130
submitted 6 months ago by 420blazeit69@hexbear.net to c/news@hexbear.net

Once OMB signs off, the DEA will take public comment on the plan to move marijuana from its current classification as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and LSD. It moves pot to Schedule III, alongside ketamine and some anabolic steroids, following a recommendation from the federal Health and Human Services Department. After the public comment period and a review by an administrative judge, the agency would eventually publish the final rule.

A very good development for reducing mass incarceration, but:

  1. Listen Fat, this is too little too late to save the 2024 election, if it'll have even gone into effect by then.
  2. How fucking incompetent are Democrats that they're taking the clock down to zero on this obvious win that should have been a "first 100 days" item.
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] 420blazeit69@hexbear.net 16 points 6 months ago

Ok, so try. Do something and make them oppose it, don't piddle around your entire time in office because maybe they will be able to effectively counter what you do.

It's easy to get caught in the weeds (so to speak) on how exactly to change things, but it's clear that much more can be done. And the president has like 100 people on-call to handle the details folks like us aren't sure of offhand.

[-] UrsineApathy@hexbear.net 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I get the frustration, but in this case I think it's a little unfair. Our archaic drugs laws are dictated by the Controlled Substances Act and the only two avenues to update the schedule status are a formal DEA review or an act of Congress. The latter clearly has no legitimate interest beyond political grandstanding so the other possible path to change was used. He took the most effective route in this case.

The vast majority of our legislators are not there because they want to make the world a better place. They're there to further their own self interests and most political dealings work on a quid pro quo arrangement. Forcing a DEA review cost almost nothing politically. The real problem is that this extremely popular action that was unnecessarily harming a lot of fucking people even required executive action at all instead of being addressed 30 years ago by actual legislation.

[-] 420blazeit69@hexbear.net 6 points 6 months ago

Some good info for the discussion:

https://mainelaw.maine.edu/faculty/can-the-president-reschedule-or-deschedule-marijuana%EF%BF%BC/

We argue that this procedure gives the President—acting through the FDA and DEA—power to reschedule marijuana to a less restrictive schedule (as the Biden Administration is currently trying to do).

I think the question is whether Biden had to go through some lengthy process to coax the DEA to reschedule, or if he could have just ordered them to. Even supposing there's a statutory requirement to go through some review process, he could have (1) set the process in motion on January 21, 2021, instead of waiting 22 months, and (2) applied political pressure to the agency to expedite the review. I agree this is the only route to rescheduling, but even assuming he couldn't just order the DEA to do it, there was still a lot of meat left on the bone.

The real problem is that this extremely popular action that was unnecessarily harming a lot of fucking people even required executive action at all instead of being addressed 30 years ago by actual legislation.

100-com

[-] UrsineApathy@hexbear.net 4 points 6 months ago

I could only get the abstract for the article, but the linked brief is likely more than enough. You're right that intense pressure could have been out on the agencies to expedite the process, specifically, the Attorney General, FDA, and DEA heads are all appointed positions and can be removed from office with relative ease, but that move would come at a heavy cost.

The subtext though is that it's not a priority for him besides being a campaign bullet point, which you've already touched on plenty and I agree with. Rescheduling doesn't redeem anything in my eyes, but I'm not going to look down on positive progress when it happens. So make sure to 420blazeit and celebrate.

[-] AernaLingus@hexbear.net 5 points 6 months ago

I could only get the abstract for the article

You should be able to get it from SSRN by clicking "Download This Paper", then "Download without registration" on the following page (you may need to scroll down a bit if you're on mobile), and finally "Download".

[-] UrsineApathy@hexbear.net 1 points 6 months ago

Oh shit, thanks for letting me know. Funny enough, I even tried to download the pdf, but mistook that "download without registration" as a heading for their marketing section!

this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2024
130 points (100.0% liked)

news

23540 readers
649 users here now

Welcome to c/news! Please read the Hexbear Code of Conduct and remember... we're all comrades here.

Rules:

-- PLEASE KEEP POST TITLES INFORMATIVE --

-- Overly editorialized titles, particularly if they link to opinion pieces, may get your post removed. --

-- All posts must include a link to their source. Screenshots are fine IF you include the link in the post body. --

-- If you are citing a twitter post as news please include not just the twitter.com in your links but also nitter.net (or another Nitter instance). There is also a Firefox extension that can redirect Twitter links to a Nitter instance: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/libredirect/ or archive them as you would any other reactionary source using e.g. https://archive.today . Twitter screenshots still need to be sourced or they will be removed --

-- Mass tagging comm moderators across multiple posts like a broken markov chain bot will result in a comm ban--

-- Repeated consecutive posting of reactionary sources, fake news, misleading / outdated news, false alarms over ghoul deaths, and/or shitposts will result in a comm ban.--

-- Neglecting to use content warnings or NSFW when dealing with disturbing content will be removed until in compliance. Users who are consecutively reported due to failing to use content warnings or NSFW tags when commenting on or posting disturbing content will result in the user being banned. --

-- Using April 1st as an excuse to post fake headlines, like the resurrection of Kissinger while he is still fortunately dead, will result in the poster being thrown in the gamer gulag and be sentenced to play and beat trashy mobile games like 'Raid: Shadow Legends' in order to be rehabilitated back into general society. --

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS