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	<title>Swampland &#187; Alfonso Serrano &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>Swampland &#187; Alfonso Serrano &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>Pot Plans: Efforts Surge in Congress to Reform Marijuana Laws</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/02/06/pot-plans-efforts-surge-in-congress-to-reform-marijuana-laws/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:19:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alfonso Serrano</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Domestic Policy]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Driven by a groundswell of public opinion, Colorado and Washington State last November became the first states in the U.S. to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. That wave of support, it now seems clear, has echoed through the U.S. Congress, which on Tuesday formally questioned the federal government’s prohibitionist drug policy in the form of marijuana-reform bills. Representatives Jared Polis, a Democrat from Colorado, and Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat from Oregon, introduced two separate bills that would drastically change U.S. marijuana laws by addressing what they say are the human and fiscal costs associated with marijuana-related arrests. It’s not the first time marijuana-reform bills have been introduced in Congress, but Tuesday’s measures are considered historic in scope and give further momentum to a marijuana-legalization movement that has surged recently from Colorado to Washington to Latin America. The Polis bill, the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act, would call on the federal government to regulate marijuana much like it does alcohol. Under the measure, cannabis growers would have to obtain a federal permit in states that legalize the drug. The bill does not force any state to legalize pot, but it does allow states that approve recreational- and medical-marijuana regulatory systems to operate without the fear of crackdowns from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The measure would also transfer authority to regulate marijuana from the DEA to a renamed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Marijuana and Firearms. “In my short time in Congress, and certainly over the last few decades, Americans have increasingly come to the conclusion that the drug war is a failed policy,” said Polis. “While substance abuse is a real problem we need to address, we need to address it increasingly as a public-health issue more than a criminal issue.” The Blumenauer bill, meanwhile, would create a taxation framework for pot similar to that in place for tobacco and alcohol. The Marijuana Tax Equity Act would impose an excise tax of 50% on the “first sale” of marijuana, from growers to processors or retailers. The measure would also tax pot<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=87316&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Domestic Policy</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/marijuana.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Marijuana is broken up for use by customers at Frankie Sports Bar and Grill in Olympia, Washington, Dec. 9, 2012.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">serfer6</media:title>
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