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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[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 32 points 8 months ago (6 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.

[–] june@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] 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.

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world -2 points 8 months ago

They're doing as little as possible to say they're working on it.

[–] 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 (1 children)

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

[–] nomous@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I hope they do just to shut up a bunch of people up but that part definitely won't happen.

[–] go_go_gadget@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] nomous@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

You'd know about those I suppose.

[–] 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.

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The words of a politician are not accomplishments.

If it ever gets descheduled, it'll be an accomplishment. I'm not going to treat announcements as accomplishments.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Public discourse from a sitting executive politician represents progress. It is not enough yet, but it is progress. In years past such statements would have been massively disruptive, and via speech like this the topic is being normalized.

It's not enough yet. We arenf done

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Stop expecting me to believe that politicians' lies are progress just because you believe them.

It's not an accomplishment until it's accomplished.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Just because you don't understand the power of normalized discourse doesn't mean I have some obligation to you.

I'm just telling you how reality works.

Edit im proud to hear more discussion of climate, LGBT, drug decrim and other issues, at increasingly public and increasingly executive levels.

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I know the difference between hot air and accomplishments. You're not going to gaslight me into accepting the former as the latter. All you're doing is convincing me that you prefer words to accomplishments.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

50 years ago a woman, non-white politician wouldn't have been a common thing. Part of how we got to where we are today is via public, popularized discourse.

The same occurs in this article and the speech that lead to it.

It doesn't mean the world is changing in an active sense, but it does mean the conversation is happening. This is part of the power of executive office.

I'm sorry you had to learn about this from me.

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

We lost roe because we only talked about codifying it.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

We GOT roe because we discussed it.

Edit auto

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

We got roe because we had a court willing to do it.

We don't anymore. Accepting talk instead of accomplishments has lost us ground. And since all Democrats do is talk, that loss is permanent.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You're missing the point.

The point, for your roe v Wade example is that at one point speaking of abortion in public, let alone politically was unthinkable. Due to some brave people, and eventually people in political office, SPEAKING ABOUT the issue made it viable.

Of course there are many other factors, and many other brave and impactful people.

But speech is political action, no question.

But it's not enough, on it's own.

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

And if we accept talk as accomplished fact, we don't move beyond talk.

Meanwhile, Republicans act while we content ourselves with talk. And we lose Roe.

And we'll keep only talking about ending the racist drug war and never actually ending it.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You're behaving like a silly goose, and assuming I am ONLY looking for talk. Not everything after.

We done

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world -5 points 8 months ago

Expecting me to treat talk as an accomplishment is exactly that.