this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2024
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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.

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[–] rebelsimile@sh.itjust.works 52 points 8 months ago (5 children)

“Somebody ought to do something about this ASAP,” says one of the only people on the planet actually capable of doing something about it for the last 4 years. OK.

[–] BestBouclettes@jlai.lu 44 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Elections are coming up so it's time to talk about it and do nothing else that would make it happen

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 32 points 8 months ago (18 children)

Lemmy sees something good happen:

"Not good enough!"

We all know it should have happened before, but dismissing that the vice president just publicly called for this is silly

[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 29 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Biden campaigned on rescheduling it so this is just nakedly trying to boost their pre-election popularity. They could've done this day one. They didn't. They won't.

Web archive of Biden's campaign site, September 2019: http://web.archive.org/web/20190723224533/https://joebiden.com/justice/

Decriminalize the use of cannabis and automatically expunge all prior cannabis use convictions. Biden believes no one should be in jail because of cannabis use. As president, he will decriminalize cannabis use and automatically expunge prior convictions. And, he will support the legalization of cannabis for medical purposes, leave decisions regarding legalization for recreational use up to the states, and reschedule cannabis as a schedule II drug so researchers can study its positive and negative impacts.

[–] go_go_gadget@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

Obama campaigned on this so it's been 12 years they've fucked around on it. People need to stop defending the Democratic party for being corrupt pieces of shit.

[–] misanthropy@lemm.ee 12 points 8 months ago (1 children)

They've been "calling for it" since Biden campaign. And reschedule? It should be descheduled.

[–] june@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

And the DEA is actively working on it, which just so happens to be the final step in rescheduling a drug.

[–] MsPenguinette@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I work in the space industry and this just reeks of the "hurry up and wait" that I live in. If the right pressure was there, it'd be rescheduled already. I'm 50/50 on if they are actually working on it or if feet are being dragged due to institutional friction.

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[–] blazeknave@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I hate it here for that reason. With this being the last option, I've reverted to Google News, NYTimes and SF Chronicle apps. Lemmy's inability to feel joy has helped me ditch social media most of the time.

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Reddit very seriously had the same problem.

[–] cybersandwich@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The under current of negativity seems a bit stronger here though imo.

I guess when you have a huge portion of posters that self-selected to leave a platform in protest you get population predisposed to protesting and complaining about things.

It gets a bit tiring to hear people see incremental change but shit on it because it's not perfect or "it should have happened sooner". I wonder if these people would ever be happy with anything?

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today. If they get this rescheduled that would be a huge win.

[–] go_go_gadget@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago (3 children)

They won't. They've been fucking around on this for at least 12 years.

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[–] rebelsimile@sh.itjust.works 3 points 8 months ago

Oh sure, every 4 years Lucy comes out with the football and taunts you to take a run at it and I’m the one not being realistic. It’s total horseshit to disappear on an issue every 4 years except when you think it might help you in an election to wave it around.

It’s not “Lemmy sees something good happen”; nothing good has happened. The same platitudes have been trotted out for the 78th time. But maybe this time…!

[–] yarr@feddit.nl 3 points 8 months ago

It isn't good enough... we have fucking nothing and there's been chat about this for close to 2 decades.

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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 22 points 8 months ago (5 children)

Biden could order cannabis descheduled ( what his campaign program was) and if agencies don't listen, fucking fire the agency heads and hire someone that will. It literally one of the handful of things he could do himself.

But somehow it's 3.5 years into his first term. And Biden has apparently compromised even more with himself and we won't get his original compromise of descheduling.

When a president acts like this right before their next election, lots of voters rationally stop believing any of their current campaign promises.

[–] zigmus64@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago (11 children)

What do you mean? This is standard political fare… most of the population has the memory of a goldfish, so popular shit like this always waits until the election cycle.

Additionally, an executive order, or changing the chief of the DEA, are probably the least effective ways to handle it. All it would take is a republican administration to undo it all. The way that sticks best is legislation.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Your boat is leaking.

Do you either bail out the water, or try to get into port so you can fix it.

Or maybe, you do both. Biden can reschedule…. Today. He could have done it 3.5 years ago.

He hasn’t. He probably won’t.

You’re right that legislation is a more permanent fix. No question there. Doesn’t mean you don’t work the other, faster, solution to get something good enough for the time being done.

[–] zigmus64@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I’m not convinced they’d even try passing the legislation once some executive order was issued. It would be touted as a victory for the Biden Administration, and then forgotten about until 2028…

God damnit, when did I become so cynical?

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

You’ve seen the world we live in.

Cynicism is just a prudent reaction to reality.

[–] june@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Biden cannot just wave a wand. Learn the fucking truth before you spout nonsense like this.

He’s been following the framework of the CSA since October 2022 with this: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/10/06/statement-from-president-biden-on-marijuana-reform/

And it’s currently in the final stage, sitting with the DEA. It’s getting done.

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago (4 children)

You consider a press release from the guy slow walking this to be a reliable source.

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[–] june@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Source for where Biden called for it to be descheduled?

I can’t find it.

[–] Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] june@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

So you don’t have one?

He didn’t campaign on DEscheduling, he campaigned on REscheduling. Which just so happens to be in the final stage of happening.

[–] TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee 4 points 8 months ago (2 children)

He attempted to forgive student debt (which was in his right to do so as head of the executive branch) and got swatted down by the corrupt Supreme Court. What do you think will happen if he rescheduled marijuana?

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

He waited 2 years till he lost the house, made a half assed attempt he knew would fail, then said:

See? Trying is just a waste of time, we should never try

And voters remember that when it's two years later and he tries to tell them elections are important and if Trump wins suddenly the president is all powerful.

Neoliberals do the same shit as republicans. They need their voters to believe that when the other team is president, the president is all powerful. But when their own team is in power, the president can't do shit, so it's not their fault campaign promises aren't kept.

[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The student loan forgiveness was swatted down because he technically didn't really have the authority to do so, Congress typically holds the power of the purse. Rescheduling isn't at risk of violating the separation of power as the DEA is under the purview of the executive.

[–] TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee 5 points 8 months ago

The Higher Education Act of 1965 grants a presidential administration via the Education Secretary, authority to "enforce, pay, compromise, waive, or release" government-held federal student loans.

At least until the Corrupt Supreme Court said differently.

[–] cybersandwich@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago

I think this was always back-pocketed for right before the election if he thought it'd help push him over the edge.

It might be a smart political move to do it right before the election so it's fresh on all of our goldfish brains.

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[–] crusa187@lemmy.ml 18 points 8 months ago

It’s honestly just insulting at this point. Deschedule the fucking plant already, you doddering old fools.

When you’re done, we can have a frank conversation about the number of people directly killed by alcohol each year. (It’s literally infinitely more compared to marijuana.)

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

Man I think you have way too high of expectations for the actual powers of a vice presidency.