U.S. Representative Steve Stockman is the Texas lawmaker who is probably least likely to whip out a joint at the party and share it with everyone. He likes families, straight people, guns and fertilized eggs that might one day become babies. He hates liberals.
Not as much as he hates the federal government, though, which is why he was the only Texas lawmaker to sign a new amendment that could make getting medical pot a little easier.
"This is a matter of following the Constitution," his spokesperson Donny Ferguson told Unfair Park in an email.
The House last week passed a historic amendment that would prevent the DEA from raiding medical marijuana dispensaries in states that allow them. The bipartisian amendment isn't law yet, but the 219-189 decision is an encouraging turn in places like California, which legalized medical weed in 1996 yet faced sweeping federal raids on dispensaries as recently as three years ago.
Of course, in Texas, that hasn't been a problem, since no weed of any kind is legal here anyway. But Stockman was one of 12 sponsors who signed the bipartisan amendment. In fact, he was the only Texas lawmaker to be one of the co-sponsors.
This from the same man who voted against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act last year because of a provision that expanded provisions to transgendered people, or, as Stockman described them, "change-gender, or whatever." He added of the transgender protections: "This is helping the liberals, this is horrible. "
It appears then that decriminalizing marijuana is no longer regarded as a "helping the liberals" type of deal. Rick Perry even made some vague statements earlier this year that somewhat embraced marijuana decriminalization.
Stockman, though, frames this as a states' rights issue.
"Someone's personal opinions on marijuana use have no bearing on the fact the federal government cannot use armed agents to invalidate state laws. The Constitution is bigger than personal opinion."
