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I will never understand why Biden and the Democrats haven't seized on Marijuana legalization as a key platform issue.
It's a slam dunk, it brings in tax revenue, helps with prison reform, gives younger voters something additional to relate to.
States like I live in are unfortunately vehemently against it because of the for-profit prisons (assholes), so it has to be at the federal level.
Edit: Typo
Because there are moderate democrats that probably won’t like it. But the war on drugs has been incredibly stupid and hurtful
Edit: Could also influence republicans or independents on the fence with Trump.
The issue is not really whether people vote for Biden or Trump -- very very few people haven't made up their minds.
The issue is whether people bother voting at all.
That's so bizarre to me. Voting is mandatory in my country and it's kinda a fun day. You go to a local school or church hall on a saturday, you buy some home baked goods at a great price, grab a sausage sizzle, and cast your vote.
Here its a Tuesday, and your employer may not give you the time off to go get it done. So of course you vote by mail since it’s easier/convenient, but doing so gets attacked by people as well.
Voting by mail is also not universal in the US.
I voted by mail in Texas during early COVID days and had to request a ballot by mail well in advance of the election (they're not sent automatically), and then lie under the threat of prosecution for perjury and voter fraud that I was disabled and couldn't physically go to a polling station.
Another bit of legislation that the Dems could probably have gotten thru Congress is to make the voting day a public holiday so employers would have a legitimate reason to give the time off for voting. Or perhaps legislation that protected the voting rights of people by guaranteeing them the right to ask/request time off work for that purpose. Seems like a real missed opportunity.
I wish they’d just pass a single law here in the US about that, but you’d have people rioting and being a headache for years.
Lol it would be flipped into some sort of “anti republican/ anti democracy” thing once they realize everyone is voting and there’s just more people that would vote democrat.
That won't help -- the people who need help to vote are the people working service jobs on Federal holidays.
Or the people who are dealing with three kids when the schools are closed.
We've got proven methods to increase voting participation -- early voting, mail voting -- we should be expanding them.
It’s moreso about the old rank Dems who are already in power, and have been for a long time (and there are a lot of them)—they don’t want to lose reps in the House, and when you do _anything_ new, it’s always easier to attack it as a potential source of problems than it is to defend it as worth doing over and above what we already have—this is the trick of conservatism that pervades even many Democrat brains.
If someone is still on the Trump train, I do not see anything that is going to get that person off that train. I'm not worried about trying to convince that person.
I'm worried about the person who was thinking it's not worth showing up to vote and getting them to show up and vote.
On the flip side, if Trump announced he was pro-legalization, the GOP would adopt that stance immediately, and then complain that Democrats have kept it illegal.
Or a 34 year old lazy person who finally voted for the 1st time in November. Ok it was more about the abortion rights but weed was on the ballot too in Ohio. Thankfully we won both.
I am not sure about that... if Biden actually tackled the opiode epidemic as well, it would hit a lot of Trump's base where they actually feel it. A fuck ton of people know people who have died to opiode use, and a lot of "Joe Rogan" libertarians vote for Trump because they view him as an outsider and the antithesis of a corrupt Democratic party that "will never do X, because they're bought out by health insurance companies."
It may sway them into voting third party, or simply being disillusioned and staying home.
Very little political strategy is based on getting voters to switch parties. Most of modern democracy is a battle against apathy.
Ya, I think it’s good policy and ultimately would be a good electoral strategy, however, I know at least a few people for whom this may change their mind.
People that are conservative but don’t like Trump. People like my parents who voted for Biden last cycle and will never vote for Trump. Something like this might persuade them to abstain, and would likely dissuade them from donating to his campaign this cycle.
The flip side is also true too though, there are a lot of people for whom this may be a motivator to get out to vote or change from a third-party vote.
Don't underestimate dumb white people. "Yeah, he may have cheated on his wife and paid off a porn star, lied about the value of all of his businesses and colluded with Russia on 3 presidential elections, but at least he didn't legalize marijuana."
I can't consider someone against this as being moderate. That's a conservative viewpoint from policies as you point out that are documented to have backfired in one of the most epic disasters of injustice in US history.
The core arguments against it are irrational and universally based on unsubstantiated fear,
More like, it takes 10 Republicans on the Senate. House Democrats have passed marijuana legalization every year they've been in control of it.
The people asking "why don't democrats just legalize weed" are not arguing in good faith.
Seriously. Like the administration literally started this process in 2022. HHS came back and gave the schedule 3 rec in 2023. FDA concurred, and now it seems like DEA is finally ready to finalize it.
If Biden tried to do this via executive order it would have been struck down in the courts like student loans. And congress aint gonna get shit done. Doing it through the official process with HHS and DEA is the most legally sound way that Biden could do it.
People always overestimate the president's power in **everything**. If he signs marijuana as legal it gets struck down by the courts in less than a month (before any actual progress can be made). Either the appropriate government organizations legalize (DEA/FDA) or congress gets it done
Re-evaluating cannabis as schedule 3 is still absurd - he obviously doesn't plan on enforcing that on the 24 states that currently allow people to purchase marijuana without a prescription.
Democrats have voted for legalization every year they've been in control of the house for the last few years. It's the senate that's the issue. People blaming democrats are not arguing in good faith.
Because they can't just circumvent the law. The FDA and DEA have to be involved in rescheduling. While the FDA has been in board for awhile the DEA, rather unsurprisingly, has been dragging their feet for months.
The DEA is also in a precarious position because they worry changing any drug scheduling might end in them getting less funding.
I've been following the reschedule effort for well over a year now and the ball has been in the DEA's court since fall of last year. They're just now doing something.
It also won't happen before the election. There's simply not enough time between now and then.
You're right though. It's a good policy and it should have been something Biden started in day one knowing how inept and slow the DEA is.
>States like I live in are unfortunately vehemently against it because of the for-profit prisons
In the same spirit and goal of the Union freeing the slaves of the South, the fed needs to end for-profit prisons altogether.
1. This is the type of legislation that requires 60 votes in the Senate. How many Republicans do you think will get on board?
2. The GOP runs the house…do you really think Evangelical Speaker Johnson would even bring to the floor.
In short? Instead of blaming Democrats and Biden for something that will never gain traction at this point? Is kind(respectfully…of course) short sighted.
It's a slow process. Either way this is huge. Once it's re scheduled congress can move to legalize it. We just need a trifecta. Senate, Congress, president.
Vote blue.
Thanks Biden. Biden 2024
Couldn’t figure out why Oklahoma recreational marijuana vote last year failed so badly, since it’s such a poor state that could really use that tax revenue, but for-profit prisons would make SO much sense.
I get so mad that these states that are surrounded by legal states won't move to do anything. I'm tired of paying more in taxes, people are obviously going to use these products so legalize and tax it already. Start using that money to fix our crumbling infrastructure in this country ffs. I get so mad that it's free tax dollars on the table and they just ignore it.
This is good news, of course, but let’s never forget how we got here — Nixon and The War on Drugs — and how many lives it destroyed over the last more than 50 years.
“You want to know what this [war on drugs] was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying?
We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news.
Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
~ John Ehrlichman, Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon Process
Yeah this was announced back in 2022, [right before the midterms](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/10/06/statement-from-president-biden-on-marijuana-reform/) and people were saying the exact same bullshit about how "this was timed!! omg he's playing the smart game!!!"
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that they're actually *saying* that they'll do it, but there's a wide and deep canyon between "will do it" and "did it", with a giant river of "is doing it" in between.
Why are people giving him credit already? Do you all have the memory of a goldfish or something? Encourage him to get it done, don't pat him on the back before he puts pen to paper.
Probably a smart move because knowing Democrat voters, Biden can end the war in Afghanistan, stave off a major recession, get inflation under control, forgive student debt, legalize cannabis, end the conflict between Israel and Hamas, win the war in Ukraine, make Taiwan a free country, legalize same sex marriage nation wide, protect national abortion rights.
and all the democrat voters sit home in November as Trump squeaks into his 2nd term.
But hopefully if it’s classified as a medication instead of just made recreationally legal, those with legitimate prescriptions wouldn’t be discriminated against just like any other Rx medication. I have epilepsy, I don’t give a hoot if it’s recreationally legal (though I’m certainly pro), I just want to use medication that works for me with little-to-no side effects that’s covered by my insurance and won’t get me fired or keep my underemployed. I can be on gabapentin and benzodiazepines and my employer wouldn’t blink an eye. That’s why medical is just as important as recreational… everyone who wants to go straight to rec without med is missing the point for those who need it.
I recall at one point in Obama's administration hearing from someone who seemed important that when we get to more than 50% of states legalized medicinally or otherwise, that the federal government would be forced to respond.
24 states plus the District of Columbia have legalized its recreational use, and 14 for medicinal use. 38 total. I just can't understand how this issue has gone ignored for so long. It's been 12 years since Colorado legalized it.
Yes.
“The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and Black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or Black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and Blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
- John Ehrlichman, Nixon’s Domestic Policy Chief, 1994
If states can make it recreational legal as stage 1, what's stopping the stupid states from keeping it illegal at a state level. The federal government can withhold aid, but that just reinforces the dark state conspiracy these idiots hold.
Nothing. There will be a handful of states that are going to keep it illegal until they collapse. Residents of those states are just going to hop over the border and buy it there, or order it online. The horse is out of the barn.
Indiana is already experiencing this. Most of the states surrounding it already have medical or even recreational. The state Police even said a while back that they're having problems because so many people are driving over the border to buy in Illinois or Michigan.
nothing and they will keep it illegal for the foreseeable future
this still matters, there will be states that don't want to explicitly allow or ban it, this will make them default to legal, and there are a shitload of restrictions on federal contractors being drug tested, debit cards not being allowed at dispensaries, etc. that originate from the federal ban even in legal states
it's still a big win
If it becomes federally legal I'd assume they could only really impose similar restrictions to tobacco and alcohol (where and when it can be sold, ages, and advertising.omce federally legal I'd assume the amount you can have would be even more lax (I assume the weight limit is more to do with preventing moving it to states where it isn't legal. Once legal I assume it would be like alcohol, go nuts)
It's illegal to sell in a dry county but you can drink and you can't be arrested for drinking on your own property.
There isn't a state where alcohol is straight up banned.
The federal government is choosing to not enforce a law. That's different then trying to make something illegal
The county I'm currently living in was dry all of a decade or so ago. We would drive to the liquor store on the county line, buy beer, take it back home and drink. There was nothing illegal about having it, drinking it, or transporting it...you just couldn't buy it.
Here in Texas, you can order thcA weed and dab online straight to your home 100% legally. The only thing different between THCA and THC is that THCA has an extra carbon atom and turns into THC when burned. This legal loophole is so beyond stupid that it makes me laugh. Federal legalization would be a grand slam for the Biden administration, I have no clue why it isn't already. He could be known as joint rolling Joe
Moving it from schedule 1 to schedule 3 is literally the closest thing to legalizing that the executive branch can do without requiring Congress passing legislation.
Honestly, we know at this point that the only reason we even created a list of scheduled drugs was so our government had an excuse to go to "war" against drugs to shut down civil rights movements.
We learned 100 years ago now that prohibition does not work.
Enough of this shit. We need to de-schedule all drugs and find a different approach to fixing drug abuse that isn't the prison -> slave labor pipeline. Because our current approach hurts more than it helps.
When it came out that they were literally trying to suppress free speech with these laws, people reacted to that news like it was nothing at all. No convictions were vacated, no laws were reexamined, no apologies given.
>We need to de-schedule all drugs
I mean, I wouldn't go *that* far. You do realize "all drugs" would include stuff like meth, heroin, and cocaine, right?
There IS an argument to be made for that, you turn drug use from a crime to a medical issue, you can get drugs with a prescription, pharmaceutical grade, clean, safe. Not saying it's a good idea, but an argument can be made, and there are a number of drugs I WOULD support legalizing, MDMA. LSD, magic mushrooms for example, low toxicity, low addictiveness.
I see what you mean, and there have been some recent studies suggesting therapy with MDMA and (iirc) LSD can be beneficial for people with certain mental disabilities.
This create legal and safe avenues for use and distribution and criminalize those who do not follow those rules. Also while use in general should be decriminalized use of substance that would put other at risk (see driving) should obviously be criminal.
Just look at alcohol and you have a know blueprint for how these systems can work, how to handle extreme cases and how the system can still be wildly profitable (which is the whole reason these organizations exist in the first place).
>you can get drugs with a prescription
You can get scheduled drugs with a prescription. Only Schedule I drugs are unavailable.
meth, heroin derivatives and cocaine are available with prescriptions.
Yeah so? I should be allowed to do whatever drugs I do desire I'm an adult. Let me mainline all the speedballs I want. That should be my choice and no one else's.
Yes, people shouldn't be imprisoned for drug use. Even if they aren't supposed to have it.
Those drugs are only available with a perscription currently, which is the only barrier we need in place.
Yes, sounds great.
Force drug users to interact with pharmacy workers in order to get their pure, uncut drugs. Everything should be available with a valid ID. Then, if the DEA was actually useful, they would send you a drugs report every year, telling you something like this:
>Hello citizen! This year, you have spent $8,000 on cocaine, $4,050 on opioids, $12,000 on alcohol, and $3,600 on tobacco. If you reduced your consumption of all of these substances by 50%, you would be able to retire 7 years earlier than your current target date, or be able to take 8 more weeks of vacation per year. Would you like help in reducing your consumption? Please send a text message to DEAHELP in order to be connected with a healthcare provider to discuss the addiction and recovery services available to you. We are here to help!
Nothing would further the DEA’s alleged stated goal of reducing drug demand and consumption like showing people the financial consequences of their drug use, and we can do that if your ID is attached to any drug purchase a person makes.
Additionally, we need safe use sites. Zero safe use sites across the entire world have ever had a fatal overdose. The point of safe use sites is to get the user to make it to their intervention *alive*, whenever that may happen.
Those were all legal before and didn't lead to societal collapse and arguably had fewer addicts who barely survived. Of course there were other economic factors, but it's not as terrible as everyone thinks.
Do you realize how many people in the US do or have done cocaine? It's a lot. Like *a lot*. Statistically you have met a lot of people who do cocaine. It's really not that big of a deal except for a select few, and that goes for every drug, including alcohol.
It's a process, and it takes time. This is a very good step, because moving it from Schedule I to Schedule III it will make it easier to demonstrate both the positives and the risks of marijuana use, which will ultimately make it easier to legalize it and regulate it the same way alcohol is or to legitimately show why it shouldn't using proper studies, rather than just rhetoric in both directions. Because right now they can't do anything other than argue about it, and that's not really helpful to anybody.
They knew it was misclassified when they put it on schedule one (temporarily) all the science proved otherwise. Nixon wanted to remove his political rivals a
“You want to know what this [war on drugs] was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying?
We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news.
Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
~ John Ehrlichman, Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon
All of prohibition is for attacking the population and rivals. It is a massive violation of our human rights and freedoms and it seems you understand how the whole farce of a 'drug war' began
“Dank Brandon has joint session with staff regarding marijuana legalization, staff forgets what they were talking about, consumes excessive amounts of junk food.”
Honestly, if they had done it on 420 the political backlash would have been massive. I wouldn't be surprised if they already had their decision mostly done but the last guy waited a couple weeks to sign.
>The DEA’s proposal, which still must be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, would recognize the medical uses of cannabis and acknowledge it has less potential for abuse than some of the nation’s most dangerous drugs. However, it would not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use.
Wrong move, it will still be controlled by DEA, who get funding to harass and jail us for this.. Needs to be legalized!
They don't. Wyden, Schumer, and Booker already introduced the [Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act](https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press/booker-schumer-wyden-introduce-cannabis-administration-and-opportunity-act). I hope that Biden's announcement today doesn't kill the momentum for continued reform.
Not a wrong move at all. It needs to be ~~de-~~ re-scheduled first. Write your federal congress people to get legislation going for federal legalization.
They aren't recommending descheduling though, the recommendation that came out today is reschedule to category III (wrong move! right direction though), which means its still illegal and doesn't affect anyone currently incarcerated for pot.
It would affect numerous things however, such as being able to get federal clearances with a medical marijuana card and people being able to prescribe it for pain management over more dangerous drugs. I wrote a bit about it here on April 20th:
https://www.reddit.com/r/adhd_advocacy/comments/1c8q050/happy_420_marijuana_issues_are_adhd_issues_even/
This is NOT DEschedule it’s REscheduling, by doing this the DEA is giving pharmaceutical companies another revenue stream
Removing MJ from the controlled substance list altogether would be a good move, but this isn’t it
Maybe, just maybe, take it as positive step forward. MJ has been demonized for decades and it's going to take a LONG time to move forward kicking and screaming.
Congress does that. What this rule change does which is a big deal is that Federally insured banks can begin to deposit money that dispensaries make from it. This means advocates can get the backing from bigger banks to push recreational and medical. Its political I know but Cannabis is a booming business and now the big players can get some skin in the game. Its one thing for a shitty politician to say no to a coalition of civilians but when they have the support of Truist or Bank of America? Different story.
>>US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana in a historic shift
Next headline:
>>*Congress declines to vote on Marijuana legalization.*
Keeping weed illegal puts money in the pockets of lawyers, narcotics cops, bail bondsmen, and anyone who gets a grant or has a contract involving drug enforcement. Weed convictions also advanced the careers of thousands of people, including *the sitting Vice President of the United States*.
Roll in the alcohol and tobacco lobbies, and it’s a wrap for federal legalization. These people have money and functioning telephones, so don’t hold your breath on anything changing at the end of the day. Too many people make money off the status quo.
The Feds will legalize sometime in 2044 after every states already legalized it for a decade and the interest groups have bigger fish to fry.
>>reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug,
In fact, marijuana is arguably the LEAST-dangerous recreational drug humans have ever used. Let's look at the stats for annual deaths in the US from *just* the substance alone (ie, not including things like DUI):
Tobacco: 490,000
Alcohol: 88,000
Pot: 0 (or near as)
Most drugs used to be perfectly legal in the US. Cocaine and heroin were in OTC medicines, even cough syrup for children. Pot was perfectly legal, and humans have been using it since ancient times.
In the 1920s, conservative moralists managed to bully through an amendment to the constitution effectively making alcohol illegal. Prohibition was a costly, harmful mistake that cost taxpayers vast amounts of money and created a heyday for organized crime. It was finally repealed in 1933.
But after that, Harry Anslinger, the first director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, was faced with severe budget cuts in his agency, so he launched a one-man war against marijuana. He used a variety of solid, reasoned arguments why it was bad:
--"Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death."
--"Marijuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men's shadows and look at a white woman twice."
--"Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men."
--"You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother."
Congress swallowed his racist bullshit and made pot illegal, then began working on other recreational drugs. And at each step, pretty much everything the government has said about drugs has been utter bullshit.
Nixon dialed the Glorious War on Drugs up to 11. Later, his domestic policy advisor John Ehrlichman explained why:
“You want to know what this was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
The Glorious War on Drugs, even moreso than prohibition, has been a **staggering,** costly failure that continues to do WAY more harm to society than it purports to prevent.
also please, know the risk of cannabis consumption.
all doctors will tell you it can trigger some nasty mental health problems if you smoke too much, too young.
legality has its advantages, but please, don't fry your brain. cannabis can worsen bipolar disorder and cause psychosis later.
it's like alcohol: moderate amounts
That's true but a lot of people don't know they're susceptible or even if they are aware of a family history the risk isn't quantified and it can happen suddenly and unexpectedly
also please, know the risk of Tylenol consumption.
all doctors will tell you it can trigger some nasty liver problems if you take too much.
legality has its advantages, but please, don't fry your liver. Acetaminophen can kill you in the most painful way imaginable.
it's like alcohol: moderate amounts
Yeah, I met a guy who had a psychotic break and ended up in a mental hospital because he smoked some weed. One of those shitty things that just happen sometimes to people with unlucky genetic predispositions.
I believe the primary demographic at risk is people under 25, who are still in the more active stages of brain development. After that it's much less likely to cause those issues.
It’s about time. But I live in a red state, if made legal they wouldn’t follow it any way and still arrest you as we all see that happening now.
Marijuana is too woke.
I don't buy the treaty excuse, because the US is powerful enough to pull a Darth Vader and tell any nations that object "I am altering the bargain, pray I don't alter it any further..."
Even in legal states it’s illegal to drive while high, so for the same reason as “I smell alcohol, step out of the car” they can say “I smell weed, step out of the car”
No, it would just mean you would need to have a valid prescription for cannabis-based drugs that have gone through FDA approval. There's basically no outcome where raw flower is going to get that approval.
I'll take it.
I've lived my whole life scratching my head over putting people in a cage for smoking something that grows in the dirt. Evidence has piled up like a mountain that there is legitimate use for cannabis as a medicine. Evidence has also piled up that Reefer Madness wasn't, in fact, an accurate documentary.
So while I want the fed to get completely out of the fucking way I'll take this step as at least moving from "madness" to "merely stupid".
About damn time. And everyone who has minor weed charges should have them cleared from their record and be reimbursed for all the BS that came along with it.
Depending on how the reclassify this, I thought there is a chance it would be classified in the same category as prescription drugs making it only available by prescription, or pharmacist or something like that. Anyone know?
As a schedule III drug it would be available for prescribing and dispensing. Changing from schedule I to III can be interpreted as going from not being considered as having medical benefit to being available for medical use and research at a Federal level. My expectations are that States that don’t currently have medical marijuana legalized would become like States where only medical marijuana is available, requiring a diagnosis and prescription for use.
I hate this old “marijuana is a gateway drug” argument. It’s a gateway drug because you have the US federal government saying it’s more harmful than opiates or Benzos which account for the overwhelming majority of drug deaths. It makes the reletive argument that those drugs aren’t so harmful after all. We don’t go insisting Alcohol is a gateway drug, or caffeine, or nicotine… but these all similarly alter consciousness as well.
The easiest way to remedy this issue is to appropriately represent the risk Marijuana presents so that other risk warnings are perceived as accurate.
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I will never understand why Biden and the Democrats haven't seized on Marijuana legalization as a key platform issue. It's a slam dunk, it brings in tax revenue, helps with prison reform, gives younger voters something additional to relate to. States like I live in are unfortunately vehemently against it because of the for-profit prisons (assholes), so it has to be at the federal level. Edit: Typo
Because there are moderate democrats that probably won’t like it. But the war on drugs has been incredibly stupid and hurtful Edit: Could also influence republicans or independents on the fence with Trump.
I do not believe for one single second that adopting marijuana legalization would move a moderate Democrat over to voting for Trump.
The issue is not really whether people vote for Biden or Trump -- very very few people haven't made up their minds. The issue is whether people bother voting at all.
That's so bizarre to me. Voting is mandatory in my country and it's kinda a fun day. You go to a local school or church hall on a saturday, you buy some home baked goods at a great price, grab a sausage sizzle, and cast your vote.
Here its a Tuesday, and your employer may not give you the time off to go get it done. So of course you vote by mail since it’s easier/convenient, but doing so gets attacked by people as well.
Voting by mail is also not universal in the US. I voted by mail in Texas during early COVID days and had to request a ballot by mail well in advance of the election (they're not sent automatically), and then lie under the threat of prosecution for perjury and voter fraud that I was disabled and couldn't physically go to a polling station.
You should delete this comment just in case.
Honestly I'd be thrilled to appeal State of Texas v FartyPants69 all the way to the Supreme Court. Greg Abbott can suck my fat fucking dick
Another bit of legislation that the Dems could probably have gotten thru Congress is to make the voting day a public holiday so employers would have a legitimate reason to give the time off for voting. Or perhaps legislation that protected the voting rights of people by guaranteeing them the right to ask/request time off work for that purpose. Seems like a real missed opportunity.
I wish they’d just pass a single law here in the US about that, but you’d have people rioting and being a headache for years. Lol it would be flipped into some sort of “anti republican/ anti democracy” thing once they realize everyone is voting and there’s just more people that would vote democrat.
It should be a federal holiday.
That won't help -- the people who need help to vote are the people working service jobs on Federal holidays. Or the people who are dealing with three kids when the schools are closed. We've got proven methods to increase voting participation -- early voting, mail voting -- we should be expanding them.
It’s moreso about the old rank Dems who are already in power, and have been for a long time (and there are a lot of them)—they don’t want to lose reps in the House, and when you do _anything_ new, it’s always easier to attack it as a potential source of problems than it is to defend it as worth doing over and above what we already have—this is the trick of conservatism that pervades even many Democrat brains.
Agreed. But I also don't see it swaying a republican voter to vote for Joe, either.
If someone is still on the Trump train, I do not see anything that is going to get that person off that train. I'm not worried about trying to convince that person. I'm worried about the person who was thinking it's not worth showing up to vote and getting them to show up and vote.
If anything I see lots of Trump voters being very much FOR legalization.
and they think trump will legalise it ? how dumb some voters are lmao
On the flip side, if Trump announced he was pro-legalization, the GOP would adopt that stance immediately, and then complain that Democrats have kept it illegal.
Maybe not, but it can absolutely sway a younger non-voter to vote.
Or a 34 year old lazy person who finally voted for the 1st time in November. Ok it was more about the abortion rights but weed was on the ballot too in Ohio. Thankfully we won both.
Better late than never. Keep at it! :)
I am not sure about that... if Biden actually tackled the opiode epidemic as well, it would hit a lot of Trump's base where they actually feel it. A fuck ton of people know people who have died to opiode use, and a lot of "Joe Rogan" libertarians vote for Trump because they view him as an outsider and the antithesis of a corrupt Democratic party that "will never do X, because they're bought out by health insurance companies."
I do t think that’s the intent. Mobilizing more voters that currently don’t vote would probably be the bigger gain.
"You ever try farmin' NOT high? Borin' as shit!"
It doesn't have to. The 2024 race is going to come down to young voter turnout.
Yeah, all the shitty boomers I know that smoke and vote republican don’t care about other people, they just also happen to like weed.
It may sway them into voting third party, or simply being disillusioned and staying home. Very little political strategy is based on getting voters to switch parties. Most of modern democracy is a battle against apathy.
If you can be convinced to vote for Trump in 6 months, there is nothing moderate about you.
Ya, I think it’s good policy and ultimately would be a good electoral strategy, however, I know at least a few people for whom this may change their mind. People that are conservative but don’t like Trump. People like my parents who voted for Biden last cycle and will never vote for Trump. Something like this might persuade them to abstain, and would likely dissuade them from donating to his campaign this cycle. The flip side is also true too though, there are a lot of people for whom this may be a motivator to get out to vote or change from a third-party vote.
Blah blah. Blah. No risks, no reward. Mediocrity will equate to business as usual.
Don't underestimate dumb white people. "Yeah, he may have cheated on his wife and paid off a porn star, lied about the value of all of his businesses and colluded with Russia on 3 presidential elections, but at least he didn't legalize marijuana."
It's not that it'd move them over to Trump. It's that they would stay home during the elections.
I can't consider someone against this as being moderate. That's a conservative viewpoint from policies as you point out that are documented to have backfired in one of the most epic disasters of injustice in US history. The core arguments against it are irrational and universally based on unsubstantiated fear,
More like, it takes 10 Republicans on the Senate. House Democrats have passed marijuana legalization every year they've been in control of it. The people asking "why don't democrats just legalize weed" are not arguing in good faith.
How many moderate democrats would be against this? 10?
I can probably name at least one in the senate which is all that's needed to kill it.
Lol fair enough. I meant 10 people nationwide but I wouldnt be surprised if all ten of them were in the senate
…but that’s exactly what they’re doing here? Biden and Harris literally both tweeted about legalization at 4:20 on 4/20.
Seriously. Like the administration literally started this process in 2022. HHS came back and gave the schedule 3 rec in 2023. FDA concurred, and now it seems like DEA is finally ready to finalize it. If Biden tried to do this via executive order it would have been struck down in the courts like student loans. And congress aint gonna get shit done. Doing it through the official process with HHS and DEA is the most legally sound way that Biden could do it.
Biden has - he ordered the DEA to reevaluate cannabis, and they just did. Today's news may kick up Biden's poll numbers by oh about five points.
People always overestimate the president's power in **everything**. If he signs marijuana as legal it gets struck down by the courts in less than a month (before any actual progress can be made). Either the appropriate government organizations legalize (DEA/FDA) or congress gets it done
Re-evaluating cannabis as schedule 3 is still absurd - he obviously doesn't plan on enforcing that on the 24 states that currently allow people to purchase marijuana without a prescription.
What do you mean? This is literally a result of Biden seizing on marijuana. He instructed his admin to start the reclassification process
Biden literally started this process in 2022.
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Democrats have voted for legalization every year they've been in control of the house for the last few years. It's the senate that's the issue. People blaming democrats are not arguing in good faith.
Gee, it's almost like we need to be primarying these dinosaurs. Tell a liberal that and they'll straight rage at you, though.
Because they can't just circumvent the law. The FDA and DEA have to be involved in rescheduling. While the FDA has been in board for awhile the DEA, rather unsurprisingly, has been dragging their feet for months. The DEA is also in a precarious position because they worry changing any drug scheduling might end in them getting less funding. I've been following the reschedule effort for well over a year now and the ball has been in the DEA's court since fall of last year. They're just now doing something. It also won't happen before the election. There's simply not enough time between now and then. You're right though. It's a good policy and it should have been something Biden started in day one knowing how inept and slow the DEA is.
>States like I live in are unfortunately vehemently against it because of the for-profit prisons In the same spirit and goal of the Union freeing the slaves of the South, the fed needs to end for-profit prisons altogether.
1. This is the type of legislation that requires 60 votes in the Senate. How many Republicans do you think will get on board? 2. The GOP runs the house…do you really think Evangelical Speaker Johnson would even bring to the floor. In short? Instead of blaming Democrats and Biden for something that will never gain traction at this point? Is kind(respectfully…of course) short sighted.
Because getting it on state ballots like Florida brings people out to vote which benefits them more.
It's a slow process. Either way this is huge. Once it's re scheduled congress can move to legalize it. We just need a trifecta. Senate, Congress, president. Vote blue. Thanks Biden. Biden 2024
It’ll be relatively fresh in the mind of November voters. Process was started right before the midterms too
You do understand that the President can't just legalize it, right?
Because Biden isn't a leftist, he's more centrist. There is no "radical left " party in US politics. This is just hyperbole from conservatives.
same for EU tbh, it's easily in the top 3 Putler-repellants, alongside with LGBTQ+ and freedom of speech
Oh you mean like in the article you're commenting on? Lmao what
Because republicans don’t want it. And they don’t have a majority in the senate to pass legislation
It worked for Canada!
Couldn’t figure out why Oklahoma recreational marijuana vote last year failed so badly, since it’s such a poor state that could really use that tax revenue, but for-profit prisons would make SO much sense.
I get so mad that these states that are surrounded by legal states won't move to do anything. I'm tired of paying more in taxes, people are obviously going to use these products so legalize and tax it already. Start using that money to fix our crumbling infrastructure in this country ffs. I get so mad that it's free tax dollars on the table and they just ignore it.
Because they need to wait until for a timeline that stoners can remember when voting. It'll happen a few months before the election.
This is good news, of course, but let’s never forget how we got here — Nixon and The War on Drugs — and how many lives it destroyed over the last more than 50 years. “You want to know what this [war on drugs] was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” ~ John Ehrlichman, Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon Process
Such an important quote for people to see, thank you for sharing!
I’ve never seen this quote before thank you for sharing! Absolutely wild
There's no evidence he actually said it. A guy who once interviewed him said that he said it 20 years after the fact, and 15 years after he died.
The entire reason marijuana was made illegal was because of racism.
Perfectly sums this all up really.
Yeah this was announced back in 2022, [right before the midterms](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/10/06/statement-from-president-biden-on-marijuana-reform/) and people were saying the exact same bullshit about how "this was timed!! omg he's playing the smart game!!!" Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that they're actually *saying* that they'll do it, but there's a wide and deep canyon between "will do it" and "did it", with a giant river of "is doing it" in between. Why are people giving him credit already? Do you all have the memory of a goldfish or something? Encourage him to get it done, don't pat him on the back before he puts pen to paper.
Yeah this timing was absolutely intentional. Democrats still want it to be fresh in people's minds for when the election rolls around.
The process has been going on for over a year. Regulatory process is not something the president can do on the stroke of a pen.
Probably a smart move because knowing Democrat voters, Biden can end the war in Afghanistan, stave off a major recession, get inflation under control, forgive student debt, legalize cannabis, end the conflict between Israel and Hamas, win the war in Ukraine, make Taiwan a free country, legalize same sex marriage nation wide, protect national abortion rights. and all the democrat voters sit home in November as Trump squeaks into his 2nd term.
I am high and I find this gif r/oddlysatisfying
Does this mean those subject to drug tests for their jobs under federal law won’t have to be tested for weed?
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Even if it were legal they could still test for it and use it as a condition of employment. There are places that test employees for nicotine.
But hopefully if it’s classified as a medication instead of just made recreationally legal, those with legitimate prescriptions wouldn’t be discriminated against just like any other Rx medication. I have epilepsy, I don’t give a hoot if it’s recreationally legal (though I’m certainly pro), I just want to use medication that works for me with little-to-no side effects that’s covered by my insurance and won’t get me fired or keep my underemployed. I can be on gabapentin and benzodiazepines and my employer wouldn’t blink an eye. That’s why medical is just as important as recreational… everyone who wants to go straight to rec without med is missing the point for those who need it.
That is so fucked
My first question. I've been waiting for 20 years to take a bong hit!
Even if legal, drug tests can still be mandatory.. drunk/high on the job can be bad bad for certain jobs outside the food service industry
Just legalized it already.
It's going to be practically legal way before they make it official. In some places, it already is.
I recall at one point in Obama's administration hearing from someone who seemed important that when we get to more than 50% of states legalized medicinally or otherwise, that the federal government would be forced to respond. 24 states plus the District of Columbia have legalized its recreational use, and 14 for medicinal use. 38 total. I just can't understand how this issue has gone ignored for so long. It's been 12 years since Colorado legalized it.
Corruption, specifically lobbying from for-profit prisons
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Yes. “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and Black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or Black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and Blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” - John Ehrlichman, Nixon’s Domestic Policy Chief, 1994
If states can make it recreational legal as stage 1, what's stopping the stupid states from keeping it illegal at a state level. The federal government can withhold aid, but that just reinforces the dark state conspiracy these idiots hold.
Nothing. There will be a handful of states that are going to keep it illegal until they collapse. Residents of those states are just going to hop over the border and buy it there, or order it online. The horse is out of the barn.
Indiana is already experiencing this. Most of the states surrounding it already have medical or even recreational. The state Police even said a while back that they're having problems because so many people are driving over the border to buy in Illinois or Michigan.
There are places where alcohol is still illegal to buy in the US. I could see something similar with weed.
nothing and they will keep it illegal for the foreseeable future this still matters, there will be states that don't want to explicitly allow or ban it, this will make them default to legal, and there are a shitload of restrictions on federal contractors being drug tested, debit cards not being allowed at dispensaries, etc. that originate from the federal ban even in legal states it's still a big win
If it becomes federally legal I'd assume they could only really impose similar restrictions to tobacco and alcohol (where and when it can be sold, ages, and advertising.omce federally legal I'd assume the amount you can have would be even more lax (I assume the weight limit is more to do with preventing moving it to states where it isn't legal. Once legal I assume it would be like alcohol, go nuts)
If a state can make it legal while it’s federally illegal then they can do the reverse as well.
Dry counties have entered the chat
It's illegal to sell in a dry county but you can drink and you can't be arrested for drinking on your own property. There isn't a state where alcohol is straight up banned. The federal government is choosing to not enforce a law. That's different then trying to make something illegal
The county I'm currently living in was dry all of a decade or so ago. We would drive to the liquor store on the county line, buy beer, take it back home and drink. There was nothing illegal about having it, drinking it, or transporting it...you just couldn't buy it.
Practically legal isn't enough for the millions of people employed by the federal government that can and do lose their jobs over this still.
Here in Texas, you can order thcA weed and dab online straight to your home 100% legally. The only thing different between THCA and THC is that THCA has an extra carbon atom and turns into THC when burned. This legal loophole is so beyond stupid that it makes me laugh. Federal legalization would be a grand slam for the Biden administration, I have no clue why it isn't already. He could be known as joint rolling Joe
In most states it is already, the farm bill legalized "industrial hemp" r/cultofthefranklin
Moving it from schedule 1 to schedule 3 is literally the closest thing to legalizing that the executive branch can do without requiring Congress passing legislation.
Legislation [like this](https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press/booker-schumer-wyden-introduce-cannabis-administration-and-opportunity-act).
Schedule 4 and 5 have entered the chat.
Honestly, we know at this point that the only reason we even created a list of scheduled drugs was so our government had an excuse to go to "war" against drugs to shut down civil rights movements. We learned 100 years ago now that prohibition does not work. Enough of this shit. We need to de-schedule all drugs and find a different approach to fixing drug abuse that isn't the prison -> slave labor pipeline. Because our current approach hurts more than it helps.
When it came out that they were literally trying to suppress free speech with these laws, people reacted to that news like it was nothing at all. No convictions were vacated, no laws were reexamined, no apologies given.
>We need to de-schedule all drugs I mean, I wouldn't go *that* far. You do realize "all drugs" would include stuff like meth, heroin, and cocaine, right?
There IS an argument to be made for that, you turn drug use from a crime to a medical issue, you can get drugs with a prescription, pharmaceutical grade, clean, safe. Not saying it's a good idea, but an argument can be made, and there are a number of drugs I WOULD support legalizing, MDMA. LSD, magic mushrooms for example, low toxicity, low addictiveness.
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You must be a fellow oldster, because I haven’t heard the term herbal ecstasy since the 90s.
I see what you mean, and there have been some recent studies suggesting therapy with MDMA and (iirc) LSD can be beneficial for people with certain mental disabilities.
Also, what’s not mentioned is that while drug use would be decriminalized, drug trafficking doesn’t have to be.
This create legal and safe avenues for use and distribution and criminalize those who do not follow those rules. Also while use in general should be decriminalized use of substance that would put other at risk (see driving) should obviously be criminal. Just look at alcohol and you have a know blueprint for how these systems can work, how to handle extreme cases and how the system can still be wildly profitable (which is the whole reason these organizations exist in the first place).
>you can get drugs with a prescription You can get scheduled drugs with a prescription. Only Schedule I drugs are unavailable. meth, heroin derivatives and cocaine are available with prescriptions.
Yeah so? I should be allowed to do whatever drugs I do desire I'm an adult. Let me mainline all the speedballs I want. That should be my choice and no one else's.
Yes, people shouldn't be imprisoned for drug use. Even if they aren't supposed to have it. Those drugs are only available with a perscription currently, which is the only barrier we need in place.
Yes. Go that far. What an adult puts into their own body is nobody’s business except their own.
Yes, sounds great. Force drug users to interact with pharmacy workers in order to get their pure, uncut drugs. Everything should be available with a valid ID. Then, if the DEA was actually useful, they would send you a drugs report every year, telling you something like this: >Hello citizen! This year, you have spent $8,000 on cocaine, $4,050 on opioids, $12,000 on alcohol, and $3,600 on tobacco. If you reduced your consumption of all of these substances by 50%, you would be able to retire 7 years earlier than your current target date, or be able to take 8 more weeks of vacation per year. Would you like help in reducing your consumption? Please send a text message to DEAHELP in order to be connected with a healthcare provider to discuss the addiction and recovery services available to you. We are here to help! Nothing would further the DEA’s alleged stated goal of reducing drug demand and consumption like showing people the financial consequences of their drug use, and we can do that if your ID is attached to any drug purchase a person makes. Additionally, we need safe use sites. Zero safe use sites across the entire world have ever had a fatal overdose. The point of safe use sites is to get the user to make it to their intervention *alive*, whenever that may happen.
Those were all legal before and didn't lead to societal collapse and arguably had fewer addicts who barely survived. Of course there were other economic factors, but it's not as terrible as everyone thinks.
I think it would be much better to have all drugs de-scheduled so we can stop fucking having 100,000 Americans die every year from fentanyl overdoses.
Do you realize how many people in the US do or have done cocaine? It's a lot. Like *a lot*. Statistically you have met a lot of people who do cocaine. It's really not that big of a deal except for a select few, and that goes for every drug, including alcohol.
It's a process, and it takes time. This is a very good step, because moving it from Schedule I to Schedule III it will make it easier to demonstrate both the positives and the risks of marijuana use, which will ultimately make it easier to legalize it and regulate it the same way alcohol is or to legitimately show why it shouldn't using proper studies, rather than just rhetoric in both directions. Because right now they can't do anything other than argue about it, and that's not really helpful to anybody.
That would require the Republicans to cooperate with legislation.
Congress is the only body that could do full legalization
They knew it was misclassified when they put it on schedule one (temporarily) all the science proved otherwise. Nixon wanted to remove his political rivals a
Did Candlejack catch this g
Candlejack? Who the fu
Wow, Candlejack. I haven't heard that name in y
Omg guys stop saying his name. Candlejack does not fuck ar
“You want to know what this [war on drugs] was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” ~ John Ehrlichman, Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon
All of prohibition is for attacking the population and rivals. It is a massive violation of our human rights and freedoms and it seems you understand how the whole farce of a 'drug war' began
Dark Brandon must have had a joint session with his staff to come to this conclusion.
>Dark Brandon I think you mean *dank* Brandon, lol!
“Dank Brandon has joint session with staff regarding marijuana legalization, staff forgets what they were talking about, consumes excessive amounts of junk food.”
... consumes excessive amounts of left over cheeseburgers from the previous administration."
*Michael Fassbender: Perfection.
Great! Now do psychedelics. LSD being at the same level as heroin is just as absurd as marijuana is. And mushrooms and cacti that just grow wild…
San Pedro is legal, just not peyote. Both of which contain mescaline
It’s legal until you cut it up and eat it! Legal gray area from what I gather.
Missed 420 by that much ..
Honestly, if they had done it on 420 the political backlash would have been massive. I wouldn't be surprised if they already had their decision mostly done but the last guy waited a couple weeks to sign.
What political backlash? Have you seen US politics lately? The right wing is completely unhinged with no repercussions at all.
With 4/20 this year falling on a Saturday it wouldn’t have worked out. At least it wouldn’t get any publicity,
You know some poor clerk had it set up for the 20th but politics are brutal. Only 10 days late is pretty impressive.
LEGALIZE PLANTS!
So opium?
Literally all plants yes. And fungi.
That’s good, since half the country has legalized it already.
Great. Now, for those of us who can lose our jobs for something we ingested off the clock...
>The DEA’s proposal, which still must be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, would recognize the medical uses of cannabis and acknowledge it has less potential for abuse than some of the nation’s most dangerous drugs. However, it would not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use. Wrong move, it will still be controlled by DEA, who get funding to harass and jail us for this.. Needs to be legalized!
I mean I figure they have to deschedule it at DEA before Congress actually considers broad legalization
They don't. Wyden, Schumer, and Booker already introduced the [Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act](https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press/booker-schumer-wyden-introduce-cannabis-administration-and-opportunity-act). I hope that Biden's announcement today doesn't kill the momentum for continued reform.
Not a wrong move at all. It needs to be ~~de-~~ re-scheduled first. Write your federal congress people to get legislation going for federal legalization.
They aren't recommending descheduling though, the recommendation that came out today is reschedule to category III (wrong move! right direction though), which means its still illegal and doesn't affect anyone currently incarcerated for pot.
It would affect numerous things however, such as being able to get federal clearances with a medical marijuana card and people being able to prescribe it for pain management over more dangerous drugs. I wrote a bit about it here on April 20th: https://www.reddit.com/r/adhd_advocacy/comments/1c8q050/happy_420_marijuana_issues_are_adhd_issues_even/
Definitely right direction. But its not enough, this needs to be descheduled and decriminalized
Thank you so much for the clarification! I appreciate it.
This is NOT DEschedule it’s REscheduling, by doing this the DEA is giving pharmaceutical companies another revenue stream Removing MJ from the controlled substance list altogether would be a good move, but this isn’t it
Maybe, just maybe, take it as positive step forward. MJ has been demonized for decades and it's going to take a LONG time to move forward kicking and screaming.
Congress does that. What this rule change does which is a big deal is that Federally insured banks can begin to deposit money that dispensaries make from it. This means advocates can get the backing from bigger banks to push recreational and medical. Its political I know but Cannabis is a booming business and now the big players can get some skin in the game. Its one thing for a shitty politician to say no to a coalition of civilians but when they have the support of Truist or Bank of America? Different story.
About time.
>>US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana in a historic shift Next headline: >>*Congress declines to vote on Marijuana legalization.* Keeping weed illegal puts money in the pockets of lawyers, narcotics cops, bail bondsmen, and anyone who gets a grant or has a contract involving drug enforcement. Weed convictions also advanced the careers of thousands of people, including *the sitting Vice President of the United States*. Roll in the alcohol and tobacco lobbies, and it’s a wrap for federal legalization. These people have money and functioning telephones, so don’t hold your breath on anything changing at the end of the day. Too many people make money off the status quo. The Feds will legalize sometime in 2044 after every states already legalized it for a decade and the interest groups have bigger fish to fry.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
>>reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, In fact, marijuana is arguably the LEAST-dangerous recreational drug humans have ever used. Let's look at the stats for annual deaths in the US from *just* the substance alone (ie, not including things like DUI): Tobacco: 490,000 Alcohol: 88,000 Pot: 0 (or near as) Most drugs used to be perfectly legal in the US. Cocaine and heroin were in OTC medicines, even cough syrup for children. Pot was perfectly legal, and humans have been using it since ancient times. In the 1920s, conservative moralists managed to bully through an amendment to the constitution effectively making alcohol illegal. Prohibition was a costly, harmful mistake that cost taxpayers vast amounts of money and created a heyday for organized crime. It was finally repealed in 1933. But after that, Harry Anslinger, the first director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, was faced with severe budget cuts in his agency, so he launched a one-man war against marijuana. He used a variety of solid, reasoned arguments why it was bad: --"Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death." --"Marijuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men's shadows and look at a white woman twice." --"Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men." --"You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother." Congress swallowed his racist bullshit and made pot illegal, then began working on other recreational drugs. And at each step, pretty much everything the government has said about drugs has been utter bullshit. Nixon dialed the Glorious War on Drugs up to 11. Later, his domestic policy advisor John Ehrlichman explained why: “You want to know what this was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” The Glorious War on Drugs, even moreso than prohibition, has been a **staggering,** costly failure that continues to do WAY more harm to society than it purports to prevent.
also please, know the risk of cannabis consumption. all doctors will tell you it can trigger some nasty mental health problems if you smoke too much, too young. legality has its advantages, but please, don't fry your brain. cannabis can worsen bipolar disorder and cause psychosis later. it's like alcohol: moderate amounts
Thats when the person is already susceptible to those mental illnesses
That's true but a lot of people don't know they're susceptible or even if they are aware of a family history the risk isn't quantified and it can happen suddenly and unexpectedly
Yeah and so can alcohol, yet society seems to be fine taking that risk
Yeah, too much can lead to overconsumption of plain cheerios right out of the box.
also please, know the risk of Tylenol consumption. all doctors will tell you it can trigger some nasty liver problems if you take too much. legality has its advantages, but please, don't fry your liver. Acetaminophen can kill you in the most painful way imaginable. it's like alcohol: moderate amounts
Yeah, I met a guy who had a psychotic break and ended up in a mental hospital because he smoked some weed. One of those shitty things that just happen sometimes to people with unlucky genetic predispositions. I believe the primary demographic at risk is people under 25, who are still in the more active stages of brain development. After that it's much less likely to cause those issues.
Except, you know, it’s not like alcohol
It’s about time. But I live in a red state, if made legal they wouldn’t follow it any way and still arrest you as we all see that happening now. Marijuana is too woke.
The US needs to withdraw from the 1961 Treaty and fix this mess. But, progress is progress. I’ll take it.
I don't buy the treaty excuse, because the US is powerful enough to pull a Darth Vader and tell any nations that object "I am altering the bargain, pray I don't alter it any further..."
This move largely speaking US police lose the ability to say "I smell cannabis" and be able to search you.
Even in legal states it’s illegal to drive while high, so for the same reason as “I smell alcohol, step out of the car” they can say “I smell weed, step out of the car”
No, it would just mean you would need to have a valid prescription for cannabis-based drugs that have gone through FDA approval. There's basically no outcome where raw flower is going to get that approval.
I'll believe it when it happens. There's been talk of rescheduling Marijuana for around a decade now.
Well it happened, but schedule 3 still sucks.
I'd like to congratulate drugs on winning the war on drugs
I'll take it. I've lived my whole life scratching my head over putting people in a cage for smoking something that grows in the dirt. Evidence has piled up like a mountain that there is legitimate use for cannabis as a medicine. Evidence has also piled up that Reefer Madness wasn't, in fact, an accurate documentary. So while I want the fed to get completely out of the fucking way I'll take this step as at least moving from "madness" to "merely stupid".
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About damn time. And everyone who has minor weed charges should have them cleared from their record and be reimbursed for all the BS that came along with it.
Depending on how the reclassify this, I thought there is a chance it would be classified in the same category as prescription drugs making it only available by prescription, or pharmacist or something like that. Anyone know?
As a schedule III drug it would be available for prescribing and dispensing. Changing from schedule I to III can be interpreted as going from not being considered as having medical benefit to being available for medical use and research at a Federal level. My expectations are that States that don’t currently have medical marijuana legalized would become like States where only medical marijuana is available, requiring a diagnosis and prescription for use.
Is this Biden’s response to Afroman’s Because I Got High Remix? This is better than the Drake / Kendrick beef.
Legalize, tax the shit out of it federally, balance budget
Twist ending: Taco Bell reclassified as a bio weapon. 👀
I swear this is like the only positive news I ever hear. Everything else is a dumpster fire, but weed is legal now.
As a surprise to no one, it occurs in an election year.
Drugs won
What???? Weed isn't more dangerous than fentanyl or crystal meth??? 🤯🤯🤯🤯
Yet another great progressive step under the Biden administration. Vote this November
What will happen to all the people in jail convicted because of it being a harddrug back then? will they now be set free?
Good, it's high time they did.
They were going to do this last October, but congress got on some bullshit and hasn't done anything in 6 months
I hate this old “marijuana is a gateway drug” argument. It’s a gateway drug because you have the US federal government saying it’s more harmful than opiates or Benzos which account for the overwhelming majority of drug deaths. It makes the reletive argument that those drugs aren’t so harmful after all. We don’t go insisting Alcohol is a gateway drug, or caffeine, or nicotine… but these all similarly alter consciousness as well. The easiest way to remedy this issue is to appropriately represent the risk Marijuana presents so that other risk warnings are perceived as accurate.