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.
“oh shit! They’re onto us about the TikTok thing! Quick! Bring up weed! The zoomers and millennials love that shit!”
Too late. I am never voting for my rep again, I won’t vote GOP but I won’t vote for someone who thinks Tik Tok is the priority
She’s correct. It’s a completely right ridiculous policy based on a century of racism.
Ok, I used smoke a power of weed. I do not anymore. I do not wish to partake at all to be honest. Yet I think criminalisation of ‘the culture’ makes it both more lucrative to criminal elements who also do much harm in other sectors, and make it even more attractive to youth who might try and quit it sooner.
I’m not saying it’s all bad. I’m saying it’s over-romanced by criminalisation.
I don’t think it should be championed while legal though. I’ve seen two delusional breaks correspond to heavy usage. It also doesn’t help your IQ.
Legal sure, but careful please. Make sure you know why you’re using the drug. The withdrawals, while not as bad as Alcohol (which can be fatal), are real and difficult. Cannabis abuse is also a real disorder.
I’m happy it’s legal, but let’s not forget our common sense. https://americanaddictioncenters.org/withdrawal-timelines-treatments/post-acute-withdrawal-syndrome
Yes. I have also seen close friends become fucked up due to cannabis. Genetics is a bitch.
Alcohol is legal
Energy drinks
The legality is a whole other thing than how careful you need to be with it
You honestly need to be more careful with ethanol and shit it’s one of the least important substances to be careful with on the planet
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.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.
but I understand incrementalism.
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.
I thought we didn’t want presidents with absolute power ?
I know I am fully opposed to weed being scheduled at all, and would appreciate the, albeit slow progress. But…
$10 says she has a drug test coming up
In a single motion they could cut off an enormous source of cash for the traffickers and hard drug dealers.
https://www.propublica.org/article/chinese-organized-crime-us-marijuana-market
I think if Biden and Harris were to officially endorse decriminalizing or legalizing recreational marijuana, we’d see a Democrat landslide. But that would require some actual common sense from Congressmen.
In October 2022, President Biden announced a mass pardon for past federal cannabis possession convictions, encouraged governors to do the same for state cannabis possession convictions, and instructed Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra to review the classification schedule of marijuana, which could result in removal of cannabis from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.[20]
Once again, Biden already did the good thing, but you people never heard about it
It’s wild that this is still even needing to be discussed.
Endless discussion is what Democrats do to pretend they’re making progress on shit they never have any intention of ever doing.
You can tell there’s an election coming up.
On today’s episode of “don’t bite the hand that feeds” we reclassify marijuana.
“Quick, our ‘blood for the blood god but we’re sad in public’ approach isn’t working on the youth vote - what do my fellow kids want?”
Multiple Democratic supermajorities, several unified governments, and a president who admitted to being a past user. It’s not a priority for the DNC, even as the general population (including the right) year by year more and more wants legalization.
Until big ag and big pharmaceutical want it, it will remain illegal
Multiple democratic supermajorities? There hasn’t been a democratic super majority since Ted Kennedy died in August of 2009. Which was before anyone had even legalized for recreational use. I’m not saying the DNC hasn’t been dragging its feet, but they have not had a super majority to just do it themselves unilaterally.
But it’s not a new issue. The harm of the war on drugs - and its disproportional harm - has been known for decades. We are now speed running legalization and/or decriminalization at the State level via ballot and primary legislation, because there has been no Congressional action.
Decades of research into harm, medical use, safer administration, etc denied at a Federal level before you even get to law enforcement, and the ripples through society. And as a consequence we’ve seen some legislation rolled back in scope, because it is such an uncharted territory - DUI ‘testing’ for cannabis is a perfect example, or cash-only legal dispensaries facing armed robbery because they are shut out of the Federal banking system.
Yes, the democrats and republicans supported the war on drugs for decades, but just because those things happened doesn’t mean they’ll continue to happen. Democrats have been leading the way most of the time when it comes to legalization and other weed related issues like banking or drug testing, even in congress with multiple legalization measures introduced and even passed by the democratic house despite the senate not picking it up. The party wasn’t for legalization back when they had a super majority, that sucks, and it’s okay to be angry that that didn’t happen. But it’s being worked on now, and the present is just as important as the past. Rescheduling would be a first step that can really help the industry and consumers and patients. It’s not the last step, there has to be more done to help undo the disastrous effects of the drug war, but it is a first step. We have to remember that the democrat party is not the party from back in the day, even from 2009 when they last had a super majority, it’s changed a lot. For instance, changing their stance on gay marriage and other lgbt issues, that was fantastic and while it should have happened sooner, it still happened and that’s important. Also I think it’s important to remember that despite there being a level of bipartisanship when it comes to legalization outside of congress, the republican party has devolved into the “stop everything democrats want to do” party, so full legalization could take a while since they’re so fucking hell bent on breaking congress and the federal government. Unless democrats get another super majority in the senate, something that isn’t likely, legalization through congress is next to impossible.
I know, let’s try to ban the most popular social network among the youth!
Multiple Democratic supermajorities?
Jesse what the fuck are you talking about?
Several time the Democratic Party has held a 2/3rds majority in the House and/or Senate. It’s still the same Schedule. “They’re working on it” I know with the review process, but it’s now a calculated win politically that’s been withheld purposely. All while the known and acknowledged harms to society at large goes on.
At this point it’s become a bipartisan conversation among voters, and not long before the power structure on the right co-opts that into action - likely empowering corporations in the process.
Literally the last time the Democrats had a super majority in the senate was 1967, almost 60 years ago…
I grew up straight edge in a religion household. I was so afraid of getting into trouble, I didn’t even drink as a teenager even though all my friends did.
Now my work depends on me keeping away from illegal drugs. Seeing as my family’s livelihood depends on that, it’s a pretty straightforward decision to never cross that line, ever. So I say this as a 30+ yr old who’s rarely drank and never done drugs of any kind that weren’t prescribed.
If this changes, and it’s confirmed that my livelihood wouldn’t be threatened for trying it, I would absolutely partake.
I hope you have a hell of a good time when this happens
Dude I hate to break it to you but weed is boring. Now, doing Ashtanga Yoga for 90 minutes: that’s a full body high
Ultimately I’d like to see psychedelics legalized too. It’s insane that either of these things is illegal IMO.
As with all things go slow till u know ur limits greenouts aren’t too bad but they happen and better off nodding off in your house that at like work. Also anxiety and paranoia can happen with stronger strains or strong edibles so take it slow
I’d never suggest getting high at work. You’re just asking for trouble, even if it’s not legally a problem. I’d also never suggest drinking at work, to put that into context.
And god forbid you get in an accident while drunk/high, your job will definitely be over, and you’ll more than likely be footing the bill on your own.
Unless you’re gonna get fired for taking a piss test that comes back positive for weed, just try it. It’s really not that big a deal. For a first timer, you might not even get high because your cannabinoid receptors have never been used before. I’d describe it as a pleasant light/cloudy feeling, and you may feel compelled to stare at mundane objects for a long time and think about existence. You might also start liking Pink Floyd randomly.
I don’t meant to be rude but this is terrible advice.
I’m not stupid enough to be moved by this but others reading should not risk their livelihoods for a high.
Former cop desperate for relevance. Maybe do the right thing before you ruin lives and not as it becomes acceptable and politically convenient.
How many pot smokers do you think she sent to prison as a DA?
And all those teenage “super predators” that Joe, Jack and Bill sent to prison
More than 1900 pursued, that’s for sure.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/09/11/kamala-harris-prosecuting-marijuana-cases/
Imagine prepping up past assholes as the bar 🤣
It’s like the DNC hiring previous lobbyist from companies like Uber, Lyft & Airbnb to define union policies.
And all those teenage “super predators” that Joe, Jack and Bill sent to prison
That’s what I dont get when people criticize Harris…
Biden literally sponsored the two crime bills back in the 90s that have caused 30 years of bullshit.
Harris as prosecutor was very outspoken about how stupid that shit was and didn’t follow the “three felonies = life in jail” bullshit.
If people want to talk about poor policing oractices, Biden is hands down the person most responsible in the Dem party. And all his “I can compromise with republicans” is how he got Dems to support such backwards legislation.
Harris was a DA, she wasn’t setting national procedures and passing laws
Biden sucks on this policy as well. Happy?
Just a reminder, until 2014 Hydrocodone was a schedule III drug.
Cocaine and meth are still schedule 2
You know, this is a pretty smart way to approach the political side of this tactically.
Biden can’t say deschedule it outright without offending at least some borderline fence sitters and the elder crowd indoctrinated with the old propaganda that made it out to be among the most terrible things.
By having the younger VP who wouldn’t really have direct authority to have it changed but is directly I’m the same circles, it gets the idea out there as a ‘very strong unofficial stance’.
Next step, the ‘cool grandpa’ moment when Biden gets to make a gesture for the younger crowd by having it pulled from the schedules. Financially the feds have undoubtedly been eyeing the income (and lack of incarceration costs) brought into states with legal sales for a while and would like a piece of it too.
So lies and deception? I don’t know who is left to deceive when this sounds like the position the WH had two decades ago (when Biden was in Harris’s exact role). Since then the only changes have been brought about by State’s thumbing their nose at the Federal Government. I can honestly say the argument for “State’s Rights” hold more promise for marijuana legalization than Harris’s words.
Neoliberals dont want elected to help people, they want to get elected.
It’s why they can see something like this where a president could do something day 1, but waits four years before doing it, and call it smart strategy. Even when it’s not a political.process and the president can do it on their own.
It’s why there’s always the focus on “stopping by the republican”.
That’s all neoliberals want to accomplish, get in office and hold on as long as they can.
Progressives want to get elected to help people, and have faith if you help people they’ll vote for you.
There’s no sane reason for neoliberals to be running the Dem.party on national and state levels, but it’s a private party and they get an absolute shit ton of money from billionaires and corporations. So it’s very hard to kick their old asses out of power while also fighting off conservative extremist Republicans.
But when the neoliberals wins, nothing gets fixed. Their dogs chasing a car, if they catch it they dont know what to do, so they lay down and wait for another car to drive by.
The problem is that this is potentially the only positive change they could make in people’s lives that might actually make money, so once they’ve done it, there’s nothing else that lines up with both the interests of the party and their voters. Even prison reform as a whole might be a net loss in spite of the current system’s incredible cost to taxpayers due to the chilling effect it has on social mobility and the slave labor that the bourgeoisie can profit off of.
We can’t do the only easy thing we can do because then we won’t have any easy things we can promise to do that we just won’t!!!
Exactly. Why would they actually move on it, if it’s the only bargaining chip they’re willing to use? The republicans fucked up by doing that with abortion, though because that oppresses people instead of liberating them, the gop is doubling down on it. Dems don’t have the option to do that, so we’re left with easily actionable campaign promises going unfulfilled for four years.
“They wait 4 years to accomplish their policy proposals, this is evidence they never accomplish any policy proposals”
They wait 4 years to accomplish their policy proposals
Don’t act like they’ve accomplished them.
You have to realize that there’s a certain element of theatrics to politics right? With the flood of information thrown at people everyday the population has the attention span and memory of goldfish often as not. Had they done some drastic change day one (if it could even pass congress/courts without being killed) it’d be long forgotten old news by now.
Yes, it’s much better to drag it out until the very last possible second, since it’s not like people are suffering due to the deliberate prolongation of the racist drug war.
It’s still disrupting the communities it was designed to disrupt, so let’s talk about how great it is that we’re trying to game the timing of fixing this. I’d ask if it’s possible to be more cynical, but I already know it is because we’re playing the same timing game with Netanyahu’s genocide.
Yes, it’s theatrical. And people are being used as props.
Didn’t say it was good, but it’s reality. The alternative of attempting to do everything you have on a wishlist with no compromise or negotiation, and thus getting nothing is hardly better. Had it been tried to push everything to max results day one would at best, in some imagined place get all that in, be forgotten 3 years later as ‘what have you done for me lately’ and caused the opposition to be energized en masse to put their guy in and rip it all back out the next day.
A small win that’s held is worth far more than a massive one lost shortly after.
Fuck you, and fuck anyone that thinks like you. If you’re not willing to help people, find an exit. Or get put against the wall right next to the facists.
Progressive idealism is all well and good, but without acknowledging the realities of a highly polarized world and the balances of power in play all it will ever be is idealism, never realized fact.
Many of the broader growths in society didn’t have a defining ‘flip the switch’ moment and instead where the result of small changes that then where the building blocks to bigger ones after the smaller steps where accepted as normal parts of society.
Progressive idealism is
Is made up.
No progressive says we can’t address a problem until it’s 100% solved.
That’s what neoliberals say for an excuse not to make any improvements.
It was literally Biden s excuse last primary for why he wouldn’t address student loan debt. He said if he forgave all student loans debt it wouldn’t matter because new students would still need loans.
So Biden said his priority would be first lowering the cost of college.
Then he got elected, never mentioned that, and forgave almost enough to be a rounding error in the trillion of dollars in student loan debt and demanded applause.
Recall that the SC blocked him on some of that (reminder that elections have consequences) and there were efforts to reduce costs for future borrowers too.
Biden already ordered his health secretary back in 2022 to begin descheduling, he hasn’t been playing it safe here
Just another thing they pretend to do to get elected but Don’t actually accomplish anything.
Pretty sure she put a ton of people in jail for this in Washington state. If that’s really how you feel where was the leniency then?
Tell me more about her history in Washington state, please.
Not sure why the downvotes but it’s true. I don’t have case specifics - just google around a bit.
In what capacity did she put people in jail in Washington state? Let’s follow this thing through to the end.
Wrong state. Close enough though, like it fucking matters and is totally irrelevant. If you want to be a contrarian I promise you you’re going to find a fight wherever you look. Don’t get so bent out of shape over a factoid because at the end of the day you’re creating the arguments you’re having here.
Give him a break… At least acknowledge she did put people in jail for it.
No because he’s just parroting a talking point that he’s heard here without even being accurate.
He could at least acknowledge that her position has changed and we’re close to progress.
Her positioned has changed? If you want a politician that is true to their beliefs then you elect someone like Bernie. If you’re okay with someone that will revert course again when they want to fill their pockets with more private-prison money, but at least they’re not Trump, then you go with Biden/Kamala.
Or, and hear me out on this, her position truly changed.
I used to think billionaires were cool. Now I think they’re detrimental to society and represent a lot of what’s wrong with wealth inequality in this country. People learn, opinions change - we should welcome that.
just Google around a bit.
Have to admit this made me laugh lol.
Right? Like it’s my job to research his claim that he’s “pretty sure” about.
“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.
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.)
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
Source for where Biden called for it to be descheduled?
I can’t find it.
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.
Yeah I agree, they’d be better not even bringing it up instead of walking around campaigning on something they should have done years ago.
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.
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.
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?
You’ve seen the world we live in.
Cynicism is just a prudent reaction to reality.
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.
You consider a press release from the guy slow walking this to be a reliable source.
Following tue legal framework to get this done is slow footing it? Are you aware it’s in the final stage before getting rescheduled?
Claiming that slow walking it is following some fictional legal framework is just an excuse for slow walking it.
I’m not buying any bullshit about it being the final anything.
If you want me to treat it as anything more than a filthy lie, democrats should have been taking their campaign promises more seriously.
Let me guess. We’re in the final stage of passing the public option, the minimum wage increase, codifying roe, and closing gitmo as well. I’m sure we’re in the final stage of passing BBB and reforming our out of control police too.
After decades of lies, you expect me to buy that Democrats are telling the truth about wanting to do the right thing?
What unmitigated hogwash.
most of the population has the memory of a goldfish, so popular shit like this always waits until the election cycle.
Stupid uninformed people…
Most of them vote R or not at all.
But neoliberals refuse to acknowledge people who aren’t ignorant and do care.
“Because what are ya gonna do, vote Republican?”
It doesn’t work.
Maybe we try helping people? Worst case scenario, Dems actually help people when they’re in office.
Isn’t that the whole point of electing Dems? Isn’t that better than just stalling the Republicans destruction of our country?
I guess pardoning all federal possession and use convictions isn’t helping people eh?
I completely agree… but that’s how this shit goes. This is definitely one of the situations where both sides pull the same shenanigans. When was the last time you heard Kamala Harris open her mouth? Granted, she’s been busy in a divided Senate, but Dan Quayle was more visibly present during the elder Bush’s administration than Kamala has been during Biden’s. Now she crawls out of the Senate chambers to talk about cannabis? Better late than never I guess.
It’s not like Biden’s administration hasn’t been doing anything useful. But these wildly popular policy initiatives that would do a lot of good often wait for politically convenient moments when it’ll be fresh in the electorate’s memory.
Which is the exact danger of running neoliberals that only care about being elected.
The only thing making this “how shit goes” is both parties get money from the same donors who don’t want anything fixed.
It’s not like how the sun sets everyday and there’s nothing we can do.
So telling people “that’s the way she goes” isn’t helping and is only hurting turnout.
Ok… so how do we run people genuinely interested in fixing it? How do we make this not how shit goes? I can’t argue that it’s really disheartening, but the idea that any party is going to run anyone primarily interested in anything other than getting reelected is absurd. The National Committees for each party would never give them a platform. Running third party is suicide here.
The real change that needs to happen is election reform to provide more transparent campaign financing and moving away from a First Past the Post voting system. That’s how you get people in who can actually fix the issues we have in a constructive and positive manner. It won’t be perfect but it would be helpful. Then we’d have a flourishing of different political parties emerge and voters would have actual choice.
“That’s the way she goes” shouldn’t hurt turnout. The reality is we’re facing the single greatest threat to the basic ideals of the American Republican Democracy. Bigger things are afoot than cannabis policy. I’ll take this political grandstanding from the Biden administration 10 times out of 10 than one more day of a Trump administration.
Ok… so how do we run people genuinely interested in fixing it? How do we make this not how shit goes?
Undo citizens united would be a great first step…
Something that the majority of Dem voters agree with.
Without those donations and the obligations they come with, neoliberals would stop winning primary elections, and the ones still in office would stop having a reason to oppose progress.
I didn’t read anything else you typed after that, because if you didn’t understand that already, I don’t see how anything else you could have said was in any way relevant
All of those are good ideas to fix it, but we can’t make those changes with the system as broken as it is.
I think the biggest thing to help turnout would be acknowledging that nothing is going to get done, and that we want a government that just makes nice noises since we clearly can’t get one that actually works. Like you said: You’d take this sort of grandstanding over Trump any day.
It’s like a mechanic putting in some Sea Foam cleaner to get rid of the knock over doing a full engine rebuild, which we can’t afford. Yeah, it’s gonna break down eventually but at least you don’t have to deal with the noise. It’ll break down eventually, but for now you can at least hear NPR.
The real change that needs to happen is election reform
Ranked choice voting! Then, aside from the stupid money and power the two party system has, you can make your voice heard. You can actually say “I don’t want Biden, but I’ll take him if my candidate doesn’t win.” That will make the neo-libs move the needle. Like everything else, though, it will probably happen state-by-state.
Elections are coming up so it’s time to talk about it and do nothing else that would make it happen
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
They’ve been “calling for it” since Biden campaign. And reschedule? It should be descheduled.
And the DEA is actively working on it, which just so happens to be the final step in rescheduling a drug.
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.
They’re doing as little as possible to say they’re working on it.
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.
Reddit very seriously had the same problem.
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.
They won’t. They’ve been fucking around on this for at least 12 years.
I hope they do just to shut up a bunch of people up but that part definitely won’t happen.
That’s a poor attitude.
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, November 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.
I’ll drop this here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahsinclair/2024/01/18/dea-considers-rescheduling-cannabis-what-this-means-for-us-and-global-reform/?sh=2ce8efef743f
Note the date. This is the final step in rescheduling marijauna.
And look at this. Pardons, wow: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/12/22/a-proclamation-on-granting-pardon-for-the-offense-of-simple-possession-of-marijuana-attempted-simple-possession-of-marijuana-or-use-of-marijuana/
Biden: Holds the trump card that is almost guaranteed to get him reelected
Yall: WhY dIdN’t He UsE iT sOoNeR
He started the work in 2022. You think he just started it? Did you not read the links I provided?
I didn’t say he just started. Thanks for putting words in my mouth. I said he knows that if he made weed legal too early the stoners would forget about it and potentially not vote.
Playing the trump card right before elections? Everyone is in a super high (lol) and is super in the mood to vote.
Cannabis prohibition is still harming the communities it was designed to disrupt.
But none of the people in those communities matter. Let them needlessly suffer for our stupid timing games.
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.
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…!
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.
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
Stop expecting me to believe that politicians’ lies are progress just because you believe them.
It’s not an accomplishment until it’s accomplished.
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.
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.
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.
It isn’t good enough… we have fucking nothing and there’s been chat about this for close to 2 decades.
Man I think you have way too high of expectations for the actual powers of a vice presidency.
