Bout damn time

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      10
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Not sure if anyone claimed it was going to solve the world’s problems by reclassifying this in the US, but you are correct.

      • Ahri Boy 🏳️‍⚧️
        link
        fedilink
        21 year ago

        Reclassification at the international level requires support from the international community. Singapore is against reclassification of cannabis due to proximity with the opium poppy-laden region called Golden Triangle.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      31
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      This would have been a baby step 10 years ago if we’re being generous. California’s medical marijuana program has been a legal gray area since 1996. So what we can expect federal legalization in another 20 years at this rate? If biden touts this on the campaign trail as an accomplishment I’m going to lose my god damn mind.

      This is so long overdue it doesn’t deserve celebration, it deserves a “what took so long, this isnt even controversial”. If your partner/roommate has been telling you to do the dishes for 20 years and you finally wash some you don’t get to turn around and go “look at me, I did 20% of the dishes! aren’t I great!”

      • RubberDuck
        link
        fedilink
        13
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        That not how any of this works. Politics requires these kind of changes to move gradually. The states went first and showed that it can work, albeit with severe hampering from the federal government.

        Now there seems to be a public support for the next step and this is to gear up to allow dispensaries to become federally legal, have bank accounts and such. The government can then also regulate it in therma of quality and safety.

        We all see the damaging nature of alcohol so that comparison is always a bit strange imho.

        So we agree this is overdue, we disagree how much of a milestone this step is.

        • MrSpArkle
          link
          fedilink
          21 year ago

          Porn is legal and it is hard to find a payment processor that won’t gouge you.

          Puritan bullshit finds a way.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        11 year ago

        That roommate analogy hit me right in the feels. Was just thinking yesterday if my roommate even decided to do the trash or any cleaning once soon, i wouldn’t even be happy bc it hasn’t been done in 3+ years and there’s much to make up for. But positive reinforcement and all right? It took long, but we should probably celebrate if it does happen to keep encouraging the process and stoke that flame. Firmly stating “good job so far, but the job’s not done yet.”

      • @[email protected]OP
        link
        fedilink
        391 year ago

        I mean, that’s a pretty slippery slope of logic you’re on. We should have addressed anthropogenic climate change in the 70s, but I’m not gonna poo-poo the progress we’ve made.

        I know it sucks that so many things change on a generational scale instead of a year scale, but I was also pretty damn happy about all that institutional inertia slowing down the hard-right turn we took during Trump’s 1st term.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          17
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          Being happy with too little too late is exactly why climate change is going be as catastrophic as it will be so I really don’t get how that makes your case. If biden wanted to he could have pressured the dea to deschedule cannabis completely. He didn’t. The DNC hates to lose one of the carrots from their stick.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                English
                11 year ago

                …it’s a time machine. By its very nature, it’s never too late to try or care, just as long as you’ve built the damn thing.

                Unless you were going for more of a monkey’s paw/butterfly effect sorta vibe, which, for all we know of how the actual impact and ramifications of time travel actually work (I.e. effectively nothing in terms of concrete data), could be how the universe squares the circle on causality-violating disruption via some heretofore unknown mechanic vibe… in which case, yeah, totally possible.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              101 year ago

              “I’m going to thank you for doing 1% of what you could and should have instead of demanding to know why you didn’t do more”

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        14
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Agreed, Trump almost managed a coup, loaded the Supreme Court, and would fire random officials every other week… Then the democrats pretend the position of the president is powerless.

        The establishment left are a joke.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          161 year ago

          Yeah, I’m really angry that the president didn’t “violate the law” to push through marijuana changes faster.

          What were you hoping to see them do that they didn’t?

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            61 year ago

            Why are you acting like “appointing a DEA administrator that is pro-legalization” and “make public statements encouraging them to deschedule cannabis” are somehow unthinkable and totalitarian?

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              51 year ago

              … Because that’s what they did? The question was what would you like them to do that they didn’t do.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                5
                edit-2
                1 year ago

                Please give me 1 example of Biden encouraging his DEA to deschedule cannabis because I can’t find one and doubt it exists.

                *downvoting me won’t make that statement exist. 2022 Biden statement on marijuana reform Notable absence: “marijuana should not be on the CSA list of scheduled drugs”. Interesting inclusion: ‘LSD is a good example of what should be a schedule 1 drug’

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  81 year ago

                  It doesn’t make you sound more credible when you skip over the part of the order where he directs HHS to review classification, which is all the president can legally order, to instead focus on the other part that isn’t actually a federal order.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            61 year ago

            The heritage Foundation’s 2025 plan doesn’t just go away if Trump loses the election. The Republican party just sit on it, and sit on it, and sit on it, until they are elected again… And they will be elected again.

            So the establishment left needs to show some level of radical action to even “return” to centrist popularity.

            The President pulling rank on The DEA isn’t illegal, and would ensure a full term where the electoral process could be reviewed and further secured, and an a number of Supreme Court justices could be impeached under a stronger set of anti-corruption laws instituted by a democratic effort.

            Because sometimes corrective radicalism is called for and warranted… Like when someone almost does a coup.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              91 year ago

              The “pulling rank” the president is allowed to do, legally, is to order them to do a review of the scheduling. Which is what was done. Which finished, and now it’s being rescheduled.

              The president doesn’t actually have the authority to order the DEA to change the scheduling.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            3
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            What, you mean experience and institutional knowledge are more important than undying loyalty and complacency with unilateral action?

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        381 year ago

        Well, if you want faster change, you should probably stop blaming the lack of progress on the people who are trying to make changes and start blaming the people who block the changes

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          11
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          That’s the problem, they’re not or barely trying. Descheduling cannabis was within reach of this administration, they chose not to.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            171 year ago

            It wasn’t within reach; republicans control the house; before midterms, the decisive vote in the senate was Manchin. Democrats introduce bills to legalize weed, but unless they get a big majority those are not passing, and a law from Congress is needed for legalization.

            This is the best you can expect until more progressives are voted in.

            • Schadrach
              link
              fedilink
              11 year ago

              It wasn’t within reach; republicans control the house; before midterms, the decisive vote in the senate was Manchin. Democrats introduce bills to legalize weed, but unless they get a big majority those are not passing, and a law from Congress is needed for legalization.

              This is the best you can expect until more progressives are voted in.

              Changing drug schedules, including removing a drug entirely from the schedules is a process that can be started by the DEA, HHS, public petition or Congress. Congress can just do it, while any of the others it involves DEA and HHS coordinating via the FDA and the DEA making the final call. IOW, literally the same process used to put pot on schedule III could have been used to deschedule pot entirely but they decided on schedule III instead.

              This wasn’t the act of the legislative branch, this was the act of agencies under the executive branch. Specifically the DEA and FDA which fall under DOJ and DHHS, respectively. Who in turn are headed by the Attorney General and Secretary of HHS, who are appointed by (and ultimately report to) the President.

              When people claim that Biden could legalize pot, they aren’t talking about something he has to negotiate with Congress and never have been - they’ve been talking about him ordering his direct appointees to push through the required bureaucratic process to do it themselves. And he eventually did, but only as a half measure.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        261 year ago

        Our federal government always moves slowly and almost always is decades behind popular opinion, that’s not news. What is news is that someone did something, and that person is Joe Biden. Even if it’s long overdue, and even if it could be better, he acted on the opportunity to make it happen and that deserves credit.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        71 year ago

        The biggest thing this does imo is unlock the ability for federal research dollars to study marijuana. There’s some other good thing sure that’ll pay dividends later on as steps towards more harm reduction, but getting off Schedule I IS a big step, if not a complete step to righting the wrongs of the war on (some) drugs.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      12
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I’d argue the opposite in a lot of cases, but not all.

      I’m more excited about the medical portion of re-classifying.

      edit I thought you meant the effects not the effects, so I agree with you.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    41
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    This is dumb. You’ve got thousands of recreational dispensaries all over the country. States are pretty much operating in violation of federal law already because the federal law is so out of touch. Maybe change the law to be more in line with what states are actually doing?

    Do we get to wait another 50 years before they make recreational marijuana legal?

    I don’t even smoke weed and I think this is dumb.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    28
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Why do we even have a DEA? It’s like putting cops in charge of which medicine you should take. They aren’t the ones who should be making the calls here.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      11 year ago

      The Enforcement part

      You think doctors are going to be arresting addicts on the street? Then they are just cops

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        21 year ago

        Why are we arresting addicts? If you want to arrest people for loitering or blocking the sidewalk, fine. But, arresting them for being an addict is asinine. How about we arrest people for having cancer while we are at it.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      21 year ago

      So that way disabled people know who’s boss

      Like seriously as someone unable to function without prescription stimulants that’s how it’s always felt

    • Queen HawlSera
      link
      fedilink
      English
      41 year ago

      “We knew we couldn’t arrest people for being pro-civil rights or against the war, but by associating crack with black people and marijuana with hippies, we could disrupt their movements. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did!” - Paraphrasing of the Nixon Administration recounting the “Good ol’ days”

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        21 year ago

        associating crack with black people

        Crack did not exist in at that time. The CIA didn’t flood black communities with it until the 80s.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          21 year ago

          Methamphetamine (Desoxyn) and heroin (Diacetylmorphine) are scheduled II drugs. I don’t think they will at least to the same level as Marijuana since it was previously classified as scheduled I (no medical use)

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          101 year ago

          If it’s like oxy and primarily affects white folks, they won’t do shit.

          Also cops can’t get away with saying “I smelled heroin” as an excuse to terrorize minorities in a traffic stop like they historically did with grass.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    331 year ago

    Imagine simping for this.

    An unelected bureaucrat in an agency gets to decide how illegal a plant is. And then, they decide it’s still dangerous, just not as dangerous as psilocybin, more along the lines of cocaine.

    Progress, whatever, you’re still under a boot.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      41
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Schedule 3 is like Tylenol with codine. They decided it was like Tylenol.

      But yes, I’m happy some bureaucrat is there defining safety standards. Sure they get some things wrong. But also, there’s no sawdust or chalk in bread anymore.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      53
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Like what are you trying to achieve with this comment? Everyone knows it should be descheduled entirely, but are acknowledging progress.

      Your comment just reeks of negativity in an already bleak situation.

      Edit acknowledging progress is not simping.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        61 year ago

        Just reminding people, don’t start cheering for the DEA, remember what they took from you. This isn’t them giving it back, this is them salvaging legitimacy. Demand justice, not concessions.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          161 year ago

          Way to simultaneously claim to be against anti-intellectualism and be willfully ignorant of how federal-level politics works

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    61 year ago

    The proposal, which still must be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget

    Is there any federal employee we don’t have to ask first?

  • gregorum
    link
    fedilink
    English
    23
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    will this mean it can be prescribed in every state? By any doctors? Will it be able to covered by insurance? Medicaid/Medicare?

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            111 year ago

            Perhaps if you didn’t just think about yourself and your perspective you might see that the other person asking a question and someone answering it will be useful if and when other people just web searches and append lemmy like we used to Reddit.

            We can all search anything at any time, but sometimes it nice to have the input of others and contribute to discussions for others to find later.

            “Something something plants trees…”

        • RubberDuck
          link
          fedilink
          131 year ago

          Ketamine is used by doctors and vets. So it is heavily regulated but can be used legally by people allowed to prescribe/use it.

          Ketamine is a tranquilizer… so for official use nothing recreational.

          • gregorum
            link
            fedilink
            English
            71 year ago

            Thank you for at least trying to answer my question. I appreciate it.

            • RubberDuck
              link
              fedilink
              21 year ago

              No problem bud! Hope this either gives you enough to move on by either reading further or skipping to the next article.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            71 year ago

            Low dose therapeutic ketamine is apparently used in some cases of depression and trauma therapy as wel

            • Schadrach
              link
              fedilink
              21 year ago

              Usually that’s the highly related compound called esketamine, which is stronger and is administered in smaller doses nasally and has fewer side effects. Sold under the brand name Spravato. The commercials for it have some things listed as side effects I don’t think I’d seen in a drug commercial before: “can cause … feeling disconnected from yourself, your thoughts, space and time”

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      15
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      From a medical marijuana perspective it wouldn’t change much for states where it is still illegal. It will make things easier for people who are prescribed it in states where it is legal, and hopefully for places that produce or sell marijuana that are currently locked out of banking and payment systems. This would also allow Medicare to at least consider covering it in those states, but they wouldn’t necessarily have to. Medicare coverage decisions are made by the center for Medicare and Medicaid services, we’ll have to see after this change goes through what they determine. They do also already cover FDA approved medications based on cannibinoid ingredients like marinol or epidiolex which are pharmaceutical preparations of delta 9 thc and cannibidiol respectively (these are already available in every state since they are fda approved). Private insurance also will make their own determinations about whether they will cover it or not, but with this change there is a chance they could, whereas before there was no possible way. Medicaid coverage is mostly determined by each individual state.

      The only way this would over ride state law and allow medical marijuana into a state that doesn’t have legal marijuana would be if somehow the marijuana plant itself got an FDA approval, but that is very unlikely for a lot of reasons, foremost that the marijuana plant has a large mix of many different drugs with many differences in amounts and ratios of those drugs from strain to strain, plant to plant, different parts of the plant, or even the same plant at different times in its life. It’s not like, heroin, or fentanyl, or cocaine which are specific chemicals. You could never really say “marijuana plants in general” have a specific indication for a specific disease, it would need to be much more specific in terms of what is actually being given, and only that would have the evidence and therefore the FDA approval. Like take epidiolex/cannibidiol for instance, a single chemical, 25 mg/kg/day was found effective as an add on therapy to another primary therapy for reduction in seizure frequency in children with Lennox gestaut syndrome and dravet syndrome. That’s the specific indication and dosage that the FDA agrees is effective based on the evidence. Lots of other reasons too you’d never see an FDA approval for “all marijuana plants in general,” but the unpredictable mix of tons of different drugs across many many strains of marijuana plants and variability between the plants itself is enough to make this a practical impossibility. It’s definitely contributed a few medications that have roles in certain diseases though, like many other plants before it.

      In short, you’ll still need to convince individual states to legalize it or make medical marijuana laws if you want an actual marijuana plant or plant preparation prescribed to you. Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance coverage could all be different (and even different by insurance company), but there’s at least a chance it could give coverage now, whereas it was impossible before. This also makes marijuana research easier and helps reduce any federal criminal penalties.

    • @[email protected]OP
      link
      fedilink
      191 year ago

      Probably nothing immediately. The biggest advantages of rescheduling are in regard to federal sentencing guidelines and, imo more importantly, federal funding for research. Schedule 1 drugs (which MJ is currently) are defined as having no medical value, so research funding is practically impossible.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    1261 year ago

    It was predictable that this would get delayed to an election year… but at least fucking finally!!!

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      751 year ago

      Well, just look at lemmy users around anything Biden related. No matter what, you’ll get people only talking about Gaza, and disregard all of the other good his administration has done for the 3.5 years they have been working.

      This is why politicians wait for the popular, easy wins until its campaigning time. People have a short memory, and it’s always whatever the last big news story is that drives voters.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          4
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          all the downvotes this comment is getting is making me wonder if all or most of the genocides in the past were allowed to happen because it was politically easier to ignore them during their time for some other higher priority goal.

          if that’s true, it speaks volumes that we no longer remember what that other goal is but continue to perpetuate genocides while simultaneously abhorring it and that it feels a lot like other bizarre social practices like war or prejudices were we also perpetuate them while also simultaneously abhor them.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              11 year ago

              Supporting genocide and genocidal countries are or about the worst thing that one can do. It’s hard to do enough good to overcome that. I dare say it’s impossible. At least Hitler killed Hitler.

    • Boomer Humor Doomergod
      link
      fedilink
      English
      741 year ago
      • “Americans will always do the right thing - after exhausting all other options” - Winston Churchill
          • Queen HawlSera
            link
            fedilink
            English
            21 year ago

            …Really dude? God r/Atheism has migrated to Lemmy it seems.

            The guy’s name isn’t even a religious statement, judging from his avatar he’s likely hispanic or latino, two groups in which Jesus is a common first name, isn’t even pronounced the same way as the Bible guy

              • Queen HawlSera
                link
                fedilink
                English
                11 year ago
                1. It’s hard to read sarcasm over the net, I thought you were literally mistaking a man named Jesus (No I don’t know how to get my keyboard to do the accented e) was a bible thumper based on username alone

                2. Your joke was “Christians bad” which is as offensive as it is played out and lame.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  11 year ago

                  Holy shit man. It was a light-hearted joke about religions being based on faith rather than proof and the commenter’s display name matching that of a widely recognized religious figure.

                  Take your persecution complex somewhere else.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            21 year ago

            Eh who wasn’t then. Damn near every western country was cool with eugenics. Though Dachau opened less than 3 months after Hitler was appointed in Jan 1933, WW2 didn’t officially start for over 8 more years, with the invasion of Poland in Sept 1941…Auschwitz 1 wouldn’t have its ribbon-cutting for another 8 months, and extermination camps didn’t really get going for nearly another year and a half after that. And it didn’t officially end for 5 months after the closure of the death camps and Hitler’s suicide, when Japan surrendered.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              21 year ago

              There have always been progressives. Look at John Brown, violently anti-racist when most of society accepted a racial caste system as normal. We should hold the past to the same standard as the present, not dismiss old problems as “of the times.”