11 Democratic senators call on DEA to deschedule marijuana entirely

return2ozma@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 439 points –
Democratic senators call on DEA to deschedule marijuana entirely
thehill.com
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Why are only 11 senators in support of this?

Because the DEA doesn't have the legal authority to do that. Congress laid out the criteria for scheduling drugs in the Controlled Substances Act and any reasonable person would say marijuana meets the criteria for at least schedule 5. Congress needs to do what they did for alcohol and nicotine and pass a law that specifically excludes marijuana.

I assume most are for rescheduling, or respecting state's choice, or maybe they're more concerned with systemic inequality and foreign genocide with US armaments.

Also, though, the Biden Administration has been pushing for the DEA to reschedule marijuana for like 3 years...

more concerned with systemic inequality and foreign genocide

...what in this prevents them from doing their job and actually forwarding a pretty objectively good bill?

Don't you see? They must only think about one issue at a time!

Unironically, yes. They can't be doing everything all at once when it takes their full power to even force topics to be discussed on the senate floor and write proposals. Every second that Bernie Sanders talks about weed, for example, would stop him from putting up pictures of Palestinian children begging for water.

Their time? What do you think the senate is, they all just say whatever is on their mind and everybody votes for or against it on the spot?

Descheduling is respecting the states' choices. Legalization at the national level doesn't automatically make it legal in states.

or respecting state’s choice

I'd love to hear the logic of how federal descheduling takes away a states choice...

The states have demonstrably had the choice to decriminalize Marijuana since 1973, not doing so by now can be seen as their choice to keep it a restricted substance.

EDIT: To be clear, I'm explaining their thoughts on the subject, not agreeing with them.

If a state has zero laws about cannabis federal schedule makes it illegal

And many of the states that haven't legalized use the federal schedule as rational.to not legalize.

If they want them illegal, they can pass a law making them illegal. That's how it's supposed to be work.

Not states having to legalize something on a state level because the federal government claims it's one of the most dangerous drugs in the country, but won't actually enforce people flagrantly breaking the law...

Have you ever tried reading anything about this? Like, ever?

No, clearly I've never read anything ever, and in fact that 1973 date I gave in the previous comment was a random guess. /Very-Big-Sarcasm

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What's the over/under on this happening before November?

If election theater motivates this policy and makes this happen then I’m all for it. I wonder what our criminal AG in Texas thinks about all this, considering he’s trying to do the opposite in cities with lax marijuana enforcement.

Biden does good thing

Idiots: "He's only doing this to get votes!"

Yeah, no shit sherlock, that's the whole point of the system.

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What's the likelihood a rock from space hits Trump in his diaper?

Much lower considering rescheduling marijuana is a basic government act and not a ridiculously unlikely astronomical event. Also, it would gain Biden a lot of votes.

Also, it would gain Biden a lot of votes.

And send the theocracy into a rage in another dimension, one in which they wouldn't be sure why their hair is falling out

i was under the impression the president could unilaterally just order the DEA to do it as its under the executive. is that true?

As far as I understand it, the DEA has the independence to make the decision themselves and all the president can do is tell them what he wants.

Ya, it really should be legislated. I doubt that's happening before November, though.

Legislated implies Congress passing a law. That of course will not happen before the election, and likely not while Biden is president due to some Republicans being against the idea of legalization and also Republicans not wanting to give Biden nor Democrats a win. DEA resxheduling it is the most likely scenario that should hold up in court especially since Biden followed a process to support the change(asking for another department to review whether it is a dangerous drug, and using their response as evidence for the DEA)

Kind of. It's murky legal waters.

It is, but Biden could be using the bully pulpit to talk about how it should be rescheduled and I think the only reason he hasn't is because he's old and he hasn't been convinced yet that "reefer" is safe.

Oh, I agree, he could be pushing much harder for it.

Depends on if Biden thinks he can get the support he needs by just pretending to look into it some more.

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Thats a minority of democratic senators.

It's not like it's something the majority of Democratic senators support. Like genocide.

how evil, maybe one day people will understand that marijuana, along with all the other drugs that people seem to think aren't harmful despite having existed in our societies for 100 years, are a threat to individuals, the broader society, and deserve to be completely outlawed

Got a list of books that need burning too?

the one's that teach people that harmful substances are good lol, take your shite words and come back with an argument

Prohibition of things never works. It only creates an unregulated black market, and a new type of criminal to incarcerate.

less people would consume the prohibited substance because it's not something that is required to live, and it would never have been something that appeared in culture if it weren't permitted by people as it is now, the only reason that alcohol didnt work in the prohibition is because it was most people's lifestyle to drink on occasions

Really? Because I've never lived in a place where cannabis is legal, and I've been consuming it near daily for about 19 years now.

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But alcohol is cool right? Tobacco?

alcohol is because we've had it for thousands of years and it has been known to be fine when consumed in moderation (something 99% of people can do), whereas tobacco is not something that you can just "smoke on occasion", it is exclusively smoked either by those trying it for the first time, or by those who are hooked already (not to mention the fact that alcohol is much worse than tobacco over a lifetime regardless)

Then you should be fine with people smoking weed since there's evidence of its use since 10,000 BC. About 7000 years before the creation of beer by the Egyptians

Nonsense! God created the earth like 2000ish years ago, and the devils lettuce only grew because of your vile sins ;-)

weed was not made in lab in the 90s. People continue to use weed now and have for a long time and yet it causes less problems than alcohol. Never has anybody died from consuming too much marijuana.if you're arguing that alcohol is safe but weed isn't, you are not being reasonable at all. People die from over consumption of alcohol, people get in fights and arguments, with alcohol. Weed is less likely to do all those things.

there is no evidence of it being consumed and not having negative benefits, unlike beer

Therapeutic Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids

Chapter highlights:

In adults with chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, oral cannabinoids are effective antiemetics.

In adults with chronic pain, patients who were treated with cannabis or cannabinoids are more likely to experience a clinically significant reduction in pain symptoms.

In adults with multiple sclerosis (MS)-related spasticity, short-term use of oral cannabinoids improves patient-reported spasticity symptoms.

Alcohol is literally poison, marijuana is not. Gtfo with your ignorance and fear mongering and do some research before you try to spread your lies

cannabis is only good for reducing muscle spasms and pain because it sends you into a lowered state of thinking lmao, that's like saying "a good cure for pain is to knock the patient unconscious so they cant feel any pain"

It turns out that even "moderate" alcohol consumption is likely very bad for you.

false, i can't name a single person i know who has suffered medical issues related to alcohol consumption who i know personally

Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values.

it's not a tendency when it's factual lmao

Wow, when are they giving you the novel price for your extra science-y methods of sciencing?

If only those loser scientists knew they could get their answers by casually observing a few of their friends we could've had hover cars by now.

That's not a very effective way to form your understanding of the world.

Well, you're completely wrong. On so many levels.

First, the majority of other people don't obsess over finding things to be afraid of. You did not base your opinion on any kind of empirical evidence. You need something to be afraid of in other to justify your perspective, and drugs are an easy target. Second, with regards to hard drugs that do present a clear danger to the user, prohibition is not effective and never will be. Addiction is a medical issue. Criminalization denies the victim any realistic chance of rehabilitation, not to mention penalizing them in specific ways that will only be likely to increase their likelihood of abusing drugs in the future.

Way to broadcast your lack of empathy for your fellow man

sorry but you're wrong

And why is that?

You're not sorry, don't think you're fooling anyone. And given you made no attempt to counter any of my arguments, well, we all know who's obviously wrong here...sheesh.

If we are going to start outlawing things that could, in some very vague and abstract way, be considered "harmful", then we would have to start banning many more things than just low-level drugs.

Cannabis is a natural plant that has existed throughout the entirety of human history. Medicine to some, religion to others, recreation and inspiration for the rest. Likewise, cannabinoids are a natural chemical compound that can be found naturally in your body and the body of most living things on Earth. Cannabis makes us feel good because it just so happens to contain the same kinds of cannabinoids that our body produces, which also make us feel good.

Cannabis might be addictive in the same way that anything pleasurable is addictive. But you don't see people dying of cannabis overdoses, nor do you see people winding up on the streets with crippling cannabis addictions that overwhelm their entire life.

It's a safe, natural, and mild high, and there has never been any good reason for it to be illegal.

edit: Oh, he's just a troll. Whatever.

I'm all in favor of legalizing weed, and in fact I would like to abolish the prescription system in it's entirety, however, I do think that the rhetoric of pro-weed ppl treats it like it's entirely harmless, which is a dangerous sentiment.

I went through some serious symptoms from long term use. The hemispheres of my brain split into 2 different ppl, my body's sense of propioception got all fucked up, and I threw up a whole lot. Not fun. And my memory basically was shot from use, that lasted even after I stopped using. I originally started bc I couldn't afford to see a psychiatrist and I needed antidepressants, it was the closest thing I could get (abolish the fking prescription system). I had no idea that it had any long term effects, the way ppl talk you think it's only good. I mean I'm sure everyone's different, but ppl at least need a warning abt that sort of shit.

Weak bait

that's a cool comment, unfortunately you took the time out of your day to respond

Your bait is weak, and it goes nowhere immediately. Look how quickly you had to stoop to edgelord verbage to keep the hook.

If youre going to troll, at least do it well. Its a fuckin embarassment to be a bad troll

response no. 3, keep it coming :D

See, like this. Youre already out of responses, and the thread is bare bones.

You dont even get that Im baiting you into getting banned. Did you start doing this without reading any of your instances site rules?

This is sloppy work, you need to step up your game.

i've been here for like 6 months lol, if i truly felt like the rules were an issue, i'd up and make my own server for it, but please do keep whining to your lord :)

Youve had an account for 6 months and dont know the site rules?

ive had an account for 6 months and know i'm doing what's right, if god called you retarded then you'd be a fool to get so heated

I guess I wont complain that youre making this easy for me, but its kinda funny that youre adding rule breaks as we go.

I can sorta see scooting under the radar on rule 2, but they definitely take 4 seriously. Womp womp for you, huh?

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You know your mom would notice the electric bill if you set up a server

looks like someone has never heard of servers being able to be turned off while not in use/low power usage devices being used as servers :D

I just know your mom is scraping pennies right now while you force feed yourself nuggies

i was going to let it slide the first time, but this is the second time you have used you're instead of your, mr. cadeillac, may i interest you at all in lessons of english?

Auto correct is a bitch. I'll fix it with my tail tucked between my legs. Gee willikers, you sure did get me good

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Took time out of my day? TOOK TIME OUT OF MY DAY!?! This is my day. This is my whole week if I deem it entertaining enough. Maybe it's because I'm all burnt out on weed, but I have nothing better to do, and replying to you is just as much fun as the expert trolling you think you are doing. I live here. I won't leave until it is burned to the ground. If you want a competition of who can last the longest with out getting bored, then I hope you have diet soda and nuggies handy.

you get awfully heated up when presented with prophetical statements, are you judas?

Sorry, I was just acting the part. Let me tone it down for you. No, I'm right because of the things I call facts and you can't tell me otherwise because I'm just a troll

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As opposed to the myriad of harmful substances that are legal?

No need for whataboutism here, the original statement you're replying to is already demonstrably false. You can easily address their actual argument.

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