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Kamala Harris Rolls Out National Marijuana Legalization Plan, Pledging To Make It 'The Law Of The Land'
(www.marijuanamoment.net)
this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2024
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Another election cycle, another useless pledge to legalize marijuana as a push to pander votes. She said this prior to running as Biden's VP, then did nothing with her time in office.
Similarly, I recall similar propaganda from Trump in 2016 and 2020. Nothing came of that, either.
And yes, it's tiring being this hopeful and this cynical at the same time.
Did nothing besides kick off the process intentionally designed to take more than 4 years so that two consecutive administrations would have to keep it going…
They already started to get it rescheduled. https://apnews.com/article/marijuana-biden-dea-criminal-justice-pot-f833a8dae6ceb31a8658a5d65832a3b8
Rescheduled from 1 -> 3. Not sure I understand the significance of this change other than to look like doing something without legalizing it.
How did Biden kick off the process that was designed to take more than 4 years? I actually didn't know anything other than the push to reschedule.
Schedule 1 drugs are those deemed to have no medical use and have an extremely high likelihood for abuse. They are the first target for the DEA and have no legal use status (cannabis currently gets around this due to administration level memos to not interfere with state law, but that's all)
Schedule 3 are those with accepted medical usage and a low or moderate likelihood for abuse. They need to be prescribed and need a prescription no older than 6 months to fill.
Essentially, if cannabis is moved to schedule 3, it becomes medically legal in all 50 states that don't have specific laws outlawing its use (I don't know if any of those exist). It's a major step towards legalization and the biggest you can make without a law.
The big win from schedule 3 is ability for American researchers to study it legally and easily, on-shore. Obviously it doesn’t belong in the list with those other schedule 3s (ketamine and suboxone), but it is gonna be baby steps towards legalization so long as the powerful alcohol and private prison lobbies exist.
My fiancé studies cannabis in Canada, and making it legal didn't really make it easier to study. Hopefully FDA makes it less of a nightmare than health canada did.
Even when it was illegal here, it was significantly less illegal than in the states; scientific and medical studies would have already been allowed.
It brings the conversation up to the national spotlight, and while it's a half measure, it's forward progress, which itself creates inertia that can bring about real change.
That's what Biden's current plan is.
It doesn't go far enough for me, but it sets up his successor to take it even further. Which it sounds like is what she's planning to do.