Tim Burchett

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Tim Burchett is a Republican Tennessee state senator from Knoxville, Tennessee, representing District 7, part of Knox County. He was previously a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives. In 1999, Burchett received national media attention for sponsoring a bill that simplified the eating of road kill, or animals killed by vehicles [1], which has often been mischaracterized as legalizing the eating of roadkill. In fact, eating roadkill is legal in most states, but Burchett's bill allows those eating roadkill to notify the county game warden after the fact, rather than before, with the implication being that the animal carcass need not rot while waiting for the game warden.

Senator Tim Burchett is currently engaged.

Contents

[edit] Drug policy

[edit] Salvia divinorum

Senator Tim Burchett sponsored a bill in 2006 to make illegal "possessing, producing, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing with intent to produce, manufacture, or distribute the active chemical ingredient in the hallucinogenic plant Salvia divinorum in the state of Tennessee."[1] Burchett stated, "We have enough problems with illegal drugs as it is without people promoting getting high from some glorified weed that's been brought up from Mexico. The only people I’ve heard from who are opposed to making it illegal are those who are getting stoned on it."[2] The bill was signed into law on May 19, 2006 and went into effect on July 1, 2006. Burchett originally wanted to make it a felony offence, but the bill was amended during its passage to make it a Class A misdemeanor.

Opponents of extremely prohibitive Salvia restrictions argue that such reactions are largely due to an inherent prejudice and a particular cultural bias rather than any actual balance of evidence, pointing out inconsistencies in attitudes toward other more toxic and addictive drugs such as alcohol and nicotine.[i][3] While not objecting to some form of regulatory legal control, in particular with regard to the sale to minors or sale of enhanced high-strength extracts, most Salvia proponents otherwise argue against stricter legislation.[ii][4]

[edit] Alcohol

Senator Tim Burchett received his second largest individual political campaign donation of 2006 from the Tennessee Malt Beverage Association.[5]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The worldwide number of alcohol related deaths is calculated at over 2,000 people per day,[6] in the US the number is over 300 deaths per day.[7]
  2. ^ Those advocating consideration of Salvia divinorum's potential for beneficial use in a modern context argue that more could be learned from Mazatec culture, where Salvia is not really associated with notions of drug taking at all and it is rather considered as a spiritual sacrament. In light of this it is argued that Salvia divinorum could be better understood more positively as an entheogen rather than pejoratively as a hallucinogen.[8]

[edit] Citations

  1. ^ Burchett 2006
  2. ^ Nashville Bureau Reporter 2006.
  3. ^ Nutt et al. 2007.
  4. ^ Siebert (Legal status).
  5. ^ MiSP 2006.
  6. ^ Lopez 2005, Table 2.
  7. ^ NIAAA 2001.
  8. ^ Blosser (Mazatec Lessons).

[edit] References


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