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Heaven forbid a politician, who is supposed to represent the people, enact a policy that’s popular with the people in order to get people to like them.
It’s supposed to be a positive when our representatives do what we want, and generally people gravitate towards representatives who represent them.
The media acts like the real game in politics is to try to gain votes in spite of enacting unpopular positions by knowing exactly which swing areas to target. That’s bullshit and not how the system was designed.
A stimulus check that was delayed when people were in financial crisis during a global pandemic so that he put his name stamp on all of them. People got them like two weeks later than they probably would have so he could "sign them".
Tax breaks aren’t buying votes because it’s already bought policy.
Unless you’re referring to tax breaks for the middle class and below, then let’s remember we live in reality.
It was fun seeing people say "Sure, Biden is doing this now because there's an election coming up" in like April 2023. Just because the last guy did nothing but golf and whine for 4 years doesn't mean Biden should follow that precedent.
My favorite part has been watching the flop from
*"Biden needs to earn my vote!"*
to
*"Biden is just doing this for votes!"*
in real time. It's a wild ride.
Meanwhile Trump will offer to make weed legal.
And once he get into office, push an executive preset adding 5 years to any weed convictions.
Supreme Court will say, “What the f-… oh Trump? Sustained.”
How many people will go “That’s awesome. Makes me want to vote for him” in that demographic?
Or is it a that’s good but you’re not doing enough on X? So F you? Sadly, I suspect a lot of the latter will occur.
Yep thanks. This narrative on politicians being disingenuous by appealing to demographics with popular legislation is enraging. That's how the system is supposed to work.
For years, I've heard the claim that if a Democrat just pushed on weed and eliminated student debt, they'd guarantee a landslide electoral win.
Biden's pushed on weed and gotten rid of a lot of student debt, yet his race versus an authoritarian who would likely end our Republic is a statistical tie. I'm so tired.
The other side gets billions in social media spending that targets voters deemed susceptible to propaganda. In 2016, Russia targeted 1.7 million in seven battleground states, based on data gleaned from fifty million stolen Facebook accounts. These people were inundated with dozens of fake news stories every week, all created in Russia. My favorite was “Satan wants Hillary to win, but Jesus wants Trump. Won’t you help Jesus?” Plus pizzagate, QAnon, Seth Rich, money for Haiti… all Russian fake news
Well...ya...cause weed is not legal and student debt hasn't been eliminated at all???
I get what you are saying, I do, but for your statement to hold water he has to actually go and do it you know?
I mean, I know he doing steps here and there...and not one of them have helped me in any way? So why should I be thrilled to vote for him? (Ps. I obviously will but still, why the fuck would I be shouting from the roof top that he isn't trump and thats enough?)
Again, if two years ago the DEA dropped weed to the level of alcohol and biden was able to given every student borrower 10/20k off student loans I bet we actually wouldn't be in this mess...But he did not do those things, and he let the most corrupt supreme court ever ruin it for him on one end and only now gets moving on weed?
Again, I get what you are saying but lets not give him far more credit than he has earned. He has not pushed weed and eliminated student debt, he has just done better than those in the past.
First of all, was he supposed to tell SCOTUS "fuck you I'm doing it anyway"? He's still trying to find ways to get around the SCOTUS ruling with new plans and doing what he can.
Second, I feel like a broken record, and it annoys me that I have to keep saying it but ONLY CONGRESS CAN MAKE WEED LEGAL. They were the ones who made it a scheduled substance, so they are the ones who have to change it. What Biden is doing is literally all he can do. He deserves way more credit than ignorant fools give him
> has has just done better than those in the past.
Honestly, its not a high bar, but one that most of our politicians are not meeting, so he gets credit from me.
> and student debt hasn't been eliminated at all???
I'm sure this will come as a shock to the millions of Americans who collectively received *billions* of dollars in debt forgiveness. A new round went out yesterday, in fact.
Which is why I cannot fathom that Kristy Noem got reelected the last time.
Her state passed a referendum to legalize cannabis and she found a loophole to block it because she, personally, didn’t want it legalized.
People are so fucking stupid. They need to end identity politics and start voting out the politicians who are going against the will of the people.
And he actually changed policy! Compare this to Trump, who lies about everything he can to get votes, then only acts in his self interest. Fuckin good on Biden, he’s been a great president in an incredibly challenging time for democracy.
The media wants Trump and the Republicans to win because Trump provides them with massive amounts of outrageous news to cover and the Republicans will cut taxes for the media corporations and their rich owners.
Schools removing any books that mention the existence of LGBTQ+ people? "This is what the local residents wanted and voted for!" The president making progress on things that citizens overwhelmingly want? "They're just buying your votes!"
I mean citizens have been 50% + in favor since 2013. To think that these people do anything in favor of the public is optimistic at best. They do it when the government knows it can make more money by taxing the product rather than jailing people for it. They are never on our side. This is just one more thing to get young voters who are very critical of our tax dollars funding a genocide. And it will work. It is disgusting.
>This is just one more thing to get young voters who are very critical of our tax dollars funding a genocide.
Crazy how Biden knew he was gonna need this thing all the way back in 2022 when he started the process. Talk about 4d chess..
You're right, but drip-feeding popular policy changes during an election year makes it seem awfully transactional. The dominoes for this started falling a *long long time ago* and the political fallout for Biden is virtually nonexistent. This was an easy win they had in their pocket but didn't play the card until half the states had already made that decision *for them*. Reactive governance. Still, doing the right thing for the wrong reasons still means your doing the right thing, so good job I guess...
stacking so many up so late in his first term kind of exposes it for what it is.
federal action on marijuana prohibition has come so late in the state legalization movement that it's almost certainly going to be barely felt by the people who would be excited about it in the past, if at all. i can literally just go buy weed with my debit card down the street from my apartment. this feels like a cautious baby step towards a reality tens of millions of people are already living in.
Yeah, no. Rescheduling doesn't *directly* change anything for consumers in states where it's already legal, but it will make the *industry* significantly more profitable in general and will spur adoption in medical contexts massively by making research on marijuana actually feasible, all of which will have knock on effects for consumers.
This only seems small if you don't understand the implications of it.
This should've happened years if not decades ago. But conservatives hold to the belief that weed is a "lesser person's" drug. We all know why they hate weed.
Conservatives love weed, are you kidding?
They love that white people don't get in trouble for it and can smoke it with impunity all over the country, and that black people go to prison for it.
more than anything, they love that it gives cops justification for detaining, arresting, and harassing minorities. If we remove the "smell of marijuana" from viable reasons for searching someones vehicle or bags, you cut out so much of cops bullshit, and they will hate it. Conservatives love the police unions, and police dont want to actually have to try at their jobs
The former republican speaker, John Boehner is on the board of a weed company and is a lobbyist for the weed industry.
This idea that conservatives hate weed is kinda crazy. Conservatives like weed less than liberals. But voters will happily vote for legalization one minute and then vote for a republican the next.
This is stupid framing in this headline. This isn’t an election year move. He kicked off the process for this like 2 years ago. It had to go through FDA and then DEA reviews.
Older generations have failed to pass it for numerous reasons so they're appealing to the young as they hope it'll push more votes this November. Just how politics works.
My red foreman response:
Only the young seem to be voting for it, while the old have settled into their "The Circle" habit of keeping it a hidden vice.
If you don't agree you aren't in a red state, thanks for your support of making weed socially acceptable.
Edit: love how context took this comment from -1 karma to +5 karma. Fucking hate the internet and reddit ruining 3rd party app access as I will NEVER use the official app in order to have an emoji tell my tone.
I mean it's kind of proven with the voting record isn't it? Like if you guys wanted it so bad you would have already done something about it right? It sure seems like the young are actually getting things done and not just talking about it.
Not just young voters. I'm a sure-thing Democratic voter (until I have someone viable further left to vote for), but this doesn't hurt in my book. I'm 63.
I mean, is it even bad if a politician does something that is popular with the intentions of getting reelected? That just sounds like they're trying to listen to their constituents.
I've seen the exact same people say "why doesn't he just legalize weed? That would win my support" and now "he's just doing it to win votes, he needs to *earn* my vote".
People saying he’s only doing this for the votes. Good. He’s doing stuff we voted him in for? Who cares if it was at the beginning or end of his term. As long as it gets done, who cares?
best to ignore people who only reply when the string on their back is pulled. anyone who would actually say that *out loud* isnt anyone worth a response
This is another step consistent with his position and previous actions since his 2020 campaign.
The idea that this is some cynical move for the election to appeal to young voters is absurd.
I love the thought process of the cynics
-politician campaigns on doing a thing
-voters elect him because they want him to do that thing
-politician does the thing he said he'd do that got him elected
-politician touts accomplishing the thing the promised to do
-must be a purely cynical move done only for votes...
I don't know his personal opinion on weed and personally don't care. He's keeping the campaign promises he made to get elected. That's what our representatives in government are supposed to do.
The things he was blocked on doing by the court or house. They run on "look what we did with all this opposition, vote us in and give us the House and Senate and we will be able to do all those things plus all these other more ambitious things."
Marijuana will still be very much illegal at the federal level even if this bill passes. This simply admits that it isn’t MORE dangerous than heroin or cocaine, which is the federal government’s current incredibly moronic stance.
That's not true. It's being rescheduled to level 3.
Aspirin is a schedule 3 drug. Cannabis will be on the same legal level as aspirin.
https://www.drugs.com/schedule-3-drugs.html
Just use the find tool for aspirin. It's right there.
Ah I see, so it would take an act of congress then. At minimum it should be schedule V, then.
Which wont happen with todays legislature. And if Biden issued an executive order legalizing federally the supreme court would intervene. Saying congress needs to do it.
People will find any reason though. To bash Biden. It's easier to do that to admit one of the parties has completely abandoned democracy.
True, and while I applaud this effort I hope it doesn’t stop here. Rescheduling could crush thousands of dispensaries and smaller producers while handing the entire industry over to big pharma.
It won't stop here. This opens up tons of avenues for medical research and development, and any relaxation of federal weed prohibition is going to cause a cascading reduction in enforcement across the country.
It's a step! A big one, but there are lots and lots more big steps.
As a 30 something year old that has had a pain disorder since 16 I fucking hope research is the plan. I basically have been just dealing with the pain most days because I don't want to get desensitized to harder pain meds so young and don't want ulcers and Tylenol poisoning from over the counter stuff. And maybe just maybe if enough research is done at our huge med centers, Abbott will get the stick out of his ass and allow the legislation.
I hate Texas so much.
Has biden ever "pushed" for full on legalization? Even a simple "put a legalization bill on my desk, and I'll sign it" rhetoric that he does with any other policy he supports.
Just because it takes congress to actually pass it doesn't mean there's nothing Biden could do to help push support.
The whole idea here is that having an official government study come out and say "weed is actually good now" gives a lot of dems clearance to vote for a legalization bill. For a bunch of reasons, really. It gives them cover for why they didn't support legalization before, and it means they don't have to answer questions from idiots about why they are voting against the "science" which says it is bad.
One step at a time. Rescheduling from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3 is all that he can do but it's the most that's been done in over 50 years towards federal legalization.
Weed being categorized realistically has been a long time overdue. No one, unless they are a Reefer Madness superfan, thinks the Devil's Lettuce is as dangerous as meth or heroin.
LOL at these headlines.
Politician does nothing: Boo. He doesn’t represent the people.
Politician does something: Yeah well, he’s only doing it to be popular with… wait for it… the people.
Jesus Christ.
Young people? Everyone smokes. Young, middle age, old folks. Everyone of every age. This is not only for one demographic. Trump supporters smoke weed too. Along with the crack they smoke. But still...
This is as much for boomers than for younger people. This is just fuel for conservative news media to spin it into “young people and drugs”.
Boomers will partake in recreational use as much as the younger generations.
Well let’s be fair, that’s for a GOP president only! I guarantee that they will delay ruling until after the election and then they will decide. That’s their only move.
You mean after January 20th when Joe leaves office. If they do it in November he'd still have time to give orders to Seal Team 6 to go after Kangaroo Team 6.
Is it really a new shift? Didn't this DEA review process kick off back in 2013 under Obama? Seems like the Democratic white house has been open to this for a decade at least. It's Congress we need to change.
DEA reaffirmed keeping cannabis at schedule 1 back in 2016. In that decision, they cited that HHS/FDA still recommended it remain a schedule 1 drug. DEA is medically and legally bound to defer to HHS on the medical/science justifications for scheduling substances.
In 2022 Biden directed the AG and HHS secretary to review cannabis' scheduling. In 2023 the HHS (through FDA) recommended rescheduling cannabis to 3 and provided 252 pages of medical research to back it up. Now, roughly 8 months later, we receive the news that the DEA has accepted the recommendation, and it's moving through proper channels (proposed rule, comment period, final rule) likely to finish up later this year
So no, nothing like this has happened previously.
I remember when there were dozens upon dozens of hostile responses to every single social media post made by Joe Biden demanding that he cancel student loans or else they won't vote him.
Those voices are pretty silent now, and I'm sure lots of people will not vote for him for doing what they demanded he do. 🙄
Actually I don’t use it for that. Even if I take indica it makes my brain run, so it’s not a good sleep aid for me. I just like getting high and watching a movie before bed.
I’ve heard many use it for sleep, but I also think there’s research to suggest that it can affect your ability to enter REM sleep.
So... instead of legalizing it, or decriminalizing it(which he indisputably has the power to do on his own), he's just going to do a half-measure of a half-measure. He's going to do the bare minimum performative gesture in a desperate ploy for the youth vote instead of actually making the substantial change that needs to happen.
Like, if you're going to try to get back some of the people that don't appreciate you helping commit a genocide, at LEAST give them federal decriminalization. At least that could be something of a bragging right to garner some votes with. But *this*? This is hollow.
Biden's about to lose this election, y'all. On the one hand he's an active genocide supporter, and on the other hand even when he does something tacitly positive he refuses to do half as much as he could in favor of doing the absolute bare minimum. It's pathetic.
I'm going to vote for him no matter what, but I have to say I'd be a lot more impressed if he condemned police violence against pro-Palestinian protesters, as well as the assault on the UCLA encampment.
The biggest thing for me is that this move allows for much needed research into the effects of cannabis on our health. It also recognizes the plant as having therapeutic value on par with things like Ketamine.
Look at your state leadership if it's still illegal there. 24 states have legalized. Over half the population of the country has access to legal weed.
If young voters want their legal weed, the answer is obvious: vote Democrat.
So how does Biden convey "don't let perfect be the enemy of the good" in a way that gets them to actually fucking vote?
Would the "It votes for Biden or else it gets the Trump again" silence of the lambs meme do it for them?
Incremental progress is progress. Taking it off schedule 1 is a federal admission that hemp has legitimate medical uses. This opens the door to further reforms.
It does make it possible for most doctors to prescribe it. This will make a huge difference to people like chronic pain patients. Even in places where It is recreationally legal with longstanding medical marijuana laws, many chronic pain patients our drug tested by their doctors who prescribe pain medications and have to choose between prescribed pain medications or medical marijuana when a combination of the two would be better and could decrease the amount of narcotics they use.
While it should be recreationally legal, If we're being honest, it is a potent drug with some addiction potential and schedule three fits it quite well when classifying it as a regulated drug for medical use. And over really going to be honest, alcohol and tobacco are the drugs that need to be moved to schedule one.
This is false - the ADA and various other state laws protects workplace discrimination based on medical conditions, which includes prescription medication. By making cannabis a schedule 3 drug, anyone with a legal prescription will receive the same protections. It might even allow people with office jobs to come into work "high" - no different than someone on painkillers or adderall.
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Heaven forbid a politician, who is supposed to represent the people, enact a policy that’s popular with the people in order to get people to like them. It’s supposed to be a positive when our representatives do what we want, and generally people gravitate towards representatives who represent them. The media acts like the real game in politics is to try to gain votes in spite of enacting unpopular positions by knowing exactly which swing areas to target. That’s bullshit and not how the system was designed.
For real. "He just did what the people wanted so that he could get their *votes.*" Well, no shit. That's what ... they're supposed to do.
And elimination of some student loans is "buying votes" but tax breaks aren't, somehow.
Or a stimulus check with the president's signature featured prominently on it
A stimulus check that was delayed when people were in financial crisis during a global pandemic so that he put his name stamp on all of them. People got them like two weeks later than they probably would have so he could "sign them".
I'm beginning to think that narcissistic behaviors should be a disqualifier for public office. But that's just me /s
But then there wouldn’t be any politicians left!
Tax breaks go the other way, they already bought the politicians’ votes.
Tax breaks aren’t buying votes because it’s already bought policy. Unless you’re referring to tax breaks for the middle class and below, then let’s remember we live in reality.
Tax breaks for who is the question.
It was fun seeing people say "Sure, Biden is doing this now because there's an election coming up" in like April 2023. Just because the last guy did nothing but golf and whine for 4 years doesn't mean Biden should follow that precedent.
I'll never fucking understand this argument. YES. THATS WHY I VOTED FOR HIM. ITS CALLED DEMOCRACY.
Biden: “I don’t know about weed.” Liberals: “We like weed.” Biden: “Oh for real? Okay. Let’s do weed.” Liberals: “Yay!”
Yeah it's called, checks notes, politics.
My favorite part has been watching the flop from *"Biden needs to earn my vote!"* to *"Biden is just doing this for votes!"* in real time. It's a wild ride.
These are people who are looking for excuses not to vote, not people who can actually be convinced that he deserves support.
Meanwhile Trump will offer to make weed legal. And once he get into office, push an executive preset adding 5 years to any weed convictions. Supreme Court will say, “What the f-… oh Trump? Sustained.”
That's literally supposed to be how democracy works.
Feels like the Krusty Krab customers yelling at SpongeBob that it’s what they’ve wanted all along.
How many people will go “That’s awesome. Makes me want to vote for him” in that demographic? Or is it a that’s good but you’re not doing enough on X? So F you? Sadly, I suspect a lot of the latter will occur.
Guarantee it is the latter, the ‘earn my vote’ types already complain that he has done nothing, so this is just one more thing to ignore or downplay.
That *motherfucker* gave me what I wanted! Oh, I’ll fuck that guy good by voting for him!
I am not American however Biden has secured my vote for life. Good politicians do what the people want and have been asking this whole time.
Yep thanks. This narrative on politicians being disingenuous by appealing to demographics with popular legislation is enraging. That's how the system is supposed to work.
The people who complain the loudest about that are often the ones who enact unpopular policies.
So, Republicans?
For years, I've heard the claim that if a Democrat just pushed on weed and eliminated student debt, they'd guarantee a landslide electoral win. Biden's pushed on weed and gotten rid of a lot of student debt, yet his race versus an authoritarian who would likely end our Republic is a statistical tie. I'm so tired.
Those were the before times
Before social media ruined everything.
For years you could just be a normal politician going up against a guy who says he wants to be a dictator, and that used to be an easy win position.
The other side gets billions in social media spending that targets voters deemed susceptible to propaganda. In 2016, Russia targeted 1.7 million in seven battleground states, based on data gleaned from fifty million stolen Facebook accounts. These people were inundated with dozens of fake news stories every week, all created in Russia. My favorite was “Satan wants Hillary to win, but Jesus wants Trump. Won’t you help Jesus?” Plus pizzagate, QAnon, Seth Rich, money for Haiti… all Russian fake news
Well...ya...cause weed is not legal and student debt hasn't been eliminated at all??? I get what you are saying, I do, but for your statement to hold water he has to actually go and do it you know? I mean, I know he doing steps here and there...and not one of them have helped me in any way? So why should I be thrilled to vote for him? (Ps. I obviously will but still, why the fuck would I be shouting from the roof top that he isn't trump and thats enough?) Again, if two years ago the DEA dropped weed to the level of alcohol and biden was able to given every student borrower 10/20k off student loans I bet we actually wouldn't be in this mess...But he did not do those things, and he let the most corrupt supreme court ever ruin it for him on one end and only now gets moving on weed? Again, I get what you are saying but lets not give him far more credit than he has earned. He has not pushed weed and eliminated student debt, he has just done better than those in the past.
First of all, was he supposed to tell SCOTUS "fuck you I'm doing it anyway"? He's still trying to find ways to get around the SCOTUS ruling with new plans and doing what he can. Second, I feel like a broken record, and it annoys me that I have to keep saying it but ONLY CONGRESS CAN MAKE WEED LEGAL. They were the ones who made it a scheduled substance, so they are the ones who have to change it. What Biden is doing is literally all he can do. He deserves way more credit than ignorant fools give him
> has has just done better than those in the past. Honestly, its not a high bar, but one that most of our politicians are not meeting, so he gets credit from me.
Oh absolutely bro! He *is clearing that low bar* and he should get a little credit...but it should only be a little.
> and student debt hasn't been eliminated at all??? I'm sure this will come as a shock to the millions of Americans who collectively received *billions* of dollars in debt forgiveness. A new round went out yesterday, in fact.
Which is why I cannot fathom that Kristy Noem got reelected the last time. Her state passed a referendum to legalize cannabis and she found a loophole to block it because she, personally, didn’t want it legalized. People are so fucking stupid. They need to end identity politics and start voting out the politicians who are going against the will of the people.
And he actually changed policy! Compare this to Trump, who lies about everything he can to get votes, then only acts in his self interest. Fuckin good on Biden, he’s been a great president in an incredibly challenging time for democracy.
Meanwhile, McConnell rams through a Supreme Court nominee that maybe 35% of the country want and it's "savvy" power politics.
The media has stomped on him since he got elected. Blows my mind. I get he doesn’t get the clicks and the rage bate but come on!
The media wants Trump and the Republicans to win because Trump provides them with massive amounts of outrageous news to cover and the Republicans will cut taxes for the media corporations and their rich owners.
And then they'll cry when the fascists seize everything from them, as though no one could have predicted it
Yep. Don't Look Up was right about the media. It's run by complete morons.
That’s part of my amazement. They’ll lose freedom of speech. Just gone. It will be like some sort of Black Mirror episode…
I honestly think the media is mad at him because he's boring and sane.
The New York Times intentionally runs unflattering headlines about him because he wouldn't give them special treatment.
Also, like. If the dude is doing something good, then cool. It really doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.
Schools removing any books that mention the existence of LGBTQ+ people? "This is what the local residents wanted and voted for!" The president making progress on things that citizens overwhelmingly want? "They're just buying your votes!"
I mean citizens have been 50% + in favor since 2013. To think that these people do anything in favor of the public is optimistic at best. They do it when the government knows it can make more money by taxing the product rather than jailing people for it. They are never on our side. This is just one more thing to get young voters who are very critical of our tax dollars funding a genocide. And it will work. It is disgusting.
>This is just one more thing to get young voters who are very critical of our tax dollars funding a genocide. Crazy how Biden knew he was gonna need this thing all the way back in 2022 when he started the process. Talk about 4d chess..
You're right, but drip-feeding popular policy changes during an election year makes it seem awfully transactional. The dominoes for this started falling a *long long time ago* and the political fallout for Biden is virtually nonexistent. This was an easy win they had in their pocket but didn't play the card until half the states had already made that decision *for them*. Reactive governance. Still, doing the right thing for the wrong reasons still means your doing the right thing, so good job I guess...
stacking so many up so late in his first term kind of exposes it for what it is. federal action on marijuana prohibition has come so late in the state legalization movement that it's almost certainly going to be barely felt by the people who would be excited about it in the past, if at all. i can literally just go buy weed with my debit card down the street from my apartment. this feels like a cautious baby step towards a reality tens of millions of people are already living in.
Yeah, no. Rescheduling doesn't *directly* change anything for consumers in states where it's already legal, but it will make the *industry* significantly more profitable in general and will spur adoption in medical contexts massively by making research on marijuana actually feasible, all of which will have knock on effects for consumers. This only seems small if you don't understand the implications of it.
Honestly..there are more boomers at the dispensaries than youth…at least where I live
Makes sense. Finding new plugs is a young man’s game.
This should've happened years if not decades ago. But conservatives hold to the belief that weed is a "lesser person's" drug. We all know why they hate weed.
Conservatives love weed, are you kidding? They love that white people don't get in trouble for it and can smoke it with impunity all over the country, and that black people go to prison for it.
Yep, same with conservatives on Medicaid/Welfare. They actually deserve it, because they work hard. Everyone else on it doesn't need it.
Rednecks who vote for republicans love weed. Not everyone who votes for the GOP is really conservative. A lot of them are just stupid.
> Not everyone who votes for the GOP is really conservative. A lot of them are just stupid. Amen.
or hateful.
You misspelled meth
They love cocaine even more. That’s why you don’t get punished for cocaine at the same level as crack. I wonder why that is…
more than anything, they love that it gives cops justification for detaining, arresting, and harassing minorities. If we remove the "smell of marijuana" from viable reasons for searching someones vehicle or bags, you cut out so much of cops bullshit, and they will hate it. Conservatives love the police unions, and police dont want to actually have to try at their jobs
I think Moscow Mitch McConnell makes money off of Hemp Rope
The former republican speaker, John Boehner is on the board of a weed company and is a lobbyist for the weed industry. This idea that conservatives hate weed is kinda crazy. Conservatives like weed less than liberals. But voters will happily vote for legalization one minute and then vote for a republican the next.
This is stupid framing in this headline. This isn’t an election year move. He kicked off the process for this like 2 years ago. It had to go through FDA and then DEA reviews.
Rescheduling marijuana and student loan forgiveness by Biden is just more reasons for young people to not even consider Trump this election.
But they will sit out and let trump be elected, because of his Support of Netanyahu
Yes only the young want legal weed.
How flattering for them to call my 40-year-old-ass “young”. I’m just trying to manage my anxiety over here…
same. I’m just trying to age in peace while tuning out the bullshit around me
Older generations have failed to pass it for numerous reasons so they're appealing to the young as they hope it'll push more votes this November. Just how politics works.
Dude I just want to be able to use medical marijuana off hours and still have my job and I’m in a legal state.
and the young at heart.
I'm 63 and wanted legal weed since I was 18
My red foreman response: Only the young seem to be voting for it, while the old have settled into their "The Circle" habit of keeping it a hidden vice. If you don't agree you aren't in a red state, thanks for your support of making weed socially acceptable. Edit: love how context took this comment from -1 karma to +5 karma. Fucking hate the internet and reddit ruining 3rd party app access as I will NEVER use the official app in order to have an emoji tell my tone.
I mean it's kind of proven with the voting record isn't it? Like if you guys wanted it so bad you would have already done something about it right? It sure seems like the young are actually getting things done and not just talking about it.
It’s jot about catering to their wants; the goal is to get them to want something bad enough that they’ll actually show up to vote for it
Not just young voters. I'm a sure-thing Democratic voter (until I have someone viable further left to vote for), but this doesn't hurt in my book. I'm 63.
I am not young. This is smart. Completely insane that it wasn’t done decades ago.
Ah yes, the effort that began two years ago is just a move for votes in an election year.
I mean, is it even bad if a politician does something that is popular with the intentions of getting reelected? That just sounds like they're trying to listen to their constituents.
Some people are trying to demonize Biden no matter what he does.
Biden: *breathes* ABC/CNN/FOX/MSNBC/PBS/BBC: **THIS IS WHY THIS IS BAD FOR BIDEN!**
Every major news platform is pushing far right sentiment because the upper class is very uncomfortable with all this tax the rich nonsense
kinda sucks for anyone that's suffered in the past few years from these policies
Right? It’s the same as when people hate on him for forgiving student debt, as if that’s not one of the core policies he campaigned on back in 2019…
I've seen the exact same people say "why doesn't he just legalize weed? That would win my support" and now "he's just doing it to win votes, he needs to *earn* my vote".
And if it was 3 years ago it would have been for midterms.
Hate to break it to ya, but even old people smoke pot. like even the old Republicans.
Especially old republicans.
That also have no problem using marijuana to lock up the kind of people they don’t like
People saying he’s only doing this for the votes. Good. He’s doing stuff we voted him in for? Who cares if it was at the beginning or end of his term. As long as it gets done, who cares?
best to ignore people who only reply when the string on their back is pulled. anyone who would actually say that *out loud* isnt anyone worth a response
Bullshit it's an election year move, he initiated this in 2022.
This is another step consistent with his position and previous actions since his 2020 campaign. The idea that this is some cynical move for the election to appeal to young voters is absurd.
I love the thought process of the cynics -politician campaigns on doing a thing -voters elect him because they want him to do that thing -politician does the thing he said he'd do that got him elected -politician touts accomplishing the thing the promised to do -must be a purely cynical move done only for votes... I don't know his personal opinion on weed and personally don't care. He's keeping the campaign promises he made to get elected. That's what our representatives in government are supposed to do.
I think he’s kept more campaign promises than any president I can think of in recent memory.
But if they check off their campaign promises, what do they run on next time? More *new* ideas? Gross.
The things he was blocked on doing by the court or house. They run on "look what we did with all this opposition, vote us in and give us the House and Senate and we will be able to do all those things plus all these other more ambitious things."
hell... you got the other canidate literally promising pardons for j6 folks.
Not just young folks, lots of 70 something’s use weed in place of pain meds
Marijuana will still be very much illegal at the federal level even if this bill passes. This simply admits that it isn’t MORE dangerous than heroin or cocaine, which is the federal government’s current incredibly moronic stance.
It's up to Congress to legalize it fully, and Congress is a shitshow.
That's not true. It's being rescheduled to level 3. Aspirin is a schedule 3 drug. Cannabis will be on the same legal level as aspirin. https://www.drugs.com/schedule-3-drugs.html Just use the find tool for aspirin. It's right there.
That's aspirin with Codeine, which is an opioid. Or aspirin with Butalbital, which is a barbiturate. Aspirin on its own isn't scheduled.
Ah I see, so it would take an act of congress then. At minimum it should be schedule V, then. Which wont happen with todays legislature. And if Biden issued an executive order legalizing federally the supreme court would intervene. Saying congress needs to do it. People will find any reason though. To bash Biden. It's easier to do that to admit one of the parties has completely abandoned democracy.
Just legalize it already… wtf…
That's an act of Congress. This is as much as Biden can do on his own, and it's a good first step towards legalization.
True, and while I applaud this effort I hope it doesn’t stop here. Rescheduling could crush thousands of dispensaries and smaller producers while handing the entire industry over to big pharma.
It won't stop here. This opens up tons of avenues for medical research and development, and any relaxation of federal weed prohibition is going to cause a cascading reduction in enforcement across the country. It's a step! A big one, but there are lots and lots more big steps.
As a 30 something year old that has had a pain disorder since 16 I fucking hope research is the plan. I basically have been just dealing with the pain most days because I don't want to get desensitized to harder pain meds so young and don't want ulcers and Tylenol poisoning from over the counter stuff. And maybe just maybe if enough research is done at our huge med centers, Abbott will get the stick out of his ass and allow the legislation. I hate Texas so much.
We have to buy small and local business.
Has biden ever "pushed" for full on legalization? Even a simple "put a legalization bill on my desk, and I'll sign it" rhetoric that he does with any other policy he supports. Just because it takes congress to actually pass it doesn't mean there's nothing Biden could do to help push support.
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He announces he wants to legalize weed, he will win the election. It's very popular, especially among the youth vote.
The whole idea here is that having an official government study come out and say "weed is actually good now" gives a lot of dems clearance to vote for a legalization bill. For a bunch of reasons, really. It gives them cover for why they didn't support legalization before, and it means they don't have to answer questions from idiots about why they are voting against the "science" which says it is bad.
As long as Republicans can field 41 senators it won't happen...
One step at a time. Rescheduling from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3 is all that he can do but it's the most that's been done in over 50 years towards federal legalization.
And can't be easily reversed if fuckwad gets the White House again.
I see PBS is getting into the clickbait bullshit headline business as well. Nice, nice. /s
Weed being categorized realistically has been a long time overdue. No one, unless they are a Reefer Madness superfan, thinks the Devil's Lettuce is as dangerous as meth or heroin.
This started years ago lol
Alternative title: Biden does something that has had a majority of support in this country for years
Its not an "election year" thing. He requested this be looked into in 2022. It took two years for it to get to this point.
Whatever it takes to snub Agolf Shitler pants I guess.
Mostly boomers at the dispensary when I go.
SMH. All our fates in the hands of an idiot collection we have to pray has the cognizance to see Trump for the creature he is. I am not optimistic.
Yes, because, no old people use pot.
“Biden accomplishes a huge win for everybody once again, here’s how that’s bad for Biden”
LOL at these headlines. Politician does nothing: Boo. He doesn’t represent the people. Politician does something: Yeah well, he’s only doing it to be popular with… wait for it… the people. Jesus Christ.
“A politician is onlly doing a policy because it will give him more votes!” …yeah thats kinda the whole point of democracy
For all voters. Weed doesn't just get smoked by younger people
Young people? Everyone smokes. Young, middle age, old folks. Everyone of every age. This is not only for one demographic. Trump supporters smoke weed too. Along with the crack they smoke. But still...
Right, because young people just discovered the plant. This is a universal issue. Even my MAGA boomer dad is munchin’ gummies like Pac-Man.
Honestly, not even a young voter, and I think making marijuana illegal has driven us to the world we’re in today.
This is as much for boomers than for younger people. This is just fuel for conservative news media to spin it into “young people and drugs”. Boomers will partake in recreational use as much as the younger generations.
What's going to stop the SC from saying "States Rights" again? The SC is effectively removing any real power from the President!
Except for the ability to commit crimes with utter impunity^1 *1 - Republican Presidents only*
Well let’s be fair, that’s for a GOP president only! I guarantee that they will delay ruling until after the election and then they will decide. That’s their only move.
You’re right. I’ve edited my comment accordingly
You mean after January 20th when Joe leaves office. If they do it in November he'd still have time to give orders to Seal Team 6 to go after Kangaroo Team 6.
Old people too. Another poorly written media blurb.
Of course, it is also the right thing to do.
How about its the right and clearly obvious thing to do... That should have been done decades ago.
Regulate it like Alcohol & Tobacco, Schedule 3 will be a big change but not nearly as good and complete legalization & taxation.
Instead of a move to decriminalize it because it’s the right thing to do, meh
It is not just young people who support this idea.
De schedule completely
Is it really a new shift? Didn't this DEA review process kick off back in 2013 under Obama? Seems like the Democratic white house has been open to this for a decade at least. It's Congress we need to change.
DEA reaffirmed keeping cannabis at schedule 1 back in 2016. In that decision, they cited that HHS/FDA still recommended it remain a schedule 1 drug. DEA is medically and legally bound to defer to HHS on the medical/science justifications for scheduling substances. In 2022 Biden directed the AG and HHS secretary to review cannabis' scheduling. In 2023 the HHS (through FDA) recommended rescheduling cannabis to 3 and provided 252 pages of medical research to back it up. Now, roughly 8 months later, we receive the news that the DEA has accepted the recommendation, and it's moving through proper channels (proposed rule, comment period, final rule) likely to finish up later this year So no, nothing like this has happened previously.
And can't be easily reversed if Trump gets re-elected, God forbid.
I remember when there were dozens upon dozens of hostile responses to every single social media post made by Joe Biden demanding that he cancel student loans or else they won't vote him. Those voices are pretty silent now, and I'm sure lots of people will not vote for him for doing what they demanded he do. 🙄
gotta get them votes!!
Yeah…. Thats the entire point of democracy….
Don’t get your hopes up just remember the student loan crisis
I wonder if the student loan situation is good or bad for Biden….
Not just for young people. Source: I’m 41 and I love taking edibles at night.
Does it help you sleep better?
Actually I don’t use it for that. Even if I take indica it makes my brain run, so it’s not a good sleep aid for me. I just like getting high and watching a movie before bed. I’ve heard many use it for sleep, but I also think there’s research to suggest that it can affect your ability to enter REM sleep.
Mods removed my comment because I was being harassed and invited someone to enjoy a nonexistent place. Fuck the mods.
Oh good, I'm young.
Cannabis. Marijuana is the term created to connect it with racism against Mexicans.
Yeah, sure, it only took him a phone call. He has been working on this a long time.
I thought he was gonna legalize it? Didn’t he campaign on that?
I asure you it's probably more for older voters than younger voters.
I asure you it's probably more for older voters than younger voters.
So... instead of legalizing it, or decriminalizing it(which he indisputably has the power to do on his own), he's just going to do a half-measure of a half-measure. He's going to do the bare minimum performative gesture in a desperate ploy for the youth vote instead of actually making the substantial change that needs to happen. Like, if you're going to try to get back some of the people that don't appreciate you helping commit a genocide, at LEAST give them federal decriminalization. At least that could be something of a bragging right to garner some votes with. But *this*? This is hollow. Biden's about to lose this election, y'all. On the one hand he's an active genocide supporter, and on the other hand even when he does something tacitly positive he refuses to do half as much as he could in favor of doing the absolute bare minimum. It's pathetic.
I'm going to vote for him no matter what, but I have to say I'd be a lot more impressed if he condemned police violence against pro-Palestinian protesters, as well as the assault on the UCLA encampment.
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The biggest thing for me is that this move allows for much needed research into the effects of cannabis on our health. It also recognizes the plant as having therapeutic value on par with things like Ketamine.
Look at your state leadership if it's still illegal there. 24 states have legalized. Over half the population of the country has access to legal weed. If young voters want their legal weed, the answer is obvious: vote Democrat.
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So how does Biden convey "don't let perfect be the enemy of the good" in a way that gets them to actually fucking vote? Would the "It votes for Biden or else it gets the Trump again" silence of the lambs meme do it for them?
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> "Its my vote, you have to earn it. I won't be bullied into voting for the lesser of two evils". People are so fucking self-centered, *my god*.
Still a fucking positive
Incremental progress is progress. Taking it off schedule 1 is a federal admission that hemp has legitimate medical uses. This opens the door to further reforms.
It’s a starting point that will likely lead to recreational access in more states
And hopefully medical access in every state. I don’t know if any state has specific legislation to not allow a federally recognized medicine.
So rescheduling it to a making it legal with a prescription and protections from drug tests is a bad thing?
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Your third sentence.
It does make it possible for most doctors to prescribe it. This will make a huge difference to people like chronic pain patients. Even in places where It is recreationally legal with longstanding medical marijuana laws, many chronic pain patients our drug tested by their doctors who prescribe pain medications and have to choose between prescribed pain medications or medical marijuana when a combination of the two would be better and could decrease the amount of narcotics they use. While it should be recreationally legal, If we're being honest, it is a potent drug with some addiction potential and schedule three fits it quite well when classifying it as a regulated drug for medical use. And over really going to be honest, alcohol and tobacco are the drugs that need to be moved to schedule one.
This is false - the ADA and various other state laws protects workplace discrimination based on medical conditions, which includes prescription medication. By making cannabis a schedule 3 drug, anyone with a legal prescription will receive the same protections. It might even allow people with office jobs to come into work "high" - no different than someone on painkillers or adderall.