The feds have embraced medical marijuana. Now what?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent decision to downgrade the drug classification for medical cannabis will help medical marijuana businesses. Companies will be able to claim some federal tax benefits. New research can start up at state universities.

But the broader divide between federal and state marijuana policy remains largely intact, leaving states to navigate a fragmented and still-evolving cannabis landscape with few clear answers about what comes next.

The unprecedented change in April reclassifying medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III means the federal government is acknowledging an accepted healthcare use for cannabis. Recreational marijuana, however, remains a Schedule I drug under federal policy, even though 24 states and the District of Columbia allow recreational cannabis in various forms, from dried flower to vaping oils to processed gummy candies.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is set to hold its first hearing at the end of June on the possible de-scheduling of marijuana broadly, which would include recreational or adult-use cannabis.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/05/31/repub/the-feds-have-embraced-medical-marijuana-now-what/

[Kid Berwyn]

1. GOP has used pot as a tool to jail people who think for themselves.

Nixon Used "War on Drugs" to Target Blacks, Hippies

Excerpt...

“You want to know what this was really all about?” he asked with the bluntness of a man who, after public disgrace and a stretch in federal prison, had little left to protect. “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nixon-drug-war-racist_us_56f16a0ae4b03a640a6bbda1?

[haele]

3. Yes, but they really, really need the slacker vote...and more recruits.

So the GOP will stop throwing up roadblocks on one of the favorites of their "Dems are soft on Crime" planks once they realize need to more young folks to support them or their wars.
Decriminalize pot, and there's more young males eligible for the draft.

[GreatGazoo]

2. Now dispensaries may start to accept credit cards

and the banking industry can get their cut of the action.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. We've Been Using Cards Here For At Least 5 Years

Not credit, but debit.
There's a simple workaround with a debit card, but it seems like the same workaround would apply to credit cards by calling it a cash advance, not a direct purchase.
Nothing illegal about taking a $50 cash advance against one's own credit card.
That's how the debit card workaround functions.
So, I'm not sure how this change allows anything they could already do.

[GreatGazoo]

8. Interesting. In NY you have to pass cash across the counter

There may be an ATM onsite but that is separate from the point of sale.

I have to think that Visa and MC would love to have 3.5% of all the cannabis sales in the country.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. I'd Say You're Right

Here's how it works in Illinois.
Let's say you have a purchase for $98.
The debit card withdraws $100 as a cash back. They keep $98 & give you $2 change.
It wasn't a "purchase" for pot. It was a cash withdrawal at point of sale. So, technically I'm not using the card for pot. I'm just bypassing the ATM.
Back in '18 & '19, it was cash only but they developed this workaround 5 to 6 years ago, and it's every dispensary. So, it's a statewide thing.
That's why I think the cash advance against a credit card would work. They wouldn't be selling pot on a credit card. It's still a cash sale, but the card is an advance at point of sale.
With the changes in federal rules, it may all be moot.

[OC375]

4. If we ever get behind guns, or they get behind drugs, it's all over for a cycle or two.

Those two are bigger wedges than they look, which hit a lot of the more single issue voters on both sides of the fence, and possibly swings for an election cycle or two. Heck, they hit a lot of multiple issue voters too, and everyone has different priorities. I think significant numbers of them would hop sides to be able to smoke dope or buy NFA items.

I don't think the reverse - Dems banning drugs or Repubs banning guns - would gain either side many new fair-weather friends. I think bans are, in general, politically played out for now nationally, except for perhaps emergent AI and internet related stuff at some point. At least, the R's banning things don't seem to swelling their numbers, IMHO.

Kinda of scary in some ways, actually.

[multigraincracker]

5. Great if they can ever figure out the dosage.

[Mitsuplex]

6. It's just modern bloodletting

A medical scam fad that's the sudden rage 'cure-all' but actually only makes things worse always with no medical benefits whatsoever.

[marble falls]

11. Sez you.

[AZProgressive]

10. Sometimes the Trump administration is like a broken clock

but this is just a half-measure they need to end the federal prohibition. They don't have to do nationwide legalization but this seems like a good issue to leave up to the states.