How far will Dems go in reversing marijuana policy? Legalization, clemency — even reparations — are on the table.

Richard Nixon passed the Controlled Substances Act and classified marijuana as a Schedule I drug, along with LSD and heroin. This classification meant that marijuana was judged to have no medical value and considered more dangerous than cocaine and methamphetamine, with “a high potential for abuse.

“You want to know what this was really all about?” said Ehrlichman in a 1994 interview that was published 22 years later.. . .

[...]

In 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced plans to step up federal enforcement of marijuana laws, including in states where it was legal, but backed down after Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., threatened to hold up all Department of Justice nominations.

Mosby here in Baltimore tried to expunge/whatever you call it all the sentences for non violent marijuana offenders/users but Hogan said no. 

That pisses me off.   

The private prison system is Big Business-- very lucrative for those who invest in it . . . 

And Big Pharma also.  Both industries work to keep marijuana a Schedule 1 drug in order to keep their profits up. Like so many other issues tied to Washington, follow the money.

Sessions announced plans to step up federal enforcement of marijuana laws, including in states where it was legal, but backed down after Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., threatened to hold up all Department of Justice nominations.

The Colorado legislature separated hemp from medicinal and recreational cannabis as a schedule 1 drug in this state shortly after it was legalized. It allowed farmers to grow it in counties that had opted out of recreational retail outlets and gave them a short nationwide monopoly on hemp production. hemp production in Colorado was about a quarter million acres this year. koch-sucker cory yielded to his now dwindling base in support of hemp production because his daddy owns a tractor dealership in eastern Colorado. his stand in the senate was done prior to trump signing the farm bill legalizing hemp production nationwide. this new industry is a cash cow for the local knuckle dragging dirt scratchers that used to be too fucking stupid to tell the difference between recreational weed and industrial hemp.

Colorado now has the largest hemp processing facility in the US in southeast part of the state and another is being built in the northeast part, both privately owned. the two facilities will have the combined capacity to process more than all the hemp produced in north america. state tax revenue on legal weed crossed the $1 billion mark last year with the majority of those funds going to our public schools, law enforcement, and drug education by mandate of the 64th amendment to the Colorado state constitution. hemp processing and the pharma, paper, fiber, fabric, and animal food industries it spawns will dwarf that figure yearly in the near future.

state tax revenue on legal weed crossed the $1 billion mark last year with the majority of those funds going to our public schools, law enforcement, and drug education by mandate of the 64th amendment to the Colorado state constitution. hemp processing and the pharma, paper, fiber, fabric, and animal food industries it spawns will dwarf that figure yearly in the near future.

I have always thought that legalizing the growing of Hemp would be a win-win for all concerned. Taise employment, increase income for farmers, provide tax revenue for the state. Apparently its a relatively hardy plant, easy to grow. an excellent crop@

And its patriotic! (After all, George Washington grew it):

Throughout his lifetime, George Washington cultivated hemp at Mount Vernon for industrial uses. The fibers from hemp held excellent properties for making rope and sail canvas. In addition, hemp fibers could be spun into thread for clothing or, as indicated in Mount Vernon records, used in repairing the large seine nets Washington used in his fishing operation along the Potomac.

At one point in the 1760’s Washington considered whether hemp would be a more lucrative cash crop than tobacco but determined wheat was a better alternative.

hemp grows in most any soil without irrigation, fertilizer, or pesticides. plant it, forget it, harvest it, without soil depletion and the need of crop rotation.1acre of hemp will produce more paper than 4 acres of aged trees. that one acre of hemp can grow in the same spot every year and makes better paper.

canvas

an english bastardization of the word cannabis

  Gardner said in April that he had Trump’s support — although not that of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — for his bill with Warren that would allow states to decide their own marijuana policies without federal interference

Trump has said he'd support progressive legislation in the past-- only to reverse his position when confronted by politicians of the alt-Right. 

And I believe most people are familiar with Moscow Mitch's mode of obstructionism (not even allowing proposed bills to come to a vote).

Ah the senate as of now. Where bills go to be shelved indefinitely.

Which is no different than the Senate under Democratic rule under Harry "The Crypt Keeper" Reid with Republican bills from the House.

Please stop acting like this is anything new.

All the house passes is garbage while real legislation like USMCA is waiting on Pelosi

Not anything new. It started in 2015.

Republican leaders have slammed Democrats for not getting enough done in Congress even though more than 100 bills passed this year by the House of Representatives currently sit in the GOP-controlled Senate awaiting action.

.

Even Republican lawmakers have expressed frustration at the Senate's lack of action in Congress. Senator John Kennedy told lawmakers on the Senate floor on Tuesday that they've done "nothing" but confirm the president's judicial nominations.

"We need to do more, by we I mean the United States Congress," he said. "Other than the nominations, which are important, we have done nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

" newsweek

Reparations?

smh.

A few of the Democratic candidates seem to be in a contest to see who can espouse the furthest left positions-- hoping that will win them the nomination.

While this strategy might work within some Democratic primaries, it would probably assure an election victory for Trump . . . 

A few of the Democratic candidates seem to be in a contest to see who can espouse the furthest left positions

Which far left positions are you looking at?

Medicare for all?  Has almost universal support with a majority of both Democrat and Republican voters.

Wealth tax?  Again, support from voters of both sides.  Our tax laws have been geared to give the rich more than their fair share for decades, about time they start pitching in.

Reparations?  First I've heard of that one, who said specifically reparations?

There are a few that have their own individual beliefs, but they are very few and not viable candidates, they just want their own 15 minutes.  Let's not forget that the right also has their own version of these crackpots as well.

Medicare for all? 

Well, there's this:

For many years, Kaiser Family Foundation has been tracking public opinion on the idea of a national health plan (including language referring to Medicare-for-all since 2017). 

There has also been relatively stable support for the federal government doing more to help provide health insurance for more Americans since before the passing of the 2010 Affordable Care (Figure 2).

Recently, we have found broad support for proposals that expand the role of public programs like Medicare and Medicaid as well as a government-administered public option (Figure 3).

Overall, majorities of Democrats and independents favor a national Medicare-for-all plan while most Republicans oppose (Figure 4_

(Read it all)

Reparations?  First I've heard of that one, who said specifically reparations?

There are a few that have their own individual beliefs, but they are very few and not viable candidates, they just want their own 15 minutes.  Let's not forget that the right also has their own version of these crackpots as well.

I don't imagine any Republicans support them. I was not familiar with all the Democratic candidates positions on that so I googed it: If you are interested in the positions of each candidate, they are listed in this article:

Reparations: Where the 2020 Democratic candidates stand

I took a quick look and found these:

Sen. Kamala Harris:   Harris said in an interview on "The Breakfast Club" in February that she supports government reparations for black Americans. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders : Sanders told Rev. Al Sharpton that, if elected, he would support  Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee's bill , setting up a commission to study reparations. "If the House and Senate pass that bill of course I would sign it ..

Sen. Elizabeth Warren:   She  tweeted in support  of Jackson Lee's bill last month.

Marianne Williamson:   The best-selling author is the only candidate, despite her long-shot bid, to present a plan with specifics. She proposed $100 billion in reparations or $10 billion a year to be distributed over 10 years for economic and educational projects ,  Williamson told CNN in January.

Most of the others tried to avoid alienating either side in the debate mainly saying that they think we shoukld study the matter or that we should take action to appoint people to study it.

But if you are really interested in knowing about all of them its in the linkedarticle so you can check it out yourself. (Or perhaps you would like to seed an article about reparations? Might be an interesting discussion

.(I myself am more interested in discussing the actual topic of this seed, which is about Marijuana policy).

Reparations?  First I've heard of that one, who said specifically reparations?

This is from the article:

Another part of O’Rourke’s plan is what his campaign is calling “Drug War Justice Grants,” funded by federal taxation on marijuana with the proceeds going to those “formerly incarcerated for nonviolent marijuana offenses in state and federal prison for a period based on time served.”

So he's for reparations-- but just wants to change the name of the money being paid-- so its no longer "Reparations" but rather "Grants".

Those who bring up "reparations", should have to pay for it out of their own and their own voters pocket. Leave the rest of us out of your "Brainy" idea !

Is that all reparations and not just the subject of this seed?

Yes

Is that all reparations and not just the subject of this seed?

I go for the ALL thing.

"No stems no seeds that you don't neeeeed. Acapulco gold is bad...assed...weed"

Thank you Cheech and Chong.

.don't forget the stems

I think the disagreement here (which I hadn't intended with this seed) stems from a misunderstanding...tI guess I had planted the wrong idea in some peoples minds!

They would never give reparations. The left has a tendency of telling the black community what they want to hear until after election time, when they get sent back to the back of the bus, if you will.

Reparations in this case are not related to race at all. They are being considered only as a way of helping those people, regardless of their race, who lost many years of their lives due to being incarcerated in marijuana charges to get their long delayed lives back on track. The proposal today is only that a part of the taxes collected on legal marijuana sales to go towards helping those who unfairly suffered over long marijuana sentences to be made whole again...

Just declassify it and tax it. Not very hard to do.

The only people that would care would be the holier than though, clutching their pearls crowd, perpetually butthurt crowd.

I for once agree with you. It's a nice boost for local economies. Only thing I don't like is once it goes federal, in come the monopolies and shut down the local companies. There is money to be made up until then, if they want to be too holy to get in on the action, that's on them.

Yeah but that happens with everything. In comes the walmart weed dispensary and there goes the mom and pop operations.

Yeah but that happens with everything. In comes the walmart weed dispensary and there goes the mom and pop operations.

Soon it will be available on Amazon as well

Soon it will be available on Amazon as well  

Ooops-- I spoke too soon!

Just let me grow my own plant or two and I would be happy.

FYI, those OTC hemp oils contain zero no nada zip THC, the psychologically active ingredient in pot, and are not even considered a drug by the FDA. They are in the same category as other topical oils, creams and lotions. Also, they is not proven to have any therapeutic effects at all. They are just a modern version day snake oil...

Where is the part about reparations and why does the seed link to a muppet video?

Probably a cut and paste memory issue.  Fixed now.

Where is the part about reparations and why does the seed link to a muppet video?

Someone else asked that question so I checked the article. Sen. Booker has said what seems to be giving reparations-- but he changed the wording to "Grants" (Reparations sounds a bit too emotionally loaded, but calling them "Grants" might pass muster...?)

Muppet video-- re: marijuana? Just checked-- yup, there is one.

Here, for your viewing pleasure:

Muppets_-_Devil_Went_Down_to_Jamaica.mp4

It's kind of amazing that marijuana remains so verboten given the strong support for legalizing it.  Congress is way behind the tide on this issue.

I think the problem is campaigning on it. Any candidate who comes out in favor of legalization, will surely have support. However, just as surely, their opponent will start characterizing them as an unfocused, immature pothead. To make matters worse, some of those candidates behave in a way that actually justifies the smear. See: Gary Johnson.

Imo it is like prohibition, except going on a lot longer.

As someone said earlier, it is more lucrative to certain people having a revolving door in the court and prison systems.

What I always thought was ironic, my state is very conservative on issues like this yet one of our colleges has one of the largest federally sanctioned weed farms in the US.

Money talks...

BTW I researched this a while back. As you might imagine, there is a lot of money supporting legalization as well as a lot opposing it.

But guess who are the biggest contributers to the campaign against legalizing it?

Yup-- the Mexican Drug Cartels!

(Think about that a minute-- why are they so "anti-drug"? LOL)

It's kind of amazing that marijuana remains so verboten given the strong support for legalizing it.  Congress is way behind the tide on this issue.

Well, you could say the same thing about universal background checks being required to purchase a gun.

It's kind of amazing that marijuana remains so verboten given the strong support for legalizing it.  Congress is way behind the tide on this issue.

I think the problem is campaigning on it. Any candidate who comes out in favor of legalization, will surely have support. However, just as surely, their opponent will start characterizing them as an unfocused, immature pothead.

People are different. I think being pro-pot will help in some districts, hurt in others,

(And besides we regularly elect unfocused. immature fools to Congress-- probably many of them don't smoke grass, they're just born naturally stupid!)

See: Gary "What is Aleppo" Johnson? I'd rather not!

To make matters worse, some of those candidates behave in a way that actually justifies the smear

As Mark Twain oncesaid:

Suppose you were a member of Congress. And suppose you were an idiot.

But I repeat myself. . .