Who Will Fill Congressman Pete Starks Medical Marijuana Shoes

While not shocking  that we all tend to panic a little when our benefactor threatens retirement and the medical marijuana / marijuana legalization community is no different.  After the stoney  disorientation of hearing that our  legislative def ender of freedom might leave for greener pastures, and it seems marijuana legalization advocates are no different.

Pot growing advocates have already taken a big hit by the retirement announcements of Reps. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who’ve long lobbied to remove marijuana from the list of federally regulated substances. Now they could lose another political figure who has been a key supporter of the movement.

Rep. Pete Stark, the dank old California liberal and 20-term veteran of Congress, is facing a surprisingly competitive race in California’s 15th congressional district, where a string of campaign gaffes have left him vulnerable to the attacks of his relatively unknown competitor in the Democratic primary, Eric Swalwell…

Stark has been a vocal advocate for medical marijuana dispensaries, introducing legislation, HR 1985, pushing back against the Internal Revenue Service when the IRS sought to keep shops from deducting ordinary business operating expenses like payroll, rent and insurance from their taxes.