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.

  • ColeSloth
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    9 months ago

    As quickly as possible…now that we’ve done nothing about it for nearly four years, but we have to win another election soon.

    • Snapz@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      “Done nothing about it” are you an actual child or do you just have a child’s perspective on life? We can’t have nice things if some of you don’t put in the basic effort to think a bit. Biden is not the most progressive anything, but he’s doing more than his predecessors on either side (and the pathetic gop alternative) and that’s progress.

      You don’t make major legislative change by firing a cannon at the front door - you set several small fires at all the other exits on the building and then when all that is in motion, you just knock on the front door to warn everyone about the fire and they walk out willingly.

      https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/10/06/statement-from-president-biden-on-marijuana-reform/

      https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/06/politics/marijuana-decriminalization-white-house-joe-biden/index.html

      https://www.npr.org/2023/12/22/1221230390/biden-pardons-clemency-marijuana-drug-offenses

      On December 2, 2022, Biden signed the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act - “the first standalone marijuana-related bill approved by both chambers of the United States Congress”

      Biden approved the Viktor Bout–Brittney Griner prisoner exchange work Russia on December 8, 2022 which involved an American WNBA athlete being convicted of cannabis possession on Russian soil and being held in Russian prison.

        • the post of tom joad@sh.itjust.works
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          9 months ago

          Only difference between blue and red maga is the tone eh? Red maga sounds like a gleeful psychopath, blue sounds more like a business schooled middle-manager on a power trip but both of them prefer ad hominem and sneering.

          • Texas_Hangover@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            Funny how tribalism do lol. Most people have no chance of defeating their baser instincts. But they can sure feel smug about it lol.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Thanks, that’s just what I was going to bring up. Here we even have a short history of this being a several years effort, right in the article, yet there’s always a “they’ve done nothing all this time” post.

      Are these political trolls/misinformation, or honest responses by misinformed people? And who benefits? Repugnicans? A foreign country? A self-righteous bubble of people with the attention span of a gnat?

    • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      She made her career out of prosecuting people for possession. And Biden played a big role in creating the laws she enforced. They’re all scumbags.

      • arefx@lemmy.ml
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        9 months ago

        I mean to be fair people can change, but this is obviously not a case of having a change of heart its because she thinks it will increase chances of winning lol. They are all scumbags though for certain.f

        • flerp@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          Politicians are cynical, they will do what they need to do to get votes. So we have to be cynical as well, vote for people who will do more of the things we want even if they’re not perfectly doing everything what we want.

          Until you can figure out a way to change humanity, you’ve gotta play the game even if you find it distasteful because the alternative is much, much worse.

        • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          They have been pushing this since their first year in office. They were pushing this before Biden even thought he would run again for president. “They are only doing things to get people on their side” is also how a Democratic Republic works. Their administration hasn’t broken from Israel, but they aren’t scumbags for doing what the people want. Many of us hate that we did not stop supporting Israel but I still have not seen a poll that shows over 50% of the U.S. wanting to stop supporting Israel. Blame it on news channels, media, propaganda in general, or just peoples outlook, but their job is to represent the majority of U.S. peoples opinions. We need to get more people speaking up against it elsewhere.

          Example from USA today:

          “Nearly half of American voters, 45%, believe Biden should pressure Israel to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, an exclusive USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll shows.”

          That is from a news source that supposedly leans left for American news. 45% isn’t the majority of voters, although it is finally getting close.

          • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            A lot of the fediverse is in an echo chamber where America is actually a progressive country. It hasn’t been, at least since Reagan but probably since Nixon or even Eisenhower.

    • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Sorry, you must have had your head buried as the GOP’s war on WOKE meant much of the focus was dealing with BS like book bans, women care, human rights, fucking basic shit like voting.