Morning Roar: Teen Pot Use Down, Judge: Obama Amnesty Unconstitutional, Jeb Bush Leads 2016 GOP Field
Your Wednesday Morning Roar!Despite Legalization, Teen Marijuana Use DeclinesIn the most recent poll from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, whose "Monitoring the Future" survey is seen as the standard in drug polling in America (despite the name of the poll being despicable, as if the 'future' is inextricably linked to the quantities or variety of drugs a person may or may not imbibe), the use of marijuana by teens is....down. Yes, you read that correctly - pot use is down some 2% despite the legalization of the drug and decriminalization of it in multiple states across the republic.
Monitoring the Future is now in its 40th year and is considered the ‘gold standard’ of teen drug use surveys. It surveys 40,000 to 50,000 students in 8th, 10th and 12th grade in schools nationwide about their use of alcohol, legal and illegal drugs and cigarettes.Marijuana use in the past year by students in all three grades declined slightly, from 26% in 2013 to 24% in 2014. The survey also found that students in 8th and 10th grades reported that marijuana is less available than it once was. Also, daily marijuana use among 12th graders is down, from 6.5% in 2013 to 5.8% in 2014.These declines in marijuana use among teens follow the implementation of the nation’s first marijuana legalization laws in Colorado and Washington. Those laws were adopted in 2012, and retail sales of marijuana in those states began earlier this year. Each of the marijuana legalization laws clearly specify that legalization applies to adults 21 and over, and contain built-in safeguards that restrict sales to minors. Last month, voters in Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C. also decisively passed initiatives to legalize marijuana in those jurisdictions.
To libertarians and others with the opinion that people should be provided the free choice of what they put into their bodies and that those individuals can make independent and well informed decisions on those substances, this comes as no shock. As prohibition is lifted the black market for these substances dry up. What also can be considered is the enticement of the black market itself. The forbidden is often more attractive than the accepted, especially among those at a "rebellious" age. For certain teens, the attractiveness of this formerly illicit substance may now be fading, as they'll be able to legally purchase it in a few short years.Additionally, with the legalization of marijuana, actual facts about this now legal substance come to light instead of propaganda from both sides.This is a fantastic development and further argument for the eradication of drug laws that only serve to punish and incarcerate individuals for typically nonviolent crimes under the guise of public safety and the protection of youth. District Judge in PA Declares Obama Amnesty Unconstitutional Obama's use of executive orders and actions is one of the things I find most despicable about the man, and it turns out that I am not alone, as a district judge in Western PA has also provided the opinion that the Dictator President greatly overstepped his powers in creating what amounts to new laws governing amnesty for illegals. From the WaPo:
According to the opinion by Judge Arthur Schwab, the president’s policy goes “beyond prosecutorial discretion” in that it provides a relatively rigid framework for considering applications for deferred action, thus obviating any meaningful case-by-case determination as prosecutorial discretion requires, and provides substantive rights to applicable individuals. As a consequence, Schwab concluded, the action exceeds the scope of executive authority.This is the first judicial opinion to address Obama’s decision to expand deferred action for some individuals unlawfully present in the United States. [I've now posted the opinion here.]
While this opinion doesn't do anything to overturn the action, it does open it up for further challenges on a federal level. No matter your opinion on illegal aliens and amnesty, one thing that we can all agree on is that Presidents should not have this level of power autonomously. This has to be challenged.Poll: Jeb Bush Leads GOP 2016 Presidential Field I guess I shouldn't be surprised. For some inexplicable reason, Republicans are in love with anything ending in "Bush," despite the ridiculous, liberty-crushing, big-brother state reign of G-Dub. Now, the tragically named Jeb is the latest hot ticket (for anyone not named Romney, who still is the theoretical favorite despite being a whiter, richer Obama in most matters of policy) for the GOP presidential candidacy, according to a new poll. From TPM:
The poll found that, without Romney, Bush gets 15 percent followed by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) with 10 percent each.But in a field in which Romney did run, Bush is in second. The poll found Romney with 20 percent followed by Bush with 10 percent, Paul with 9, then Ryan with 8, and then Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) with 7 percent. Not a single name left on the list gets more than 6 percent.
I'm saddened that Paul, who has made so many overtures to the GOP (many of which irked me to no end) isn't the solid favorite. That being said, there are still millions of old world Republicans who can't turn in their war hawk card and would be better suited voting for Hillary. Sigh...how blurred the lines between these politicians. In a nutshell, in his time in office as Governor of FL, Jeb did some good...reducing the size and spending of government quite a bit...and some bad, introducing Terri's law, which was deemed unconstitutional.There is still much ditch-digging to be done if Rand Paul is to be accepted as the GOP's savior - something that I personally view him as, even if I don't view him as the end-all-be-all savior/catalyst for libertarianism. But, he's better than the rest by a wide margin.And of course, read The Morning Roar every weekday Monday-Friday!The Lions of Liberty are on Twitter, Facebook & Google+Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!
