Fascist State Minnesota Wages Deadly War on Pot Users.

While the national trend is to legalized marijuana for medical use and even recreational use grows the state of Minnesota has launched a Republican sponsored campaign to deny all social services to pot smokers.

A new Minnesota Department of Human Services policy, CM 0011.27.03, that went into effect in October 2013 first and foremost demonizes anyone who is an ex-felon having been convicted of any drug crime in the past 15 years permanently as a drug felon. Not as an ex-felon or ex-offenders but as drug felons. This is discriminatory and wrongly demonizes a segment of the population that already faces difficulty reintegrating back into mainstream society. This is persecution.

This policy also mandates that anyone who has been convicted of a drug crime for the last decade and a half is required to have a Chemical Dependency Assessment. Until now this was only done with the use of a court order. So this violates the fifth amendment right to due process. If you were arrested in Minnesota for bag of weed, you no longer have the right to due process in this fascist state.

Once it has been determined that the recipient either has no need for treatment, has need for treatment or has completed treatment it goes on.

These new rules only get worse. It calls for random drug testing. Drug testing has always been unfair to pot users as opposed to truly dangerous drugs such as heroine, meth or crack. Those drugs are flushed out of the system in 72 hours. So the testing can easily be gamed by the user saying they have a job interview and delay the test for the 72 hours needed to guarantee a clean test by simply not using for three days. But the case is far different for pot users.

THC stays in the body and is detectable by the drug test for 48-72 days. So for the pot smoker it’s possible for the state to demand a test every 30 days, and surely they will with a first positive result, and thereby be justified, under this draconian policy, to be denied for life any medical, food, or monetary assistance from the state of Minnesota.

There is no exemption for prescribed drugs. So a person on pain killers or steroids, legally prescribed by their physician, can get permanently banned from any state aid for life.

Then we have the person who is permanently, 100% disabled. This legislation is a life sentence to random drug testing to continue to qualify for benefits. This is an invasion of privacy and cruel and unusual punishment on top of double jeopardy.

This is possibly the worst piece of legislation to ever violate the civil and constitutional rights of Americans.

This is the list of constitutional rights trampled by this legislation as I see it:

Violates the right to unreasonable search and seizure.

Violates the right to privacy.

Violates the right against double jeopardy.

Violates the right against discrimination.

Violates the right to due process.

Violates the right against self-incrimination.

Violates the right against cruel and unusual punishment.

Not to mention the AMA has recently classified drug and alcohol addiction a disease.

This legislation treats people with addiction disease issues as criminals for life.

It is an insult to the people of Minnesota and to the US Constitution.

Now the question arises of how this legislation helps the people of Minnesota in any way?

It doesn’t; it is oppressive, tyrannical, police-state policy to persecute ex-felons, particularly those who use marijuana.

This is nothing more than a Republican legislation targeting the easiest people to oppress with the ultimate goal of denying state paid benefits to everyone. This is just the beginning and this is where it must be stopped.

It is common knowledge that the Republicans would like nothing better than to end all social lifeline programs. Their selfish rationale is why pay for social security, food assistance or medical coverage if you are too wealthy to ever take advantage of any of these programs? This is all a waste of money in their eyes, let the needy fend for themselves or rely on charity. They feel the government on both the state of federal level has no obligation to care for the people they supposedly represent and supports them.

Anyone affected by these illegal and unconstitutional policies needs to scream bloody murder. Because that’s what it is. The easiest way to solve the problem of social services is if all the needy just die and go away. This is the Republican plan; a war of attrition designed to reduce ranks of those needing assistance by slowly killing them off by denial of food and medical coverage. This is criminal.

Write the press, write your congressman, contact the US department of justice, Call the ACLU. Do everything you can to bring attention to these tyrannical, deadly regulations that are an insult to civil rights and the constitution. Bring to bear pressure on every elected official to repeal these mandates as un-American.

These policies help no-one, they can and will cause a rise in the crime rate when the only alternative to survive is crime. The only possible reason for them is the ongoing Republican plan to persecute and discriminate with the goal of denying benefits to those who qualify for them.

Where does it end? If allowed to get away with this criminal legislation the next step may be denying benefits to anyone who has had a DUI with random breathalyzer tests. Or maybe random warrant-less home searches.

The line must be drawn here. The legislators who passed this travesty of government must be called to task to either repeal it or get voted out and replaced with those who will. This is America and not North Korea and as Americans we have hard won rights that we cannot allow to be trampled by self-righteous hypocrites motivated by self-interests and greed.

Today they target ex-drug offenders going back 15 years with particular damage to the survival of the harmless pot smoker. I see cigarette smokers as the next easy target for discriminatory legislation. Another segment of the population who are not lifetime criminals but also suffer from addiction disease issues who need effective treatment and not persecution, discrimination and disenfranchisement. Who will be their next target?

© Rick Carufel 2013