Democrats press Biden to use 'existing authority' to take step toward marijuana legalization

[Emile]

Democratic senators are putting pressure on the Biden administration to use its authority to deschedule cannabis, as a Senate proposal to legalize marijuana faces an uphill battle.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and others on Wednesday sent a letter calling on the Biden administration to “use its existing authority to (i) deschedule cannabis and (ii) issue pardons to all individuals convicted of nonviolent cannabis-related offenses.”


https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3547388-democrats-press-biden-to-use-existing-authority-to-take-step-toward-marijuana-legalization/

[SheltieLover]

1. Well beyond time!

[Effete Snob]

2. He won't do it

"Marijuana is bad, mmmkay?" is infused into the deepest fibers of his being.

[Phoenix61]

4. Apparently not.

“I don’t think anyone should be in prison for the use of marijuana,” Biden said in response to a question from The New York Post’s Steven Nelson on Saturday night after stepping off Marine One on the White House lawn.“
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/biden-says-hes-working-on-fulfilling-marijuana-campaign-pledge-to-free-prisoners/

[questionseverything]

7. Then he needs to take mj off the schedule 1 list

Easy peasy

It certainly never belonged with coke, heroin, meth to begin with

[Phoenix61]

8. That's not something he can do by executive order. nt

[questionseverything]

10. He can order the dea ( which he is in charge of) to take it off sch 1

And put it on sch 5 , where it belongs

The dea has fought re classification but it shouldn’t be their call at all , they just want easy targets instead of going after coke, heroin & meth

[Phoenix61]

11. No he can't. That's not how it works. nt

[questionseverything]

12. The president's role is to enforce the law

The dea is an agency under him, he certainly can direct them

It would be correcting a wrong designed to entrap poc

Unless you are saying mj is as dangerous as coke, heroin, meth and all the new super dangerous designer drugs I can’t even name there is no reason for him not correcting this travesty

[Phoenix61]

14. I'm saying you are confused about what Biden can legally do.

If you think he can issue an executive order that changes the classification of marijuana you are wrong.
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/can-president-biden-legalize-marijuana-1220802/

[questionseverything]

15. It's you that's wrong

The first paragraph of your link says the president can do an executive order to dea, hhs and fda to de schedule mj

And I am saying if those agencies don’t follow that direction they should be fired

It does say he can’t change state law but what would the rational be for keeping something illegal that is not dangerous

Obama directed that mj should be the last thing prosecuted in states where it was legal…. According to you he didn’t have that authority

40,000 non violent people are in prison right now for simple pot possession and it’s not right

[Phoenix61]

16. That's not what it says.

“.. he could order executive agencies to consider either moving marijuana to a different schedule so that it could be legally possessed and sold or changing their enforcement approach. “

“to consider” being the key phrase.

[questionseverything]

19. You are making bs excuses, he controls those agencies

[Phoenix61]

20. Biden is the president. He's not a king. He is constrained

by the law. There are 15 agencies under the executive branch including DOJ. Do you really want a president to have the power to tell DOJ who to investigate?

[questionseverything]

21. Actually yes, that's his job

When the president has a rogue agency, like the dea, spending time, money and effort persecuting non violent individuals, I want him to step in and correct the agency acting on his behalf

Unless he really wants these non violent, mostly poc to be imprisoned to protect absolutely no one and screw the taxpayers out of tens of thousands of dollars to incarcerate them

[Phoenix61]

22. What you want and what he can legally do are not the

same thing. Saying the DEA is a rogue agency because it’s following a law you don’t like is comical at best.

[Emile]

3. We know that cannabis has been proven to help benefit veterans struggling with pain and insomnia.

It is also being used as an alternative to opioids.

[ColinC]

5. If he can go further on student loans (which he did)

He can go further on marijuana. Something that has even broader bipartisan support.

[Emile]

6. Exactly. It wouldn't hurt to do it before the midterm election

too.

[Phoenix61]

9. He was using laws that are already in place to address

student loans. There’s no law that allows him to take marijuana of schedule 1.

[ecstatic]

13. Now that would be epic!

He needs to make this a priority even more so than the student loan thing. I say this as someone who has zero interest in using it myself.

[Hekate]

18. Hmmm. This is the man who hurried up gay marriage in the military by "making a gaffe" ...

That was no gaffe. Joe was nudging his boss along at an opportune moment, and I smiled all over.

I have every confidence that Joe Biden will do the right thing, but maybe it would help if a lot of people wrote him a *nice* letter about it?

[Maru Kitteh]

23. The thought of continuing prohibition is just insane to me.

[Maru Kitteh]

24. The thought of continuing prohibition is just insane to me.

[ZonkerHarris]

25. Prohibition is a failed public policy, again.