Democrats urge Biden administration to deschedule marijuana ( www.nbcnews.com )

12 Senate Democrats, including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, urged the DEA in a letter to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act altogether.

Senate Democrats are putting new pressure on the Biden administration to ease federal restrictions on marijuana in a new letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday as it considers rescheduling cannabis after it was federally classified more than five decades ago.

The Department of Health and Human Services formally recommended in August that the DEA move the drug from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, or CSA, prompting a monthslong review, which continues.

The letter, from 12 senators led by Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and John Fetterman, D-Pa., and signed by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., goes further.

“The case for removing marijuana from Schedule I is overwhelming. The DEA should do so by removing cannabis from the CSA altogether, rather than simply placing it in a lower schedule,” the senators wrote in the letter, first obtained by NBC News.

chemicalprophet ,

This is an issue from the past decade. I can't wait for all these old politicians to die... Fuck our collective lives😒

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

The headline is a little disingenuous because Biden himself doesn't actually have the power to make the DEA reschedule it. All he can do is tell them he wants them to. The Controlled Substances Act takes it out of the president's hands. I realize that makes no sense since the DEA is in the executive branch, but welcome to American politics.

PopOfAfrica ,

You're telling me he can't fire the DEA chief until he gets results. I call bull.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

He would need to get another chief approved. This is not a rubber stamp Senate.

PopOfAfrica ,

That's a risk I'm willing to take.

There are such things as acting chiefs as well. I keep firing them until we got somebody favorable

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Trump tried to do that to get an attorney general who would help him out. It did not go well.

PopOfAfrica ,

What do you mean it didn't turn out well? Seems like there were actually zero consequences. I love that Trump was allowed to use the awesome powers of the president to hurt people, but Biden's not allowed to use them to help people. That's where the line is, apparently.

frezik ,

It's more akin to Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre, where he kept ordering the next Attorney General successor to fire a special prosecutor until someone finally did it. This finally convinced Congress to get off their ass and start the impeachment process. Republicans then spent the next few decades building a system to make sure a Republican President would never have to face consequences like that again.

PopOfAfrica ,

Right, that's kind of my point. Presidents can do a whole lot to cover their own ass and do illegal activities, but they can't do anything to help the people, such as decriminalizing marijuana.

It's a gross double standard.

lolcatnip ,

Some of us think that kind of thing is unacceptable no matter who the president is.

PopOfAfrica ,

Do you find it more objectionable than locking people up for marijuana possession, ruining their lives? I dont

lolcatnip ,

Changing the DEA scheduling well change things a lot less than you seem to think. It's states that lock people up for simple possession, not the federal government.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Seems like there were actually zero consequences.

Apart from the consequence of Trump being unable to stay in office after declaring the election a fraud. Which is why he kept firing them.

PopOfAfrica ,

Are you implying that by doing something incredibly popular would cause electoral consequences for Biden? Because what you just listed was that Trump lost the election. He faced no fruitful systemic challenges to anything he did ever.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

I'm saying that firing AG after AG did not get Trump what he wanted, so I don't know why you think it would work in this case.

PopOfAfrica ,

Right, I'm just saying that the context is incredibly important. It is a popular political maneuver.

The point is that if Biden ordered it, it's likely that this DEA chief would oblige. We've created this hypothetical where they just won't for some reason. And then that's when you strong arm.

I'm just really tired of nothing good happening ever because we lack the creativity.

Socsa ,

And then SCOTUS will use that as evidence of capricious executive policy making like they have been doing a bunch recently.

Now, if they go through all the reviews and the various agencies in charge recommend rescheduling and the DEA still refuses, that's when Biden might consider firing someone. But definitely not before the review process is complete.

PopOfAfrica ,

Thats when you pack the court with recess appointments

18_24_61_b_17_17_4 ,
@18_24_61_b_17_17_4@lemmy.world avatar

Just fucking legalize it federally already. Rake in the taxes, destroy the black market, and let's be done with this.

dalekcaan ,

Seriously, it's so fucking stupid we're still arguing about this. The majority of people have been cool with weed for decades now.

crusa187 ,

Now now let’s not be too hasty - those private prisons aren’t going to fill themselves.

Death_Equity ,

The problem in a taxed legal market is that the black market can still undercut the legal market if the taxes are too great. If the taxes are kept low enough and the supply is kept high enough, then the black market can't compete with the quality legal stuff.

The other issue is states that keep it illegal. Illegal states still have demand so black market growers working out of legal states can supply black markets in other states. There really is no answer to that other than mandated legalization, which isn't a thing without a USSC ruling that illegal marijuana is unconstitutional, which would cause all sorts of other legal challenges to illegal substance laws.

Even in legal states a black market still operates at a smaller scale depending on how dispensaries handle IDs. If the dispensaries are required to scan IDs to verify authenticity, it logs the ID unless there is a law that requires that no record of the ID is kept. People may not be comfortable or willing to have their ID logged at a dispensary due to legal or professional concerns given the frequent government overreach/abuse, frequent data breeches, or the individual's criminality.

Depending on what you or the government may consider a black market, that may include an adult selling another adult a few grams from their legally purchased stash just as it would include a guy growing and selling pounds without a license/permit/taxation. The "black market" is only "black" because the government doesn't control it.

Federal legalization is a fantastic thing that should be done, but it would not destroy the criminal black market as much as one would hope.

z3rOR0ne ,
@z3rOR0ne@lemmy.ml avatar

Damn Biden. You courting me from 15 years ago?

autotldr Bot ,

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The DEA should do so by removing cannabis from the CSA altogether, rather than simply placing it in a lower schedule,” the senators wrote in the letter, first obtained by NBC News.

Since 1971, cannabis has been under Schedule I, the highest classification of the CSA, along with drugs like heroin and LSD, which the government formally considers to have high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use.

Even so, 40 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized some form of cannabis, for either recreational or medical use, leaving consumers and business owners to operate in a patchwork of changing laws across the country.

The DEA told lawmakers this month that despite the historic recommendation by the Department of Health and Human Services over the summer, it “has the final authority to schedule, reschedule, or deschedule a drug under the Controlled Substances Act” based on scientific and medical evaluation.

The White House had hoped to make a rescheduling announcement close to the one-year mark since President Joe Biden ordered the DEA to review HHS’ recommendation in October 2022 and to use it as a campaign issue at the ballot box in November, according to five sources with knowledge of the situation.

Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who both worked with Schumer to put forward a comprehensive marijuana reform proposal that would end federal prohibition and decriminalize cannabis, legislation that has not gained the necessary support across the aisle.

The original article contains 661 words, the summary contains 239 words. Saved 64%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

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