Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday called on the federal government to move “as quickly as possible” to change the way it officially classifies marijuana, saying that “nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed.”
“I cannot emphasize enough that they need to get to it as quickly as possible,” Harris said. “We need to have a resolution based on their findings and their assessment. This issue is stark when one considers the fact that on the schedule currently, marijuana is considered as dangerous as heroin ― as dangerous as heroin ― and more dangerous than fentanyl, which is absurd, not to mention patently unfair.”
Marijuana is currently listed as a Schedule 1 drug by the Drug Enforcement Administration. That classification designates it one of the most dangerous drugs possible, with no medicinal uses. Other substances in the same category include heroin, ecstasy and LSD. Marijuana advocates have been pushing for years for the federal government to either reschedule marijuana to a different category or deschedule it entirely.
For the, “why are you doing it now, convenient!” crowd - first of all yes, that’s how politics works. Trump is a constant heartbeat of bullshit and you need to have strategically timed news and events to stay in people’s short term memories for voting impact - especially the committed stoners :)
But also, Biden admin has been working towards this for years. He is not the most progressive anything, but he’s doing more than his predecessors on either side (and the pathetic gop alternative) and that’s progress.
You don’t make major legislative change by firing a cannon at the front door - you set several small fires at all the other exits on the building and then when all that is in motion, you just knock on the front door to warn everyone about the fire and they walk out willingly.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/10/06/statement-from-president-biden-on-marijuana-reform/
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/06/politics/marijuana-decriminalization-white-house-joe-biden/index.html
https://www.npr.org/2023/12/22/1221230390/biden-pardons-clemency-marijuana-drug-offenses
On December 2, 2022, Biden signed the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act - “the first standalone marijuana-related bill approved by both chambers of the United States Congress”
Biden approved the Viktor Bout–Brittney Griner prisoner exchange work Russia on December 8, 2022 which involved an American WNBA athlete being convicted of cannabis possession on Russian soil and being held in Russian prison.
None of this matters. This could all be over tomorrow if Biden gave orders to the dea. Pretending this even has anything to do with Congress or the courts is a joke.
This is purely a scheduling issue.
Anything he orders can be unordered…
So we should never do anything.
Except sell weapons for genocide.
It’s like you guys don’t understand how governing actually works.
You just want your guy to get in there and do the things you want him do with zero understanding of the realpolitik involved.
Easy for you to say. Your guy is in there doing the things you want him to do.
I wouldn’t really call Biden “My guy” or say he’s doing everything I want done but I understand incrementalism.
It took the rightwing 70 years of concerted effort to hijack the judiciary and local offices and get to where they are today. I don’t expect the left will be able to undo it in any less.
So do I. It’s a transparent attempt on the part of Democrats to turn decades of inaction into a virtue.
It took Biden no time to sell weapons to Netanyahu. He didn’t need decades of doing fucking nothing first. He just did it.
This is a childish view… You can TECHNICALLY do a lot of shit with a snap of your fingers, but there are major consequences if you don’t prepare for major shifts in the status quo gradually.
For example, say a child’s parent dies in a car crash, you can take them away from the hospital to get some ice cream, have their grandparents there, and say together, “So mommy isn’t going to be coming home now, Billy. She was very sick and the doctors tried to help her get better but she died today. She loved you very much and I still love you and your grandpa and grandma are here and they love you and we’re going to adjust together and remember mommy as a family” or the doctor can just come out of the operating room covered in mommy’s blood and say to the kid, “your mom had her head chopped off by a train, kid. You need to get out of the hospital now. This isn’t my problem”
Both are technically the same action of informing the kid of some significant news/change.