Rep. Greenlick: Oregon’s worst bill author to restart prohibition era with tobacco ban

By Taxpayer Association of Oregon

Representative Greenlick’s latest outlaw bill is HB 2233. This bill would outlaw citizens from buying cigarettes or cigars without a doctor’s prescription.

This is tantamount to prohibition and denying Oregonians the right to choose. It did not work in the 1920’s, it will not work now. By sending a million Oregonians to go through a pharmacy it will make the long lines longer and high pharmacy costs higher for those Oregonians who are trying to get legitimate medicine – especially seniors. Other Oregonians will purchase their products out of state or through tribal outlets. HB 2233 places the crime of possessing an illegal cigar at $6,000 and one year in jail. This is coming from the same State Representative who has been voting to release violent criminals early and at the same time wants to fill our jails with Oregonians who happen to have a grocery store product in the back pocket. I wonder if long time smoker President Obama on his February visit to Oregon would have had to go to jail for possessing a cigarette on Air Force One?

It is no accident that the worst bills to come out of the 2011 Session are created by State Representative Mitch Greenlick. It is Representative Greenlick’s House Bill 2645 which aims to smash all three counties Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas into a single county. His defense was that since they were all under Metro’s regional government control why not just surrender. Rep. Greenlick’s other famous bill so far has been House Bill 2228, which outlaws letting children under 6 from riding in bike trailers. When pressed by the media after he outraged the biking community he admitted that he didn’t bother to look into the issue before creating this bill and wanted to form his idea after people debated on it. For Greenlick, you can actually threaten to take away people’s rights, and then personally benefit from the dialogue that scared citizens offer in defense of their liberty. Representative Greenlick also has a bill (HB 2644) to tax soda pop to discourage people from drinking beverages he does not approve of.

Lawmakers need to stop only choosing options of more taxes (Hb 2644) or more prohibitions (HB 2228, HB 2233) and consider using their good intentions to create more freedom and more choices for Oregonians and more cost effectiveness and efficiency out of government.

– House Bill 2228 which outlaws letting children under 6 from riding in bike trailers

– HB 2645 aims to smash all three counties Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas into a single county

– HB 2233 which would outlaw citizens from buying cigarettes or cigars without a doctor’s prescription

– HB 2644 to tax soda pop to discourage people from drinking beverages