March, 16 2010, 09:34am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Mike
Meno, MPP Assistant Director of Communications
202-905-2030 or mmeno@mpp.org
MPP Calls for National Boycott of Wal-Mart
WASHINGTON
Today,
the nation's largest marijuana policy reform organization called upon
shoppers across the country to boycott Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., in order
to protest the unjust and potentially unlawful firing of Joseph Casias, a
29-year-old medical marijuana patient and sinus cancer survivor who
suffers from an inoperable brain tumor. Casias's cancer is in remission,
and marijuana alleviates his pain that resulted from it. The Marijuana
Policy Project is asking shoppers to demand that Wal-Mart abandon its
discriminatory policy of firing employees who are legal medical
marijuana patients under state law.
After dutifully working at a Wal-Mart in Battle
Creek, Michigan, for five years, Casias was suddenly terminated because
he tested positive for marijuana during a drug screening administered
after he sprained his knee on the job. Casias, who was named store
Associate of the Year in 2008, is a registered medical marijuana patient
in Michigan, where it is legal to use medical marijuana with a doctor's
recommendation.
"It's despicable that Wal-Mart would fire such a
hardworking and seriously ill employee simply for treating his symptoms
with a medicine that he is authorized to use under state law," said
Karen O'Keefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy
Project and lead drafter of Michigan's medical marijuana law. "Would
Wal-Mart also fire someone for taking doctor-prescribed Percocet, or any
of the other legal medications sold in many of Wal-Mart's own stores?"
Casias's firing violates the "Michigan Medical
Marihuana Act," which reads in part that a qualifying patient shall not
be "denied any right or privilege, including but not limited to ...
disciplinary action by a business or occupational or professional
licensing board or bureau, for the medical use of marihuana." Under the
law, the definition of "medical use" contains "internal
possession"- having marijuana in one's system. The law does not require
employers to allow the "ingestion of marihuana in any workplace" or
employees to work while under the influence, but there is no allegation
that Casias used marijuana at work or worked while impaired. To
add further insult to injury, Wal-Mart is contesting Casias's
eligibility for unemployment.
The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is the number one organization in the U.S. legalizing cannabis. We passed 13 medical cannabis laws in the past 15 years, and we ran winning campaigns in eight of the 11 legalization states. No organization in the movement has changed as many cannabis laws, impacted as many patients and consumers, created as many new markets, or done more to end cannabis prohibition in the U.S. than MPP.
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Top Democrat Issues Warning Over Trump Plot to 'Steal' From Federal Programs
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The top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee warned Friday that President-elect Donald Trump is planning to "steal from the programs and services that affect middle-class, working, and vulnerable families" by refusing to spend money appropriated by Congress.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said in a statement that Trump's strategy, known as "impoundment," is "uninformed and unconstitutional," adding that "the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice, and the Government Accountability Office are all in agreement—the Constitution provides no impoundment power to the president to unilaterally withhold funds appropriated by Congress."
"It is the sworn duty of the president of the United States to faithfully execute the law," DeLauro added, "and appropriations laws are no exception."
In a new fact sheet, Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee note that "the Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse, and nowhere does it give the president any unilateral power to either temporarily or permanently impound—steal, withhold, or prevent from being spent—funds appropriated by Congress."
"The Framers were right to give Congress the power of the purse," the fact sheet states. "If the president had the unilateral power to decline to spend resources as directed by Congress, then those who rely on Social Security, Medicare, Veterans Medical Care, and other federal spending programs would be subject to the whims of the executive branch. The American people would be unable to depend on promises made by Congress in appropriations laws."
Trump has explicitly vowed to use impoundment to "squeeze the bloated federal bureaucracy for massive savings," a plan endorsed by the billionaire pair tapped by the president-elect to run a new commission tasked with identifying spending and regulations to slash.
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"They have no authority. Does anybody get that?"
Following Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's visit to Capitol Hill on Thursday to discuss their plans for the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) with GOP lawmakers, The Washington Postreported that Republicans are "keen on expanding the president's power to impound spending—or refuse to spend money Congress authorizes."
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Analysts argue Trump's plan to withhold federal spending would run afoul of the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act (ICA). The law, as Propublica's Molly Redden explained, "forbids presidents from blocking spending over policy disagreements."
"A similar power grab led to his first impeachment," Redden wrote. "During his first term, Trump held up nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine while he pressured President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to open a corruption investigation into Joe Biden and his family. The U.S. Government Accountability Office later ruled his actions violated the Impoundment Control Act."
Democrats on the House Budget Committee recently pointed out that "although decided after the ICA passed, the Supreme Court unanimously held in Train v. City of New York that even without the ICA, the president does not have unilateral authority to impound funds."
That hasn't stopped Trump, Musk, and Ramaswamy from exploring ways to cut or block spending without congressional approval.
In a Wall Street Journalop-ed published last month, Musk and Ramaswamy wrote that "even without relying on" the view that the ICA is unconstitutional, "DOGE will help end federal overspending by taking aim at the $500 billion-plus in annual federal expenditures that are unauthorized by Congress or being used in ways that Congress never intended, from $535 million a year to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and $1.5 billion for grants to international organizations to nearly $300 million to progressive groups like Planned Parenthood."
Housing assistance, childcare aid, student loan programs, and other spending would also be vulnerable under such an approach.
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Even under Biden, U.S. plans to limit planet-heating pollution did not align with the country's contributions to the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency—but climate scientists and advocates widely backed his and later Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign leading up to last month's election, recognizing the threat posed by Trump.
John Hanger, a Democrat who previously held various envirnomental and energy positions in Pennsylvania's government, responded to the Reuters reporting on social media: "Ugh! Canceling contracts to electrify transportation of USPS would be dirty and dumb!"
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Citing several unnamed sources, The Washington Postreported Friday afternoon that Democrats on Capitol Hill privately proposed a deal to extend the ACA subsidies by a year, which "accompanied a broader package of healthcare proposals submitted to Republicans on Thursday night ahead of year-end spending negotiations."
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Despite efforts to salvage the ACA subsidies due to the pain and economic suffering that would follow if they are not extended, progressives across the board continue to argue that Obamacare—which sends billions of federal dollars to the private insurance industry—is a far inferior solution compared with Medicare for All, which would cover everyone in the United States at a lower overall cost than the current system.
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