it’s just so anachronistic that it’s still illegal anywhere. nobody deserves criminal prosecution for any drug, let alone marijuana. it should be trivial paper shuffling to fix it too, it’s not like it needs funding or infrastructure. just hit the fucking button!
I think it actually requires passing a federal bill, but I’m not honestly sure. Either way I’m with you, it should never have been made illegal and it certainly didn’t still be federally illegal today…
AFAIK the DEA and drug scheduling is under the executive branch so someone like Biden should be able to have it rescheduled, but so far all we’ve gotten from him is a committee to study whether marijuana is dangerous or not as roughly half the country have already fully legalized it and probably 2/3 have it legal for medicinal purposes.
The President can’t just order DEA to unschedule it because it would very likely be a violation of the Administrative Procedures Act (the same thing that the Supreme Court said Trump violated when he tried to end DACA). Just ending the scheduling altogether with no strings attached would really need an act of Congress to be safe from being overturned by the SCOTUS.
A few months ago, Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services submitted a formal recommendation to the DEA to reschedule cannabis to Schedule III. It’s now in the DEA’s hands. Schedule III means if you have a prescription, you can no longer get fired for it if you test positive and it’s recognized as having real medical value with moderate to low physical dependence. Not ideal, but complete unscheduling is something the DEA would never go along with. Rescheduling or an act of Congress are the best bets, and Biden has formally requested the DEA to do the former.
I think weed is an issue where Biden’s personal life experience and age show more than just about anywhere else. He’s an old devout Catholic boomer that doesn’t even drink and has a son that’s had a very public struggle with drug addiction. I don’t think he’s ever going to exactly be a champion of legalization.
It’s definitely something that can be criticized, but in the grand scheme of things, given that federal prosecution of marijuana “crimes” are basically non-existent nowadays anyway, it’s a pretty small matter for me. You are right though that he has taken a step towards potentially rescheduling it, which is definitely a step in the right direction.
While people aren’t really being federally prosecuted, the ban still does have far reaching effects like not being able to cross a state border while in possession, get a federal job, or open a bank account as a dispensary (except in some circumstances). Our state department of revenue had to spend millions of dollars to build a giant vault in order to collect millions of dollars in cash from the tax revenue.
I just find it frustrating since I think there’s plenty of political will to just end this draconian prohibition nationwide relatively easily, but nobody seems willing to step up to the plate regardless of party.
nobody seems willing to step up to the plate regardless of party.
I mean, this is the exact thing I’m talking about. Things are actually happening, but it’s the federal government and glaciers are speedy in comparison. The Department of Health and Human Services is, right now, doing work to fully explore rescheduling marijuana. A bill was passed recently that makes it substantially easier for researchers to study marijuana for medical purposes by reducing legal barriers.
Progress is slow, and I completely understand and agree that it’s frustrating, but that doesn’t mean that nothing is happening.
I think it’s more than that, because he flipped on Abortion (which led to that infamous public refusal for Communion by a crazy Southern Priest)
I think it’s a “political capital” thing. Even if it’s not a high cost, it’s just not a priority for him to spend time, effort, and favors to push it across the finish line Federally when it’s bound to happen on its own eventually.
He pardoned (almost?) everyone in jail for simple possession and ordered the DEA and DOJ not to pursue or prosecute possession. He basically “cheaper method” decriminalized it. And it kinda makes sense. What’s the next president going to do? Waste all their political capital re-igniting a drug-war that nobody wants? They’re gonna do what he did with the SALT changes. Let it ride despite the fact some people are pissed because nobody will be THAT pissed at “let it ride”. And for the same reason - they won’t really care.
Germany is finally trying to legalize it, but I have no hope that it’s gonna last past this term. “Drugs are bad mkay” seems to be what media is trying to propagate into people’s minds.
More importantly, Ohio voted to protect reproductive rights!!! 👍
OK OK there are like 10 posts about that already, let us have our marijuana thread. 😉
First time I’m hearing about it 🤷
Was fairly tongue in cheek, but when I fired up kbin and hit the 12 hour filter (as is my usual) I think three or four of the top ten posts were about Ohio abortion rights. Had to dig further to find this one.
I’m not really grumpy about it being mentioned here though, just a playful early morning comment.
Yeah it’s just that this headline was the only one I saw for a while, and I didn’t see anyone mention it in the comments either! So I’m happy to spread the word. Glad to mention it here. Surely some people saw one or the other first, and we’re gonna be shouting out in the streets.
My objection was not at all serious, sorry if it sounded that way!
Nope, not as important. Marijuana legalization affects the freedom of more citizens than access to abortion.
Both should be legal of course.
As a huge stoner, I’d say fewer broke families without the means to raise their children is a bit more important than legal weed.
OHIGHO
It’s right there in the NAME!!! (gestures wildly)
Between the marijuana and women’s rights, conservatives must be losing their goddamned minds with rage right now.
I think weed is probably a pretty divisive issue in the party. I love in Oregon and know a ton of die-hard, Trump lovin’ Republicans who love weed and have long before it was legalized. I think it’s mostly the religious fundamentalists in the south and places like Utah/Idaho who oppose it while the rest probably don’t care at this point.
The Tea Party rode their way up on the coattails of classic Libertarians. The basically want to legalize everything from smoking weed to killing gays and owning people. “Freedom”
When it looks like Republicans are confused and cannibalizing themselves, it’s because of the bloc that married Trump.
At this point it’s probably helpful to appreciate that the only reason weed is federally illegal is that the Nixon administration needed a pretext to expand the police state so that it could go after the antiwar left and brown people.
Since then, having drugs like weed be illegal gives cops discretion to target ‘likely suspects’, which basically can mean ‘brown people’ and anyone they don’t like the look of
The basically want to legalize everything from smoking weed
Yes
killing gays and owning people.
No
killing gays and owning people. No
The Tea Party has been rabidly anti-LGBTQ and historically pro-Confederate-Identity.
Yeah, there was a little hyperbole there. But not by very much.
The people that say stuff like that are probably 16 years old and didn’t actually observe the Tea Party movement as it occurred. They only know what the social media comments tell them to think about it. It was basically a “tired of gov’t bullshit” movement that wanted taxes lowered and freedom increased.
I knew insiders in the early Tea movement (not leaders, but those with contact with them). They largely combined a few members of the ultra-wealthy with some of the fringe Libertarian elements. The whole goal was about manipulating politics for profit while giving one of the Third Parties with a lot of potential “a way in”.
Deep down inside, I think some of the early Tea folks thought it would be a fair deal if they got richer by negotiating a deal between the Chomskys and the Pauls since deep down they wanted a lot of the same things.
But that wasn’t enough. Chomsky and Paul didn’t buy a majority when the Republicans were getting sick of Chomsky and Libertarians were getting sick of Paul. So they had to find another marginalized group that was “tired of gov’t bullshit”. The problem is, that marginalized group was the secular extremist. Proud Boys, KKK, UDC, etc.
No. I’m not 16. I was in college when Libertarians hit their early ceiling. The Libertarians were “tired of gov’t bullshit”. And I didn’t like them, but I could look them in the eye and respect them. But Tea was never Libertarian. That’s what they want you to think. Classic Libertarians would never support “States Rights” like Tea. You know why? They were “tired of gov’t bullshit”.
To be CRYSTAL clear. The Tea Party has always been reactionary and populist. Neither of those things jive with “tired of gov’t bullshit”.
Per Pew. 64% of Tea party members oppose gay marriage (they couch it as government growth, but they don’t actually support dismantling CIS marriage or deregulating the things that gay marriage legally solves). 59% of Tea Party members support a federal ban on abortion (small gov’t, YUP). 51% of Tea Party members want stronger border security. Members of Tea or Christian Conservative parties only disagree between 5% and 10% of the time.
The Tea Party never really had anything to do with being “tired of gov’t bullshit”.
And if I can say all that at “16 year old”, boy wait till I hit 40…
NOTE: Yes I was exaggerating on slavery position. I’ve only seen one or two members of Tea defend it actively, but boy did they passively defend Confederate Identity for years.
The Tea Party never really had anything to do with being “tired of gov’t bullshit”.
You wrote all that to just be wrong, what a waste of time. Is it not common knowledge that TEA in Tea Party was commonly used as an acronym for Taxed Enough Already? That and a number of their other stances were just like I said they were.
I met members of the Tea Party too when they were active in my area. They told me what they were in it for, and what they told me is as I described. So I said “Cool, man, keep it up.”
It is not common knowledge, because I’d never heard that until just now. Seems like a backronym to me, and the name “tea party” references the anti-tax event in 1773.
You wrote all that to just be wrong, what a waste of time
Oh look, you drew a picture where you’re a Chad and I look stupid. You win.
Is it not common knowledge that TEA in Tea Party was commonly used as an acronym for Taxed Enough Already? That and a number of their other stances were just like I said they were.
Of course that’s common knowledge. And it fits all-in with what I’m explaining. But it’s also perfectly-tuned to be palatable by the mainstream Republican. That’s why the old discussion between Libertarian and Tea that slowly turned into one part of the Libertarian side “melding” with it and the other absolutely hating it… And then Left-Libertarianism slowly collapsed into a shell of what it used to be. And Right-Libertarianism just isn’t what it used to be.
I met members of the Tea Party too when they were active in my area
Members or leadership? Tea is like Pro-Life. The members are preaching a very different thing (many very different things) than the leaders. There are established anti-tax groups in the GOP. When you can join two anti-tax groups, one with white hoods and one without them, taxes might not be your issuse.
They told me what they were in it for, and what they told me is as I described.
So they told you they were actually Rank and File moderate anti-tax Republicans and you believed them? So why be part of a fringe group that’s endorsed by extremists if all you want is just what Noem wanted? He didn’t need the KKK to back his message. He didn’t need to go all-in anti-abortion or all-in anti-homosexuality.
And interestingly, I cited evidence of the “not in any way related to tax” part, and you kinda brushed that aside like it doesn’t matter that Tea is primarily different from the GOP in extremism on non-tax-related issues. And the KKK endorsement.
EDIT: Just a thought. Maybe “I also talked to a couple members of the Tea party” isn’t sufficient evidence to belittle an interlocutor and call them a 16 year older? One thing I’m not is ignorant about this topic. There may be a middleground whjere we can agree to disagree on things, but an idiot I am not. And you only make yourself look like one when you treat people that way.
EDIT2: Have a reference. Here’s a book I found by a well-respected Professor explaining the Tea Party’s KKK-like roots, concluding in part that racism is foundational to their ideologies.
EDIT3: This reference is innocent on its own, but repeats the Billionaires part of my description.
EDIT4: (this one is a gamble, since you’ll really show true colors if you reject it), the NAACP reference page on the Tea Party with regards to racism. Kinda all on-board with what I’ve been saying.
So…are college professors, researchers, and the NAACP all 16 years old?
I’m wondering why we’re even currently talking about an organization that was only relevant for like two years thirteen years ago.
I have some high school classmates who grew up in Oregon in the seventies and eighties. As I understand things, weed is a long standing culture in Oregon that was more or less openly tolerated to grow your own back in the day. Present day situation doesn’t surprise me at all.
I did a ride along with an Ohio police department years ago. Marijuana was present at damn near every scene we responded to. Usually it was the least of their concern. Scatter it, grind it into the dirt, move on. Barely worth mentioning in the paperwork.
It’s been a long time coming and I’m glad they finally made it official.
Holy shit I didn’t know it was that many
And if you count the states that have it decriminalized and or offer prescriptions from Dr. Nick or Dr. Spaceman, then there aren’t very many holdouts left.
Biden should just run on abortions and weed next year. Make it federal if the democrats can take back enough of the house and hold the senate.
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Dude promised to do it if elected in 2020…soooo.
Biden promised to get rid of student loans as well. He started the program right before the 2022 election, and it got ruled illegal right after it. Maybe he’ll make weed legal by executive order in October of 2024, only for the courts to rule “wait, you don’t have that power” in December of 2024.
Law should be what society wants the law to be. Law should not be what some elite minority ruling class wants the law to be.
Democracy is how we find out what society wants.
It’s supposed to be, but the GOP has been undermining the shit out of it to try and keep the power they have left.
Federal pardons have been issued for possession crimes, and removing it from being Schedule 1 is currently underway. It’s the federal government, so nothing is fast and everything takes forever, but I don’t think it’s really accurate to say that he’s done nothing.
Especially given that essentially zero people are now prosecuted federally for weed possession now, a bit of a wait for the bureaucratic gears to turn feels fine enough for me.
Yeah it helped about 6500 people, but the rest is taking way too long, even by government standards.
At this point I’m not holding my breath he ever gets it done, so I guess check back with me in 2024.
He can’t. He can recommend to the CSA that it be descheduled from a schedule 1 controlled substance (and that recommendation carries a lot of weight), put in place agents who favor descheduling it, or order DEA, HHS, and FDA to consider administrative descheduling.
Vote out Republicans. That’s the only way to make sure it becomes legal.
He can’t and as another commenter pointed out his health panel submitted a research paper along with a recommendation to move cannabis to a schedule three drug.
He’s already doing what you want it’s just not loud about it so you don’t know.
If you wanted to be fully legal you’re going to need to start writing your congressional representatives because they’re the ones who can do it
cries in Texan
Cries in Kansan too
At least most Kansasans live less than an hour away from Missouri where it is legal.
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Thank you Dr Space Man!
I don’t know if people even think about voting in terms of campaign promises anymore. They never pull through. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me every fucking 2 years for my entire adult life, shame on me.
Just keep it honest: Not fascist vs fascist. Weed will stay illegal, climate will continue to spiral, wealth gap will continue to increase, healthcare will continue to be abusive, abortion will continue to rely on flimsy court decisions, etc. But at least we’ll keep having elections, so we’ve got that going for us.
This is what happens when the system boils down to two parties. Neither party has a reason to fulfill any promises because what’s the voter going to do, vote for the other party that’s even less aligned with their political views? GOP is definitely putting that to the test to see how extremist they can get while still having some modicum of power, but what if everyone does end up voting democrat? Well then there’s no reason to democrats to promise anything because it’s not like people are going to vote for anyone else. The entire system is rotten.
With all due respect, he did everything in his power and spent a lot of political capital executing on the topics in question.
Biden shocked me on what he did for pot, and what he tried to do for student loans. I thought it was hot air.
The question is whether Biden is a fascist because the Far Right sued him and won over student loans, or because the DEA continues to laugh at him when he asks them to change Weed’s classification (because he cannot, he can only stop prosecutions and free prisoners, which he has done)
No he didnt
No he didnt what?
Didn’t blanket-pardon people in prison for possession? Didn’t order the stop of federal possession arrests? Didn’t formally request the DEA change the ranking for Marijuanna?
Didn’t shock me?
What didn’t he do?
It’s not enough. And it should be federally legal.
Just a reminder as people mostly know but it’s worth repeating: Marijuana is a schedule 1 substance in the same category as heroin, fucking heroin, which is absolutely fucking asinine. Psilocybin is up there too and also just as retarded.
This all being said at least we’re making some slow progress.
Dude, you’re not wrong, but take the win.
Almost half
Seems like it is more than time to legalize it nationally
Hope it lasts. The problem is it’s an initiated statute rather than a constitutional amendment, so that means the can be repealed or amended by the gerrymandered state legislature anytime, and Republicans are already threatening to do just that.
I say, go ahead and do that. This passed in a landslide, and I’m looking forward to a blue Ohio where Gym Jorden and the worthless Republicans flushed down the toilet like the stale turds they are.
The legislature is gerrymandered so bad, there would be no consequences. The Republicans have safe seats. Ignoring the voters will have no consequences. We need another decade for more Boomers to die to turn blue.
It passed by a 14-point margin. That means Republicans in republican districts voted for this.
The thing is with gerrymandering of seats? The margins are razor thin. You lose a couple of percentage points, and you lose that seat. Fighting this, and you lose more than a few percentage points.
Oh, they are not that thin. Most R seats are safe. And just because some Republicans voted for marijuana doesn’t mean the will vote for a Democrat. They make like legal weed, but they HATE Democrats.
The fact is, they were already planning to change it the second it passed. I bet they eliminate the home grow provision, cut THC limits, and raise the tax rate to make it unaffordable.
Exactly. There’s enough actually sensible Republicans on the issue of weed to cost the GOP a few seats.
So PA is going to be officially surrounded by legal states, while only having medical
This is worse than the fireworks.
Try having neither. Wisconsin Tavern League can suck my nuts.
They’ll suck anyone’s beer nuts to maintain the status quo
At least in places like here in Madison, you’re free to use.
With delta 8/9 it’s hard to enforce these days anyway but it definitely sucks not having access to decent regular weed.
That’s why I love living in this bubble ;)
I feel like they are just fleecing people through the medical system at this point. ID cards, goofy doctors, etc. Enough is enough.
The system is growing exponentially. I was given those numbers by one of the goofy doctors. Pretty remarkable!
Don’t worry. Many lawmakers in Ohio have already said they’ll immediately overrule it via legislation. Dunno the legality of what they’ve said, but I wouldn’t put it past them.
Many lawmakers in Ohio have already said they’ll immediately overrule it via legislation.
I would imagine any legislative actions would be ruled unconstitutional as the method of legalization was a state Constitutional amendment.
method of legalization was a state Constitutional amendment.
No fucking way lmfao that’s hilarious 😂 Cheers to any Ohioions 🌿 reading this
From a different site I came across. I am not politically savvy but this doesn’t sound like an amendment the way issue 1 was.
“Since Issue 2 is an initiated statute, lawmakers are free to change or toss out the version that voters approve. But even though GOP leaders disapprove of recreational marijuana, a total repeal seems unlikely. They may instead look at the revenue distribution or impose additional requirements.”
Edit: spelling is hard
This is basically how it goes with “begrudging legalization”. The legislature figures out exactly how much they can get away with pushing back while still keeping their seats. There was a little of this in Massachusetts, with the Governor and Mayor both speaking out against legalization when the Question made the ballot.
They dragged their feet for a while on licensing, and gave retails licenses to friends first. If I recall correctly, an overturn vote made it to the next ballot. They rolled it out slower. They jacked up the pot tax an extra 8% (10.75% tax on top of our sales tax AND an optional 3% local tax). They added the silly “5mg per dose of edibles” limit. All stuff they could get away with, but that makes the bill more palatable to pot-haters.
The legislature can and will find ways to neuter the amendment.
They did it here in Florida when we voted to restore the rights of felons after their punishment was complete.
The legislature ruled that the felons had to pay back all outstanding fees before they could get their rights back. Felons get changed by the jail for their stay, so most leave with 100s of thousands in debt on the books.
Then the state purposely makes it impossible for felons to even find out how much they owe, meaning even if they were to somehow get the money paying is very difficult.
It has effectively prevented any felons from getting their voting rights back. I think the actual number who have is less than 10 and we passed that amendment in 2020.
Imagine being so brazenly undemocratic that you’d try to overturn the will of the people themselves. 😩
Welcome to Republicans. They openly believe that law should never be based on the will of the majority. It’s why they draw heirarchy-focused voters. A Republican Vote isn’t “they will honor our wants and needs” as much as “I trust them to be my manager, and make hard decisions I might not like”
I think a real government needs a little of both sometimes, but a WHOLE LOT more “will of the majority” and only a little “hard decisions I might not like”. They feel the other way around.
I’m hoping they’re just showboating… but also if they want to actually take that poison pill… it’s their own funeral.
We New Hampshirites are as well.
Our state is called the “Live Free or Die State” too. So much for that bullshit as long as Republicans are in charge.
How sad is it that we have to drive north for fireworks and you have to drive south to get high.
And… there’s no better place to get high than NH. (Not that I know from experience or anything)
I work in Mass, so I hit a dispensary off 495 on the way home. Sucks that my money is being spent in mass, but the free-staters want it that way apparently
I’ve been living in MA for a few years now. How’s the governor race looking without Sununu?
I think the NH govt has been holding out for federal legality so they can control most of the market like they do with booze.
That’s what they are saying, but fuck that. Let me grow my own God dammit.
Same in Indiana, and we don’t even have medical.
Ohio: Hotbed of liberal hippies.
It’s a state full of vegans rolling around in ram 2500 power wagons
wat
Wait omg rly? Omg I am so happy rn I’m omw blessed ohio save me some vegan edibles
Stick to Columbus and Cleveland. Cincy is pretty wealthy right in my experience. Everywhere else just kinda sucks tbh.
I’ll have you know there are some very ni e national and state parks that are perfectly agreeable.
Because no one lives there
Wow Ohio, that’s a surprisingly not insane move! Soon you won’t be the Florida of the north if you keep this up.
The good news is if we keep sending all our boomers to Florida eventually Ohio might be a place younger people can have a say in and want to live in.
E:spelling
And it won’t be entirely underwater in 10 years!
eventually Ohio might be a place younger people … want to live in.
I’ve never read something so awful /s
Congrats on your wins tonight from your
enemyrivalfriend to the north.As a Toledo resident, the best part of tonight is that i no longer have to feel dirty crossing the border OR support your state’s economy to buy good edibles! /s
In all serious though, my mom’s side of the family is from Ann Arbor, and there are many beautiful parts of your state that i have been lucky to go see. Old Town Lansing is such an underrated place IMO.
I mostly do the “eww ohio” bit as a joke. I honestly have no real strong opinions about your state other than it’s gerrymandered to hell.
Though I will admit that Ohio gaining legal weed is going to be a slight inconvence for us since a lot of you do come over for weed. Plus now we’re at 24 states where its legal. Come on feds just make it legal already
I’m a long time Columbus resident, but I’ve never had much of a stake in the rivalry, people take that shit too seriously. Gonna agree with the other guy that Michigan has some real beauty to it. I drive through it every summer on my way to northern Wisconsin and that’s an enjoyable 11 -12 hours.
Beats the Chicago route any day!
This whole Florida of the north thing is really overblown.
Especially when that’s actually Indiana.
I dunno. The crazy shit in Florida is that it’s a clearly purple state with solid “liberal industry” (disney world, major colleges, etc) that finds itself SOMEHOW passing laws like it’s Kentucky and being a bastion of Republican Criminal Bullshit.
Indiana isn’t purple (pretty Red). It doesn’t have as solid a “liberal industry”. Sure, it wants to be Kentucky. One outta 3 :)
Why is Pennsylvania so late on this?
Man NC is moronic. Replace all the lost tobacco money with weed money… I mean come on. Should be a no brainer.
NC is the prime climate for growing too. I’ll be making the drive to the Cherokee Reservation when they get their dispensaries running, and they can have my money.
Puritanical and Quaker values still run deep there.
I thought it was medically available?
Only under an incredibly convoluted and stupidly managed medical program run by public officials who publicly stated they didn’t want it.
I’m glad cause the “Ohio 8th” which was 2.8g instead of the 3.5g, because it was 1/10th and was the standard for a “day” of consumption will finally die. As will the stupid an convoluted “days” system, limits to purity of product, so no more limiting strains to below 30% or dabs below 80% purity. No more $200 annual fee for medical cards. No more limits to business licenses so more dispensaries, more production centers, more competition. It also adds the right for a person to grow up to six plants. And to commemorate that I’ve got a home hydroponic system from Vevor and Mars Hydro on the way, so I’m finally free to grow my own.
The lower prices and less restrictions will finally lead us to recapturing almost $250mil per year in tax $ to Michigan as well. My heart goes out to all the dispensaries in Michigan that are about to close, but damnit that’s our tax $.
This 100% ends the BS interference DeWine and the R’s have been putting on us. I look forward to the next 30 days and beyond as all this is established. The law goes into effect 12/7.
Congrats on the passage and good luck on your grow!
I got started again earlier this year when my state (MN) finally got it passed, Mars Hydro is great for tents and lights, also grabbed an AC Infinity inline fan which is basically silent compared to the old POS blower I had from 10 years ago while moving a shit ton of air.
I really think home grow is the biggest benefit of legalization, being able to produce your own cannabis and watch it thru the entire process is kind of magical compared to just handing someone cash and getting a bag of junk back. I’m looking forward to getting a press and playing around with concentrates, such an exciting time for cannabis.
Thank you! I lived in Michigan for a few years quite some time back, and grew up there while I lived there. Never have in Ohio yet, but it’s like riding a bike lol. It really is different when you do it yourself.
If you do get a press make sure to do it immediately after harvest or freeze a bunch of nugs before you cure them! The yields will wildly differ and the flavor profile of the terps is much better.
Cleveland is really going to rock tonight.
Did it rock last night. My sister lives on w9/st Claire and she didn’t say anything happened outside the norm.
Welcome to the club!
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Long overdue - by more than 10 years really - that it’s done at the federal level.
