Senate Democrats unveiling push to legalize marijuana at federal level

[PunkinPi]

Source: The Hill

Senate Democrats on Wednesday are unveiling a renewed push to legalize marijuana at the federal level.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) will hold a news conference to introduce a discussion draft of the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act.

According to a summary of the discussion draft obtained by NBC News, the legislation is intended to expunge federal convictions of nonviolent marijuana charges, remove the drug from the Controlled Substances Act and set up a system to tax marijuana in states that legalize it.

The proposal still allows individual states to set their own marijuana laws, however.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/562901-top-senate-democrats-unveiling-push-to-legalize-marijuana-at-federal-level

[Omnipresent]

1. That would be nice, but once again...

How do we get the two dino’s To vote for it?

[lagomorph777]

9. Show them the polls. I think there is broad support, even among repub voters.

This will be a good example of Biden-style bipartisanship. It has bipartisan support among the public, but is highly partisan among politicians. You might call it a wedge issue, which will help separate a slice of repub voters from their politicians.

[cannabis_flower]

11. Two things here...

Manchin could be a problem, but I don’t think we have ti worry about Sinema
:spr
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/this-is-where-arizonas-us-senate-candidates-stand-on-marijuana/

And also, we might get one or two Republicans to support this issue.

[The Mouth]

32. Smarter Republicans would know this deprives Dems of a wedge issue

Democrats tend to turn out well when legalization is on a ballot anywhere.

[totodeinhere]

26. We might get one or two Republicans with libertarian leanings to vote for it.

Rand Paul is an asshole, but he might go for it.

[totodeinhere]

27. We might get one or two Republicans with libertarian leanings to vote for it.

Rand Paul is an asshole, but he might go for it.

[Hortensis]

2. So it will federally decriminalize, but not legalize it -- leaving the states

to decide whether they'll send users to jail or serve marijuana brownies in the state house cafeteria.

Sounds like a sensible move in these roiling times, but there are various provisions that may not make it through even if the bill is passed. Expunging some criminal records, for instance.

Politico has more discussion.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/14/schumer-launches-long-shot-bid-for-legal-weed-499584

[ruet]

5. And Take Money From The States That Do Have The Courage To Do Either...

and give it back to the states that don't. Another regressive tax ballon floated by our party. Disappointing.

[Hortensis]

13. I'm not up on that aspect, Ruet. Red state governments are pros at

allowing other states to pay for services they refuse to fund, of course.

Imperfect mechanism to the Nth, of couse, but I don't usually feel bad about our role in it and buying of compliance. Seems to me without redistribution of national wealth, and notably the tradeoffs usually required from the states in return, many states would be underdeveloped and impoverished, with people migrating elsewhere for jobs and so on. Easy to imagine the Jalisco and Sinaloa cartels battling for control. Maybe an exaggeration, but not so much?

[fwvinson]

15. I feel some states, like Kentucky, are waiting for the feds to legalize

before they do it. It would be fine with me if we saw thousands of acres of cannabis instead of tobacco.

[Hortensis]

30. :) As long as we didn't have to live within smell distance.

[cannabis_flower]

35. Texas also ...

We have lobbied over and over again. What we usually hear if they aren’t completely against it is “but Federal law”…..

[The Mouth]

33. Bingo

I know plenty of hardcore conservatives who consider it the ultimate State's Rights issue.

[jalan48]

3. Wow. What a difference five years makes.

[twodogsbarking]

4. There are sensible solutions.

Reefer Madness has taken on a new meaning, eh.

[KS Toronado]

6. LOL, yes it has, lets hope it's for the betterment of mankind this time.

[jmowreader]

7. I can live with this on one condition

The law needs to set up 56 accounts at the Federal Reserve, one for each state, Washington DC, and the five populated US territories. All the federal tax revenue from a state will go into its account, and the money in that account can only be spent in that state. There is no reason why Idaho, which is trying to weld a marijuana ban into its constitution, should get any of the money the feds receive by taxing weed in the states that allow it.

Other than that, this is an idea whose time has come.

[SergeStorms]

8. Yes, please.

There are millions of chronic pain patients that could benefit from the use of marijuana, instead of being on opiates.

When a chronic pain patient goes to a federally licensed pain and symptom management Doctor they have to sign an opioid contract. That means you're tested at least quarterly for the presence of "street" drugs and levels of opiates and other prescription drugs. The presence of THC, being a federal schedule 1 drug, voids the opiate contract, you lose all availability to prescribed opiates, and can no longer see any pain management Doctor.

So yeah, I know many chronic pain patients who would love to explore the option of using marijuana instead of jumping through ever tightening federal hoops. It's never been possible. I hope it is soon. I'd love to get off the opiates and rid myself of the stigma and hassle that they entail.

It's not enough to decriminalize marijuana. It must be legalized.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

10. That'll give the Dems something to ease the pain of not getting the voting acts through.

Of all the things that are vitally necessary to recover the country and get it on track for a better future, legalizing pot doesn't fall within the top five. Right now it should be all hands on deck to get the voting legislation passed, otherwise all the working and suffering and dying that happened during the decades long effort to guarantee the right to vote to everyone was for naught.

Plus, the QGOP has just as big a hair in their ass about marijuana as they are about anything the majority of the country supports. They are not going to vote to pass the legislation or the sole reason it's being put forward by the Dems.

[Riverman100]

14. You beat me too it

I was going to say plenty of time for this AFTer the for the people act is passed

[CrispyQ]

18. No one can demoralize the democratic base like democrats!

You'd have thought Biden solved the voting crisis yesterday with his speech the way Rachel Maddow was carrying on last night. It was a speech, for crissakes. We need a Lyndon Johnson. Biden or Schumer or someone needs to twist a few arms & get the For the People act passed.

I still can't believe DiFi said she doesn't think our democracy's in danger. OMFG, what a fucking relic. How many other dems feel the same way?

[Elessar Zappa]

21. Democrats

can walk and chew gum at the same time.

[questionseverything]

31. You wouldn't feel that way if you or someone you loved was in prison for it

N/t

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

36. I should have added the "sarcasm" emoji to my post. Sorry.

Congress can multi-task. I imagine for men and women in prison for marijuana-related convictions, every additional day they are prevented from being with their families has to seem like an eternity.

Had I not been so focused on the QGOP's efforts to end democracy I would agree 100% with legalizing marijuana now.

[questionseverything]

37. Hopefully by legislation of mj ( popular position)

Passing that outstanding reconciliation bill we are just learning the details of

Democrats might become so popular the repubs can’t rig it !

[mahina]

12. Winner, but a battle w pharma and liquor 🥃 ndustry spec interests

Last edited Wed Jul 14, 2021, 01:43 PM - Edit history (1)

$$$$$$

It’s a test for our guys in this corrupt system. I don’t remember who it was who said you should be able to take their money and do what you need to

He said it more colorfully and elegantly and maybe with some fire.

Can do, Senators!

[AllyCat]

16. It's the only way Wisconsin will EVER have anything resembling

legal cannabis.

[hibbing]

17. Same for Nebraska....poo n/t

[JoeOtterbein]

19. Great political move for 2022!

And sane policy.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

20. Long overdue

[Politicub]

22. Ffs - just do it. Talk talk talk talk talk

Biden will sign the bill. Everything else is just excuse-laden noise.

[calimary]

23. This

Just freakin’ DO IT.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

24. Good.

Empty out the prisons. We need the room for insurrectionist.

[BradAllison]

25. Will Bland Paul support it?

I bet he won't.

[7wo7rees]

28. Let's go!!!!

[TeamProg]

29. WAAAAAAY past time.

Pot was never illegal until Prohibition ended, then the Fed Gov't prohibition bureaucracy had to find a new evil. So pot became the illegal drug of choice for those in charge.

[RussBLib]

34. ...and so Texas will refuse to legalize

The GOP is holding us all hostage in Texas.