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.
As the political winds blow with her I guess. At least it’s a positive change.
As an AG, it was her role to uphold the law and bring forward prosecutions.
I’m recognizing positive change, which is an option now with her new role
Edit I’ll also acknowledge it’s an election year and this is a popular topic TOO
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Amen. Fuck these liberals acting like Dems do anything they promise.
Sometimes a hypocrite is just a man in the process of changing.
Or you’re being suckered again.
That’s obviously not what’s happening here. These people are scum.
This view is close minded.
Any other view of the Demcratic party and the corrupt pieces of shit in it is burying your head in the sand.
Eh.
That was when it went from jail to a fine though.
So lots of people stopped giving a shit and started smoking publicly.
And she’s been pro legalization for years now.
There’s lots of shit to criticize Biden and Harris on, but Harris’s time as a DA and her cannabis conviction just isn’t a good one.
“Under Harris, the D.A.'s office obtained more than 1,900 convictions for marijuana offenses, including persons simultaneously convicted of marijuana offenses and more serious crimes.[73] The rate at which Harris’s office prosecuted marijuana crimes was higher than the rate under Hallinan, but the number of defendants sentenced to state prison for such offenses was substantially lower.[73] Prosecutions for low-level marijuana offenses were rare under Harris, and go her office had a policy of not pursuing jail time for marijuana possession offenses.”
From her Wikipedia page (the reference is pay walled and im not invested enough to figure it out).
Or this is what she wants the law to be, that was what she did when her job was to enforce the law that existed back then.
DAs always have discretion in what cases to drop or move forward, along with being able to offer plea bargains. They aren’t legally required to prosecute everyone who smokes weed, it’s just good optics to a certain political class to do so. And that political class was a much bigger tent even 10-15 years ago.