Why are only 11 senators in support of this?
this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2024
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Because the rest are old farts with reefer madness
Of the 11 that signed, the average age is 65
I haven't checked all of their ages, but Bernie and Warren alone probably raise the average by 10 years.
That's a good answer
Because the DEA doesn't have the legal authority to do that. Congress laid out the criteria for scheduling drugs in the Controlled Substances Act and any reasonable person would say marijuana meets the criteria for at least schedule 5. Congress needs to do what they did for alcohol and nicotine and pass a law that specifically excludes marijuana.
12 signed it, headline ignores Bernie
Common Bernie Sanders W
I assume most are for rescheduling, or respecting state's choice, or maybe they're more concerned with systemic inequality and foreign genocide with US armaments.
Also, though, the Biden Administration has been pushing for the DEA to reschedule marijuana for like 3 years...
more concerned with systemic inequality and foreign genocide
...what in this prevents them from doing their job and actually forwarding a pretty objectively good bill?
Don't you see? They must only think about one issue at a time!
Unironically, yes. They can't be doing everything all at once when it takes their full power to even force topics to be discussed on the senate floor and write proposals. Every second that Bernie Sanders talks about weed, for example, would stop him from putting up pictures of Palestinian children begging for water.
Their time? What do you think the senate is, they all just say whatever is on their mind and everybody votes for or against it on the spot?
or respecting state’s choice
I'd love to hear the logic of how federal descheduling takes away a states choice...
The states have demonstrably had the choice to decriminalize Marijuana since 1973, not doing so by now can be seen as their choice to keep it a restricted substance.
EDIT: To be clear, I'm explaining their thoughts on the subject, not agreeing with them.
If a state has zero laws about cannabis federal schedule makes it illegal
And many of the states that haven't legalized use the federal schedule as rational.to not legalize.
If they want them illegal, they can pass a law making them illegal. That's how it's supposed to be work.
Not states having to legalize something on a state level because the federal government claims it's one of the most dangerous drugs in the country, but won't actually enforce people flagrantly breaking the law...
Have you ever tried reading anything about this? Like, ever?
No, clearly I've never read anything ever, and in fact that 1973 date I gave in the previous comment was a random guess. /Very-Big-Sarcasm
He said "decriminalize", not "legalize".
Descheduling is respecting the states' choices. Legalization at the national level doesn't automatically make it legal in states.
Elizabeth Warren (Mass.),
John Fetterman (Pa.)
Chuck Schumer (N.Y.)
Cory Booker (N.J.)
Jeff Merkley (Ore.)
Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.)
Ron Wyden (Ore.)
John Hickenlooper (Colo.)
Peter Welch (Vt.)
Chris Van Hollen (Md.)
Alex Padilla (Calif.).
Edit: and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
11 Democratic senators, along with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
He already got left out of the headline
And then I also left him out. Sorry Bernie!
Surprised to not see Bernie on here
He's there.
In a letter addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland and DEA Administrator Anne Milgram, 11 Democratic senators, along with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), argued the administration “should deschedule marijuana altogether.”
They could have said "12 Senators..."
But went with the option that excluded Bernie since he's not a D.
Is this new? I always knew him as a D. When did he drop that position?
He's never been a D
But he's very open about how the two party system sucks and if he ran third party it would.only hurt progress
So every election he runs in the democratic primary. And abides by the results.
It's why him wanting to stay till he was eliminated and getting called a "spoiler" is such bullshit. If Bernie really wanted to, he could have nuked any Dem candidate by running third party in the general.
givesmefucks beat me to it. :)
What's the over/under on this happening before November?
If election theater motivates this policy and makes this happen then I’m all for it. I wonder what our criminal AG in Texas thinks about all this, considering he’s trying to do the opposite in cities with lax marijuana enforcement.
Even if marijuana was descheduled, it would still be illegal due to Texas state law
I think most states in which it is illegal would remain illegal. Many states would probably update their laws in response to the DEA descheduling it.
Many states have laws based on the federal schedule and don’t specifically name any drugs, so there would be some immediate effects.
If the law only references federal definitions of scheduled drugs, they would need to update their laws before this went into effect or else risk letting the population have legal weed for a short window, which likely would spur voters to try and regain their newly found drug
Right, which is why I bothered to link Texas law, which references by name.
My own state references it by name. I suspect many/most state marijuana laws predate the formation of the DEA but I’m not a historian/lawyer.
Sure texas is covered, but we got a lot of states. A ton are going to need proactive laws or else risk kicking a hornets nest in an election year
Many states would probably update their laws in response to the DEA descheduling it.
Importantly too, they'd have to police it using their own state resources.
Biden does good thing
Idiots: "He's only doing this to get votes!"
Yeah, no shit sherlock, that's the whole point of the system.
What's the likelihood a rock from space hits Trump in his diaper?
Much lower considering rescheduling marijuana is a basic government act and not a ridiculously unlikely astronomical event. Also, it would gain Biden a lot of votes.
Also, it would gain Biden a lot of votes.
And send the theocracy into a rage in another dimension, one in which they wouldn't be sure why their hair is falling out
i was under the impression the president could unilaterally just order the DEA to do it as its under the executive. is that true?
As far as I understand it, the DEA has the independence to make the decision themselves and all the president can do is tell them what he wants.
Ya, it really should be legislated. I doubt that's happening before November, though.
Legislated implies Congress passing a law. That of course will not happen before the election, and likely not while Biden is president due to some Republicans being against the idea of legalization and also Republicans not wanting to give Biden nor Democrats a win. DEA resxheduling it is the most likely scenario that should hold up in court especially since Biden followed a process to support the change(asking for another department to review whether it is a dangerous drug, and using their response as evidence for the DEA)
Kind of. It's murky legal waters.
It is, but Biden could be using the bully pulpit to talk about how it should be rescheduled and I think the only reason he hasn't is because he's old and he hasn't been convinced yet that "reefer" is safe.
Oh, I agree, he could be pushing much harder for it.
Depends on if Biden thinks he can get the support he needs by just pretending to look into it some more.
Thats a minority of democratic senators.
It's not like it's something the majority of Democratic senators support. Like genocide.