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Friendly reminder that literally all legalization legislation and referendums have come through the Democratic party.
Biden already pledged support. He needs youth vote. There's literally no reason he wouldn't unless he was blocked by Republicans...
... Which he is.
Yeah but some white kid doesn't get to blaze it with their free unicorn pony so end of democracy over it we get!
Fuck ur logic! We want outrage! D:<
He pushed a recommendation for it to be rescheduled to the DEA like two years ago and they've been stonewalling?
Oh so he actually did something? Almost like OP is big fat phoney.
Before one of OP's other posts on this topic was removed as misinformation, I asked under that post what Biden could possibly have done aside from pardoning all federal convictions for possession, requesting the DEA to reschedule marijuana, and introducing a bill for full federal legalization which the Republicans defeated (all three of which happened).
Crickets man. (I actually learned since then that it's a little more complex -- it actually seems like maybe Biden was opposed to the full legalization bill that Schumer was pushing, and there was definitely some level of Democratic opposition in the senate. So maybe that piece of the criticism is legit, IDK, but OP never brought that stuff up to me when I asked what Biden should do.)
That conversation was actually the exact point that I became confident that OP's just here to shit on Biden and specifically Biden for whatever reason, and any concordance that emerges between what he's saying and the truth is purely accidental, and he knows it.
(Also, fun fact Matt Gaetz switched sides to join with 2 other House Republicans to vote for weed legalization.)
It's too bad that he's just trying to shit on Biden. I have always been pro legalization.
I looked into this and found this legal sidebar somewhat informative.
In classic Biden/dem fashion, while it’s true he has done something that could lead towards delivering on his campaign promise, it’s comically little and falls far short of his full power. Why hasn’t he tried issuing executive orders to legalize or reschedule and force opponents of legalization to crawl out of the woodwork in a lawsuit? Alternatively, the DEA is part of the executive branch. He could immediately replace directors there with those who will implement this policy - why hasn’t this been done?
Biden literally threw up his hands and said “awww but my allies in Congress won’t let me do it.” Disingenuous at best.
I mean it's the classic strategy. The reason everyone accuses them of doing fucking nothing is because there's always a throw it to congress mentality, then congress is inevitably deadlocked by like two guys because of the way the system is set up, and then whenever it isn't deadlocked, suddenly there's some other internal opposition, until it can be deadlocked again in the next 15 minutes. People at this point want other more theoretical measures enacted, like when people were talking about putting abortion clinics on federal land or in national parks. I don't even think stuff like that would be a bad play. Even if it wasn't necessarily successful, it'd do a hell of a lot to show that there's something more being done than the normal state of affairs, which is exactly what people want.
This is correct. The HHS recommended rescheduling, and the DEA hasn’t responded to the recommendation. They’re probably concerned it’ll affect their budget having fewer criminals to pursue.
This is the relevant bit from the article:
In late 2022, President Joe Biden issued an executive order directing HHS to review marijuana’s status as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, while giving a recommendation on whether it should be rescheduled. After a roughly year-long review, HHS sent a letter to the DEA in August requesting that they move marijuana to Schedule III.
They had their own review and recommended that Cannabis be moved from Schedule I(Drugs with no medicinal value and a high risk of harm/abuse - heroin,LSD,etc) to Schedule III(Drugs with low risk of harm/abuse and clear medicinal value - cough syrup,Ketamine,etc).
The Controlled Substances Act which established all our current drugs laws states that ONLY the DEA has the power to ultimately change the classification of any controlled substance. If the DEA does not feel inclined to change this, then nothing will happen with the recommendation. Biden can always play political hardball since the head of the agency is an appointed position, but it would still need to be confirmed by the Senate in the end.
I wouldn't expect to see a drop to schedule III, but I think in the next five or so year we may see it become schedule II. Progress is progress I guess.
Exactly. He could issue an executive order, but if the DEA doesn’t agree before the order expires, it would be far more of devastating to the industry as a whole.
Tying law enforcement funding to their arrests is just the most idiotic idea and I am shocked at how few Congress folks have been speed trapped if they actually can't see why
Exactly, was looking for this exact comment,
So many children are just learning about politics and don’t yet understand that things normally don’t just happen when a president doesn’t abuse executive orders
It definitely needs to be decriminalized but that’ll actually take an act of Congress. Public pressure needs to be applied but let’s not pretend Biden can do this on his own
Fun fact: Biden has already pardoned thousands of people with marijuana convictions. Asking him to pardon EVERYONE when they may have had marijuana as a minor add-on to other criminal charges is a bit silly of an ask.
Biden doesn't run the DEA and can't force them to reschedule the drug. This is almost as dumb as the conservatives saying Biden needs to do something about border security then not being upset the Republicans have voted against every effort to do something about border security before it makes it to Biden's desk.
*the number of people in this country who think the President is a dictator and can literally just make up laws on his own is terrifying.
Biden doesn’t run the DEA and can’t force them to reschedule the drug.
Who appointed Anne Milgram?
Dasvedanya comrade but can I remind you that despite being a lifelong liberal Donald Trump is committed to maximum jail sentences for drug crimes?
This rage bait smells like it was posted by a Trump supporter.
I wonder what they think Trump will do as far as marijuana legislation. Hmm.
Is this something that he can just make happen with an executive order or does he need approval from the rest of the government? Can't really be upset about things that he can't simply snap a finger and make happen.
Something something infrastructure week
PSA: Decriminalization is not legalization. It just means it's no longer a criminal offence.
Laughs in 5 year old Canadian legislation.
More BS caused by (R) obstructionists.