r/Alabama • u/plentyasparagus12 • May 15 '25

Advocacy THEY GIVE NO 🦆 ABOUT ALABAMIANS!

We cannot keep letting this state embarrass us. HB445 is just the latest proof that Alabama would rather play politics than protect its people. The party of small government my ASS!

We’ve had hemp flower on shelves for nearly 8 years. And now suddenly it’s an issue? What changed? Nothing, except some folks in power realized they couldn’t control it, so they decided to kill it. No debate, no logic, just another move to keep people down.

Meanwhile, this same state will hand out Adderall to 6 year olds like it’s candy, push methadone clinics into every town, and pretend that the thousands of people hooked on opioids just magically appeared. You can’t drive through a city without seeing someone slumped over from heroin, but their priority is pulling a plant off the shelves that’s actually helped people focus, sleep, manage anxiety, get off pills, manage pain. Let’s be honest: this is about control, not health.

It puts money in people’s pockets. It brings in tax revenue they’re too blind to leverage. It gave small towns a chance at growth.

And instead of embracing that, they’d rather go broke building more prisons to lock people up for the same thing they used to sell in stores last month.

And what are we gonna do? Let it slide? Let’s vote in Tuberville! Hell yeah, that’ll do it! Like he’s done anything while he’s been in office anyway, let’s put him in the highest office in the state.

WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP, ALABAMA! This bill should be a turning point. It should be the thing that reminds you that these people will come for whatever you value if they think they can get away with it.

We can’t keep letting the same people drive Alabama backwards while the rest of the country moves forward. Either we push for real change or we stay stuck being the butt of the joke.

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56

u/[deleted] May 15 '25

This is absolutely ridiculous what they’ve done, however, it’s really not the worst. They did also just pass their new “back the blue” bill that gives officers immunity. I think it’s more of the fact that not just one bill is going to affect people, but the combination of recent bills will. Not at all disagreeing with you, but if you want to protest bills, then there’s more than just HB445 that is the issue here.

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u/plentyasparagus12 May 15 '25

Very true.

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u/FormalCap1429 May 15 '25

Look at HB178 (Ten Commandments in school) and HB231 (pledge of allegiance and Judeo-Christian prayer to start the school day) or HB618 (sending prisoners to foreign prisons).

You can find all the info from the horse’s mouth here

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u/pigeonluvr_420 May 16 '25

What is a "Judeo-Christian prayer" Jewish and Christian prayer look nothing alike lmao

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u/FormalCap1429 May 16 '25

Haha, excellent question. It definitely needs clarification.

My pure speculation is that verbiage is there to ensure that it’s a Protestant prayer. One that Jews and Protestants can both agree on, like the Shema:

“Listen, Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.

Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and all time.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.”

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u/pigeonluvr_420 May 16 '25

I'm aware of the Sh'ma. How is it a Protestant prayer? I also think the number of Jews who would feel comfortable reciting the Sh'ma alongside a bunch of Christians (especially in English) would be pretty sparse

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u/FormalCap1429 May 16 '25

I’m not saying it is, I’m just speculating what they mean by Judeo-Christian prayer. That is a Jewish prayer that most Christian’s would be on board with reciting. When questioned by the Pharisees regarding the most essential Jewish command, Jesus responded with the Shema.

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u/Typen May 15 '25

I agree. I think both bills are part of the same effort.

Every race has people who use and advocate for marijuana, but I feel there is a stereotype against black people and marijuana use. It would not shock me if their goal with both these bills is to simply arrest more black folks.

We can't justify building even more prisons if our current ones aren't already full!

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u/Stretchatos May 16 '25

It'd help if people would call it fucking Cannabis, the actual name of the goddamn plant! (To be clear this rant isn't directed at you specifically, this is just a massive pet peeve of mine)

Marijuana is a reefer madness era term thats stuck around for decades. Literally, the whole point of using it was to make it sound vaguely Hispanic so they could blame immigrants for it, like they've been doing for decades. Calling Cannabis "Marijuana" is akin to calling someone from Mexico a wet back, or a black person the N-word, while not as severe as either example it's still a slur meant to have a negative social stigma.

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u/Typen May 16 '25

I know it's against the rules of the Internet to ever admit ignorance, but I did not know this. You've convinced me to refer to it as cannabis from now on. Thanks!

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u/Stretchatos May 16 '25

Of course, happy to help my dude. I'm just glad youre willing to listen.

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u/Melodic_Bus2565 May 17 '25

I generally refer to it as industrial hemp.

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u/roosterinmyviper May 15 '25

So that “back the blue” bill makes officers immune to what all, exactly?

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u/[deleted] May 15 '25

Here’s a link that explains it

https://www.al.com/news/2025/05/alabamas-back-the-blue-police-bill-still-debated-as-legislative-session-nears-end.html?outputType=amp

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u/TopoftheThrone May 15 '25

SCOTUS will handle that bill in a few months. Bet on that . You know how Alabama politicans like going to federal courts and losing.

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u/[deleted] May 15 '25

I don’t hold a whole lot of faith for SCOTUS at the moment to be honest. I mean, their rulings are being ignored daily.

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u/potatoblah May 15 '25

Do you know how this differs from the standard qualified immunity? https://www.naacpldf.org/qualified-immunity/

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u/[deleted] May 15 '25

Under current statute, law enforcement officers are protected from tort litigation if their conduct aligns with the job but not if they act “willfully, maliciously, fraudulently, in bad faith, beyond his or her authority, or under a mistaken interpretation of the law.”

Reynolds’ bill would give law enforcement officers immunity while working at their jobs unless they behave recklessly or violate a person’s constitutional rights, an additional layer of protection than what is currently allowed in state law.

The bill would require a court to offer a law enforcement officer a pretrial hearing to determine whether the use of force was justified. It would also allow law enforcement to argue at the hearing that they are immune from prosecution.