
Wyden Introduces S. 420 to Legalize Cannabis - markovbot
https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-introduces-s-420-to-legalize-cannabis
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jMyles
The (now obviously intentional) repeated use of 420 as a bill number is
perhaps a new and interesting phenomenon.

As an homage to counterculture in the current political climate, it is quite
unusual, right?

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byron_fast
Do bills need clickbaity names to get attention?

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Fezzik
They may not need them but, more and more, “witty” acronyms are being used for
bills. Apparently the wordsmiths of Capital Hill have oodles of time for
Scrabble-like playtime:
[https://noahveltman.com/acronyms/](https://noahveltman.com/acronyms/)

And my favorite, the COVFEFE ACT... just because... it’s funny:
[https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-acronyms-titles-
trump-c...](https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-acronyms-titles-trump-
congress-covfefe-act-2017-6)

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abakker
I don’t think I’ve hear it anywhere else but a guy at work calluses these kind
of things “retronyms” for retroactive acronyms. Maybe more common in
enterprise tech marketing than law.

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hopler
It's a backronym. retronym is a different word.

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offbytwo
Marijuana taxes are obscene and immoral. I pay 30-40% on a plant that has
medicinal properties in Colorado. The whole "sin" tax on marijuana makes no
sense. God forbid this gets set at a Federal level.

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ur-whale
They are indeed immoral.

They are also deeply irrational.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaUEwtHhEaQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaUEwtHhEaQ)

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jkmcf
Perhaps an unpopular opinion, while being pro legalization, they really need
to ratchet down on how it happens and where it’s allowed. In Denver and other
CO areas, it seems there are weed shops on every corner, and it reeks like
tobacco, though less offensively.

My hope is in 10 years or so the hype has died down...

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jalgos_eminator
Can we just do this already? Nobody these days has a genuine argument as to
why cannabis should still be illegal to grow and posses.

Honestly if there's one thing that Trump could do to win a teeny bit of
respect from liberals it would be to actually legalize cannabis, either by de-
scheduling or signing legislation given to him by congress.

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strken
There are some studies suggesting that legalisation may have increased the
number of auto accidents by 3-6%[0], which doesn't sound like a lot but is
equal to quite a few deaths. I don't know if this argument is correct, but it
at least seems genuine to me.

[0] e.g.
[https://www.iihs.org/frontend/iihs/documents/masterfiledocs....](https://www.iihs.org/frontend/iihs/documents/masterfiledocs.ashx?id=2173)

~~~
learc83
That study also cited a previous study that found no statistically significant
increase.

And since this increase was so small, I'd be very sceptical until more
research is done, particularly because of the amount of variables that need to
be controlled for when comparing crash rates between states. We're only
talking about 3 states and a few years here.

Not to mention changes caused by selective legalization that wouldn't be the
case if it was legal everywhere (higher risk drivers moving to legal states,
because of legalization for instance).

Also the study was police reported crashes not fatal crashes. If legal pot
causes a 6% increase in fatal crashes that's worth serious consideration, if
it's a 6% increase in fender benders, not so much.

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strken
I'm all for skepticism, and agree that it needs to be applied just as much to
continuing to criminalize cannabis. I worry sometimes that legalization is
seen as a completely solved argument with no grey areas, when that's not the
case.

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learc83
Everything is a trade off. If we made swimming pools illegal we'd prevent a
fair number of drowning deaths.

But the burden of proof should be on the side that wants to make something
illegal. We can talk about regulating use, limiting use through taxation and
education etc..., but I think you need definitive evidence of extreme harm
that can't be mitigated in any other way before you start putting people in
jail for growing a plant.

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lsiebert
So the companion bill to HR 420 introduced last month, but in the Republican
controlled Senate? Not really much newsworthy here.

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briandear
This isn’t a partisan issue. Diane Feinstein, for example opposed California’s
legalization in 2016 and has opposed it at the federal level. Rand Paul
supports legalization (or at least leaving the decision to the states.
Democrats owned the legislative and executive branches a few years back and
yet didn’t legalize. The point is that politicians in both parties have
opposed and supported legalization. This, however, is an issue that could be
bipartisan similar to Trump’s prison reform bill. As a conservative myself,
legalization is at the very heart of a philosophy of limited government; for
liberals, this issue is a chance to actually be liberal. Unfortunately true
conservatism and actual liberalism have lost all meaning. Now it’s just tribes
trying to “win.”

~~~
learc83
You're correct that there are Republicans who support legalization, and there
are Democrats who are against it.

But if you look at the demographics of who supports legalization, it's clear
which party will eventually pass legislation to legalize. Republicans are
increasingly dependant on their aging, white base, and that's the exact
demographic that still supports prohibition.

The Republican party as a whole has no reason to support legalization until
they decide to try to broaden their appeal, which exactly what they planned on
doing after their defeat in 2012. But the rise of Trump changed that. Look at
who Trump appointed as his first Attorney General--a man who pined for the
Reagan era war on drugs--a man who urged prosecutors to use the death penalty
to fight drug trafficking.

If they lose in 2020 and decide to rebrand, who knows, but as of right now
there is no chance of a Republican Senate passing legalisation, and I think a
small but non-zero chance that a Democratic Senate would.

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powerslacker
I think you may be underestimating how much value conservatives place on
improving the economy. Legalizing the marijuana market on the federal level
will create a gold rush in the financial markets. New tax sources, new jobs,
stacks of hidden money being deposited in banking institutions, marijuana
securities, licensing fees -- all brought in by a relatively safe drug. I
wouldn't be surprised if the bill gets passed.

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camel_Snake
How many conservative states have legalized cannabis?

I find pragmatism rare in politics.

