https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-legalize-marijuana
Sen. Cory Booker urged fellow lawmakers to "follow the lead of states around the country and legalize cannabis for adult use and create a comprehensive taxation and regulatory scheme."
Rescheduling is a great step forward. Congress needs to pass legislation to decriminalize marijuana. It’s in their court now.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/4591/all-actions
The house passed marijuana legalization in 2020 and 2022 when democrats controlled it. Didn't make it past the senate though, with almost every republican opposed.
I thought republicans were too busy stopping people from aborting life threatening medical situations to stop the 'hippies' from having their happy herbs.
They always have time to try and stop Democrats from doing anything they think would be popular. They especially worry about anything that would be popular with their own constituents, since even a majority of Republicans support marijuana legalization.
Look at the games they played in Minnesota for a really glaring example on this issue. Republicans there went to the trouble of funding and recruiting candidates for a "legalize marijuana now party." This allowed them to split the vote just enough in swing districts to prevent democratic control of the state senate, meanwhile the Republicans blocked any marijuana legalization (except for the time they accidentally legalized small dose edibles because they didn't read a bill about hemp carefully, they were really mad about that, lol). When the democrats recaptured the majority in both houses in the 2022 election, they legalized marijuana. Filibustering isn't like in the federal senate though, for federal legalization will need to convince at least eight to ten republican senators to go along with it
Indica Joe >> Sleepy Joe
Doesn't matter if this is a shameless grab for the gen X/millennial/Z vote, or a principled stand --- progress is progress.
An inch forward is better than a mile backward.
The DEA hasn't budged on this in 60 years so I'll gladly take a crack in the dam because that means more are coming.
People seem to forget that progress doesn't happen overnight, if people are expecting to get everything they want in one fell swoop otherwise they want nothing, then they'll continue to get nothing forever.
Always take the win no matter how small because they add up.
"First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action;" who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season."
Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."
This is just making excuses for not getting done something that the majority of the country wants and could be done with the snap of a finger. Stop making excuses for the government being anti democratic.
To think of the sheer scale of lives and money destroyed by prohibiting a plant. A literal herbal remedy.
I think there’s a case to be made for all drugs being legal to possess, treating addiction as a healthcare issue, and hey how about giving everybody healthcare too. But with cannabis it is beyond ridiculous.
A parable for basically everything the Biden Admin does. Takes an action 66% of the way to what the Left wants. The Right is mad because it's too far Left. The Left is mad because it isn't Left enough. The country is better off but nobody is happier.
Milquetoast > fascist. You do realize that the President is the head of 1 of the 3 branches of government, and not an omnipotent dictator, right? The President doesn't just "decide" what the laws are, they do indeed have to operate within the structure of the government, and establish some degree of consensus with the other branches in order to effect significant changes.
chill out, bud. Biden is an animate bowl of tapioca. Still gonna vote for him. The ability to honestly criticize the sitting president is a cornerstone of our freedom and I will vote for him to maintain that freedom.
This is objectively a step in the right direction, though. I'm tired of hearing people criticize Biden for making significant progress because he didn't single-handedly perfectly solve everything. This is progress within his powers, just like pardoning federal marijuana sentences, just like his climate commitments, just like his chipping away at student loans.
Yes, you are allowed to criticize the president, but calling the man "an animate bowl of tapioca" because his progressive initiatives are checked by the balance of powers which forms the actual cornerstone of our freedoms is anything but honest. Grandpa is trying, much harder than most presidents in recent memory. He has done what he can, and pushed for more. Criticizing him personally for the deliberately intrinsic inertia of our democracy is dishonest.
I'm mostly with you on this one, but you have to admit, "an animate bowl of tapioca" has got to be one of the funniest ways I have heard of President Biden described as. But yeah, I think he does care and is trying pretty hard to effect some level of significant change. I feel like he's trying to softly get the ball rolling for a second term where he really shows what he's made of.
I hope for and look forward to great change and progress in the coming years.
I'd think it was funny if it didn't read like another desperate attempt to stifle enthusiasm for progress and make the fascist guy seem more appealing, and why again? Because the president isn't embroiled in daily antics? Dear heavens, not a boring President, quietly doing his job instead of tweeting scandalous things. Another boring, incremental legislative step in the right direction. The gears of democracy turning, yawn.
Why can't milquetoast Biden be more exciting like the fascist guy? Why does the bureaucracy of running a country have to be comparable to tapioca instead of something flashier, with big banners and snazzy outfits and catchy slogans.
One underrated and underappreciated skill in a leader/president, is choosing to surround yourself with the right people.
I'd rather have milquetoast Biden, with a group of intelligent policy wonk (many that lean progressive) in his ear and guiding his pen, than a narcissist demagogue who surrounds himself with sycophants. That's how so much bad shit happens....
Check out "The Regime" on Max for a pretty funny satirical look at what can happen when the latter situation is taken to its logical end.