“No one should go to jail for smoking weed,” the vice president said.

Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday called on the federal government to move “as quickly as possible” to change the way it officially classifies marijuana, saying that “nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed.”

“I cannot emphasize enough that they need to get to it as quickly as possible,” Harris said. “We need to have a resolution based on their findings and their assessment. This issue is stark when one considers the fact that on the schedule currently, marijuana is considered as dangerous as heroin ― as dangerous as heroin ― and more dangerous than fentanyl, which is absurd, not to mention patently unfair.”

Marijuana is currently listed as a Schedule 1 drug by the Drug Enforcement Administration. That classification designates it one of the most dangerous drugs possible, with no medicinal uses. Other substances in the same category include heroin, ecstasy and LSD. Marijuana advocates have been pushing for years for the federal government to either reschedule marijuana to a different category or deschedule it entirely.

  • Manos@lemm.ee
    0·
    6 months ago

    They campaigned on this 4 years ago. They’ve done plenty of good things, but this one turned out out to be an empty promise.

    • june@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      Yea just ignore that Biden directed the relevant federal agencies to get this done and the HHS has already made the recommendation to move it to schedule 3.

      Oh and damn, look at this: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahsinclair/2024/01/18/dea-considers-rescheduling-cannabis-what-this-means-for-us-and-global-reform/?sh=2ce8efef743f

      The gears are still moving and the DEA, the agency with the final say according to the legal framework within the controlled substances act, is working on it with the executive branch is actively pushing to have it reclassified.

      It’s almost like a bunch of you who are making brand new accounts to make these posts about broken campaign processes have no fucking clue what you’re talking about because, at the very least, you’re not paying any fucking attention.

      • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
        0·
        6 months ago

        Buddy, Obama campaigned on this. So in our minds it’s been 12 years they’ve fucked around on rescheduling and legalization. 4 of those years Democrats held a majority in congress. We have every right to be furious with these corrupt pieces of shit.

        • june@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          6 months ago

          Oh fuck off.

          Don’t blame Obama’s failure on the person that wasn’t president at the time.

          Admit that there’s finally some fucking progress on this and stop being so petulant about how it hasn’t happened fast enough for your sensibilities.

          Of course it’s idiotic that this hasn’t been done yet, but good god damn it’s getting done but that’s just not good enough is it? May as well protest vote in the election and get trump back in office who, last I checked didn’t make any efforts toward this when he held the office.

          • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
            0·
            6 months ago

            Admit that there’s finally some fucking progress

            THIS ISN’T FUCKING PROGRESS. NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

            You’re the one who needs to fuck off. You’re celebrating like they crossed some kind of goal line because they talked about it? And then you lecture me for pointing out it’s been talked about for at least 12 years? STOP TALKING ABOUT IT FOR A FUCKING SOUND BYTE AND FUCKING GET IT DONE.