By Brandon Moseley
Tim James said that medical marijuana legislation passed during the 2021 regular session should be repealed. James made the statement while campaigning at a meeting of the Shelby County Republican Executive Committee on Tuesday night.
“The rumor is out there that we might jump in this race for governor,” James told over 90 Republicans at the monthly meeting of Shelby County Republicans meeting at New Hope Presbyterian Church near Indian Springs.
James told the audience that the new law legalizing medical marijuana in the state of Alabama, “Needs to be repealed.”
“This is nothing but a scam to make money for a handful of dispensaries,” James told the Shelby County GOP. “They are already fighting each other for permits. This is nothing but Colorado on steroids.”
Grady Thornton of Shelby County said that his brother died of bone cancer and that it would have relieved some of his pain before the end.
“My brother-in-law died of pancreatic cancer,” James replied. “We all have someone in our families who have been touched by this terrible disease.”
James said that he has reviewed a medical study and that marijuana does not do what its advocates say that it does and that you would be surprised by the organizations that are opposing medical marijuana.
“People who are sick can still get it through the drug process,” James said.
“It does not smell right to me,” James said. “Medicine for the pain can be administered through the normal process.”
During the 2021 regular legislative session, the Alabama Legislature passed Senate Bill 46, sponsored by State Sen. Tim Melson (R-Florence). SB46 was signed into law in May by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (R). It creates the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission and tasks the commission with training doctors to make medical cannabis recommendations to patients with a legitimate medical need. The patients with Alabama medical cannabis cards could then, out of their own pocket, purchase medical marijuana grown and processed in Alabama from a licensed dispensary. There will be no smokable product allowed. The Commission is set to begin awarding licenses in Sept. – ahead of next year’s general election.
“Opening this door is a very unwise decision,” James concluded.
James has previously generated headlines for criticizing the Republican supermajority in the Legislature for overturning the ban on yoga in Alabama’s schools.
James is not yet a declared candidate for governor. He said that he will sit down with his children and his family and make the decision on whether or not to run “before the end of the year.”
James, the son of former Alabama Governor Fob James (R-1995 to 1999) (D-1979 to 1983) is a businessman in Greenville. The younger James ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for Governor in 2002 and again in 2010.
“I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be led back into this arena,” James said.
James said it is “embarrassing” that our state is 52nd in education. “Our schools are going downhill.”
“Reading is everything,” James explained. “Studies show that if a child can read at third grade level by the end of the third grade; then they will finish high school and turn out OK. If they can’t, then they fall by the wayside and drop out and get into trouble.”
“What do you do with a little boy who does not want to sit in his chair and read?” James said. “You make his little butt read whether he wants to or not. If you care about these children you will make him.”
“There is a cultural war that has to be fought,” James asserted.
“Transgenderism is in direct conflict with God,” James added. Transgender children in the classroom are a “disruption.”
“Critical race theory is nothing but Marxism,” James maintained.
He also denounced sixty years of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that have taken prayer out of schools, legalized abortions, and allowed same sex marriage.
“We are going to remove God from every facet of reality,” James warned. “If you remove God that leaves nothing but government.”
Joan Reynolds is the Chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party. She said that if James qualifies for Governor he will asked to return again before the election.
If Tim James enters the gubernatorial race, he will be challenging incumbent Gov. Kay Ivey (R). Former Morgan County Commissioner Stacy George and Lee County pastor Dean Odle are already challenging Ivey for the Republican nomination for governor. Dothan area marriage equality activist Chris Countryman is running for the Democratic nomination for Governor.
The Republican primary is on May 24, 2022.
