Tim Burchett

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 [http://www.oakridger.com/stories/051499/stt_0515990005.html] , 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.Fact|date=September 2008

Senator Tim Burchett was married in a ceremony performed by the Governor of Tennessee Phil Bredesen in Knoxville on June 17, 2008.Fact|date=September 2008

Drug policy

alvia 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." [Burchett 2006] 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." [Nashville Bureau Reporter 2006.]

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.

In a news report published shortly before the signing of the bill by Governor Phil Bredesen, Tim Burchett was quoted as saying, "It's not that popular. But I'm one of those who believes in closing the barn door before the cows get out. ... In certain hands, it could be very dangerous, even lethal."

A store owner who had stopped selling it due to Burchett's bill, said he saw little point in banning salvia, "I have no idea why it's being outlawed. It's a sage. People in South America have been using it for years and years." The same report also gave the general counterargument of salvia proponents that legislation banning "Salvia divinorum" reflects a cultural bias, as there are fewer prohibitions on more addictive substances such as alcohol and nicotine, and questioned how effective the bill will be, pointing out that "Salvia divinorum" has no odour and is easy to grow, so enforcement will be difficult. [O'Rourke 2006.]

ee also

*Legal status of Salvia divinorum

Notes

1. ^ The worldwide number of alcohol related deaths is calculated at over 2,000 people per day, [Lopez 2005, Table 2.] in the US the number is over 300 deaths per day. [NIAAA 2001.]
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. [Blosser (Mazatec Lessons).]

Citations

References

*cite web
last = Blosser
first = Brett
title = Lessons in The Use of Mazatec Psychoactive Plants
publisher = The Salvia divinorum Research and Information Center
url = http://www.sagewisdom.org/lessons.html
accessdate = 2007-10-19
*cite web
author = Burchett, Tim
year = 2006
month = May
title = Senate Bill No. 3247
work = Public Acts 2006, Chapter 700
url = http://tennessee.gov/sos/acts/104/pub/pc0700.pdf
format = pdf
publisher = General Assembly of the State on Tennessee
accessdate = 2008-01-10
*cite journal
author = Lopez, Alan D
year = 2005
month = Apr
title = The evolution of the Global Burden of Disease framework for disease, injury and risk factor quantification: developing the evidence base for national, regional and global public health action
url = http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/content/1/1/5
journal = Globalization and Health
volume = 1
issue = 5
publisher = BioMed Central Ltd
doi = 10.1186/1744-8603-1-5
pmid = 15847690
pages = 5 - [http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/content/1/1/5/table/T2 Table 2] . Global burden of disease and injury attributable to selected risk factors, 1990.
*cite web
author = MiSP
year = 2006
title = Follow the Money
url = http://www.followthemoney.org/Institute/index.phtml
work = database search
publisher = The National Institute on Money in State Politics
accessdate=2007-10-16
*cite journal
author = Nashville Bureau Reporter
year = 2006
month = Apr
title = The Senate passed (290-0) SB 3247
volume = 8
issue = 32
publisher = Nashville Bureau
*cite web
author = NIAAA
year = 2001
month = Aug
title = Number of deaths and age-adjusted death rates per 100,000 population for categories of alcohol-related (A-R) mortality, United States and States, 1979-96.
work = Database Resources / Statistical Tables
publisher = National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
url = http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/Resources/DatabaseResources/QuickFacts/Other/armort01.htm
accessdate=2007-10-20
*Citation
last1=Nutt
first1=David
first2=Leslie
last2=King
first3=William
last3=Saulsbury
first4=Colin
last4=Blakemore
year=2007
date=March 2007
title=Development of a rational scale to assess the harm of drugs of potential misuse
journal=The Lancet
volume=369
issue=9566
pages=1047–1053
url=http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673607604644/abstract
doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60464-4
accessdate=2007-03-23
*cite news
last = O'Rourke
first = Shea
title = Smoking Out - Tennessee bill bans hallucinogenic herb salvia
url = http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/Content?oid=oid%3A16106
publisher = Memphis Flyer
date = 2006-05-24
*cite web
last=Siebert
first=Daniel
title=The Legal Status of Salvia divinorum
publisher=The Salvia divinorum Research and Information Center
url=http://www.sagewisdom.org/legalstatus.html
accessdate=2007-03-04

External links

*cite web
title = Senate Member Tim Burchett
url = http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/senate/members/s7.htm
publisher = The Tennessee General Assembly
accessdate=2008-09-12
*cite web
title = Follow the Money
url = http://www.followthemoney.org/Institute/index.phtml
work = [http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/candidate.phtml?si=200642&c=426656 Tennessee/Burchett]
publisher = The National Institute on Money in State Politics
accessdate=2008-09-12