Friendly reminder that literally all legalization legislation and referendums have come through the Democratic party.
Biden already pledged support. He needs youth vote. There’s literally no reason he wouldn’t unless he was blocked by Republicans…
… Which he is.
The legalization of cannabis in my state was brought about by activists, not Democratic Party members, and was passed by the public, which is made up of a majority of unaffiliated voters. Our Democratic governor vehemently opposed the measure. He did implement it when it passed, which Republican legislatures and governors have not done when similar bills were passed by the public in Republican states, though.
Curious of the state but I’m willing to bet money >90% of those activists were, conveniently, voting Democrats or of the Democratic coalition.
This is generally reflected in public polling: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/03/26/most-americans-favor-legalizing-marijuana-for-medical-recreational-use/#:~:text=62%25 of conservative and moderate,Democrats (84%25) say this.
Finally, conservatives are starting to come around but they’re always behind the curve.
Then why is one of his campaign promises written as: “As president he will decriminalize cannabis…”
Is his campaign promising things he doesn’t have the power to do?
Yes this is literally par for the course for every single presidential campaign in history.
They promise what they’ll do. They don’t say try to do because that’s been tested in marketing and certainty sounds better. Nevertheless it’s not Biden’s fault his agenda for what he’s been voted into office on is being blocked by the opposition for poor reasons.
The question isn’t why isn’t Biden doing this, the issue is why are Republicans blocking it and why aren’t you trying to convince them and their supporters?
If I can’t believe any of the good campaign promises from biden because everyone lies, why should we take the scary campaign promises of republicans seriously?
It really leads to apathy in the voter base.
I’m really struggling to understand how you don’t understand how this works. I have to conclude you’re doing this in bad faith, given you implied your age is pretty high.
What part do I not understand?
That they aren’t promises but goals. The Biden administration (and about every administration) works towards everything they say they’ll do, how much they get done is determined by their majority and the willingness of the opposition to work with them.
That they aren’t promises but goals.
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/biden-promise-tracker/?ruling=true
Why use the word “promise” then? Is this Newspeak?
For the same reason we take Biden seriously: Legalization has progressed in universally all blue states, has it not?
Ergo, you answered your own question: promises often come to fruition.
So let’s not risk letting Republican promises become reality, such as the promise of overturning Roe… Righhtttt?
youre trying to make yourself sound rational here and its really starting yl break down, dude.
Yeah but some white kid doesn’t get to blaze it with their free unicorn pony so end of democracy over it we get!
I am lost at what you are trying to say here. Check the end of the sentence.
Phlubba might be referring to right wing youths who would hypothetically vote against Biden or not vote at all, cascading into a loss of US Democracy and eventually the fall of NATO and potentially democracy across the world as a whole. I don’t think our situation is necessarily that bad, but it’s definitely one of many possible futures.
What does this have to do with free unicorn ponies or the discussion at hand?
He’s saying the only thing he ever says: having expectations of Democrats means you’re a spoiled child.
Ah — correction — having unreasonable expectations of Democrats in the face of immovable majority opposition, suggests you’re a spoiled child.
I meant exactly what I said. There is no correction needed.
Just because you falsely consider all criticism of Democrats to be unreasonable and all opposition to be immovable doesn’t make it so.
He pushed a recommendation for it to be rescheduled to the DEA like two years ago and they’ve been stonewalling?
This is correct. The HHS recommended rescheduling, and the DEA hasn’t responded to the recommendation. They’re probably concerned it’ll affect their budget having fewer criminals to pursue.
This is the relevant bit from the article:
In late 2022, President Joe Biden issued an executive order directing HHS to review marijuana’s status as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, while giving a recommendation on whether it should be rescheduled. After a roughly year-long review, HHS sent a letter to the DEA in August requesting that they move marijuana to Schedule III.
They had their own review and recommended that Cannabis be moved from Schedule I(Drugs with no medicinal value and a high risk of harm/abuse - heroin,LSD,etc) to Schedule III(Drugs with low risk of harm/abuse and clear medicinal value - cough syrup,Ketamine,etc).
The Controlled Substances Act which established all our current drugs laws states that ONLY the DEA has the power to ultimately change the classification of any controlled substance. If the DEA does not feel inclined to change this, then nothing will happen with the recommendation. Biden can always play political hardball since the head of the agency is an appointed position, but it would still need to be confirmed by the Senate in the end.
I wouldn’t expect to see a drop to schedule III, but I think in the next five or so year we may see it become schedule II. Progress is progress I guess.
Schedule III(Drugs with low risk of harm/abuse and clear medicinal value - cough syrup,Ketamine,etc).
The same cough syrup that contains codeine, an opiate and creates a very strong physical addiction? The same that killed Juice WRLD and Pimp C? The one that almost killed Lil Nas and Macklemore?
The fact that marijuana is right now considered as more harmful than this and should be lowered to this kind of level is just fucked up
It definitely needs to be decriminalized but that’ll actually take an act of Congress. Public pressure needs to be applied but let’s not pretend Biden can do this on his own
It definitely needs to be decriminalized but that’ll actually take an act of Congress
There’s other ways to try, Biden just won’t.
Although the President may not unilaterally deschedule or reschedule a controlled substance, he does possess a large degree of indirect influence over scheduling decisions. The President could pursue the appointment of agency officials who favor descheduling, or use executive orders to direct DEA, HHS, and FDA to consider administrative descheduling of marijuana. The notice-and-comment rulemaking process would take time, and would be subject to judicial review if challenged, but could be done consistently with the CSA’s procedural requirements. In the alternative, the President could work with Congress to pursue descheduling through an amendment to the CSA.
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/LSB/LSB10655
But the House passed a bill to deschedule in 2022, and Biden’s whole deal in the last primary was how well he could get Republican senators on board with Dem legislation.
He couldn’t.
But going back full circle:
Why did Biden promise to deschedule if there’s no way he can deschedule?
To the full-circle thing, I’m not sure what the point is. There was no explicit deadline. Promises by politicians to assert their position have been used since forever. It doesn’t change the fact there are obstructions to their good intentions. If I promise something and someone blocks me from viably pursuing it, that’s not on me, that’s on them: Republicans.
And if they approach it the wrong way, as quoted material suggests, it risks being thrown out by the conservative court making future attempts possibly more difficult.
If I promise something and someone blocks me from viably pursuing it, that’s not on me, that’s on them: Republicans.
If I promise my kid a trip to their favorite amusement park and then don’t get the big bonus I expected from work to afford it, it’s not my jobs fault the kid didn’t go to the park. It’s my fault for making a promise and not finding a way to follow through.
If I promise my kid a trip to their favorite amusement park and then don’t get to go because Republicans blew up every bridge along the way to the amusement park, which also flooded because of Climate Change, then that’s on Republicans, not me.
Nice stealth edit, because you realize what you say is ridiculous.
You’re borderline obsessed with a boogie man. Take some personal accountability.
If you want to use your example that’d be like knowing those bridges were scheduled for demolition, and still promising to drive over them the next day anyway.
Stealth edit? Sorry, I corrected a typo. What did you think I did? LOL.
Like knowing those bridges were scheduled for demolition,
Except in your terrible analogy, this is amplifying momentum for people to vote, which could’ve inevitably changed the outcome of who controlled the House and Senate. Therefore, Biden couldn’t have predicted those bridges to be blown up because it was quite possibly people would make the sensible choice and not put these demolitionists back in Congress.
Republicans have nothing. You will lose.
Biden couldn’t have predicted those bridges to be blown up because it was quite possibly people would make the sensible choice and not put these demolitionists back in Congress.
If he ignored the entire history of the party and voting base. Why is it not his own fault for being able to understand that water is wet?
