing to strike
any mention of the psychoactive plant from state law.
"Everything that God made is good, even marijuana" said state Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, who filed the bill. "The conservative thought is that government doesn't need to fix something that God made good."
The 24-page bill begins: "The following provisions are repealed," then lists dozens of Texas statutes related to marijuana. If the Legislature were to approve the bill, pot in Texas would be regulated like any common crop.
In a press release, Simpson said he supported regulating marijuana like the state regulates "tomatoes, jalapeños or coffee."
It's a markedly different approach to marijuana law reform than other states have adopted. In the last year, blue states Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Washington, D.C., have voted to legalize pot within a detailed framework of taxation and regulation. But it would not be so with Simpson's bill, which would offer no such restrictions.
In his column, Simpson reflected on his Republican beliefs in small government and individual liberties, and he invoked biblical verse to explain his initiative to repeal marijuana prohibition. He told KETK he wants to "reframe the current marijuana discussion" by talking prohibition repeal in terms of common conservative values.
His perspective resonates with 85-year-old Houstonian Ann Lee, who founded the group Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition and traveled to Washington D.C. last week to advocate legalization at a conservative political conference.
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