Broun is far out, man
July 27, 2007 at 4:17 pm by Scott Henry in NewsOn his very first morning as the newest member of Congress, Rep. Paul Broun, R-Athens, managed to piss off a goodly number of his conservative constituents by being the only Georgia Republican to vote in favor of allowing medical marijuana use.
The Democrat-backed measure would have prevented the feds from busting pot clinics in California and 11 other states that have legalized doctor-prescribed spliffs. Broun joined home-state Dems Sanford Bishop, Hank Johnson, John Lewis and David Scott. Harshing the buzz were nay-voting GOPers Nathan Deal, Phil Gingrey, Jack Kingston, John Linder, Tom Price and Lynn Westmoreland, who were joined by Democrat John Barrow of Augusta.
Democrat Jim Marshall of Macon didn’t vote. Perhaps he was out back having a smoke.
At any rate, the measure failed 262-165. It’s worth noting that Broun is a medical doctor, but then so are Gingrey and Price.
Medical marijuana has been a controversial issue in Congress ever since 1981, when the very first federal legalization bill was introduced by — trivia alert! — another Georgia Republican. That’s right, it was a young Newt Gingrich who first proposed letting doctors make reefer-als. Just a reminder of how the political world has turned.
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