
Top Senate Democrat Endorses Decriminalizing Marijuana at the Federal Level - adventured
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-19/schumer-backs-decriminalizing-marijuana-at-the-federal-level
======
noarchy
Isn't this where the "states rights" Republicans should be piping up?

To cite an ongoing example of legalization: what Canada is doing is allowing
the provinces to set up their own systems under a federal framework, of sorts.
This looks like it will result in an array of different outcomes, ranging from
a fairly liberal system where privately-owned retail can exist (like what
Alberta is doing), to monopolies on par with what already exists for alcohol
in many provinces (like Ontario and Quebec). Of course there are already
disagreements over whether some provinces are already butting heads with the
federal government over their respective implementations. For instance, the
federal provision calls for allowing some home grow, while some provinces seem
keen to ban that outright.

But it seems that there should be room for such a compromise in the US, where
the federal government mostly gets out of the way and lets each state decide
what they want to do.

~~~
scarface74
Most Republicans on the federal level want to stay out of the way when it
comes to decriminalizing marijuana.

Except for the far right....

[https://reason.com/archives/2018/02/02/renewed-war-on-
mariju...](https://reason.com/archives/2018/02/02/renewed-war-on-marijuana-
spurs-congress)

~~~
wybiral
Republican Attorney General Jeff Sessions is also a vocal opponent (unless you
consider him "far right").

~~~
scarface74
Very much so. He's the last of a dying breed who still believed in the "tough
on crime" narrative.

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Bye_Felicia
That's nice dear. I'm assuming he has no concrete plans to do this?

Just like Obama alluded to decriminalizing Marijuana for 9 years* along with
Universal Healthcare and/or single payer?

There's a recent track record of making big promises in the Democratic Party,
prior to selling out to corporate interests.

Obama's great explanation was "It just wouldn't work in our system"

So, if I'm skeptical and cynical, as I remember Obama also complaining about
(not to make this all about him, it's just where it led as I finished writing
this) it's because I just don't believe him.

*(1 being the election year prior)

~~~
pwinnski
The President has the power to decide what gets prosecuted or not, and Obama
directed his Attorney General to not prosecute minor drug cases. Only congress
can change laws, though.

Are you blaming Obama for failing to enact single-payer healthcare? After the
years he spent just trying to get the AcA through Congress?

Congress makes laws, not the President.

~~~
Bye_Felicia
Wow talk about drinking the kool-aid.

Dispensaries legalized in their respective states continued to be raided and
robbed throughout the Obama administration, one has only to witness such a
scene, where local police and sometimes even elected officials look on, as the
federal government marches in and destroys a legal business.

Marijuana law up in smoke as agents raid dispensaries

[https://mg.co.za/article/2008-08-11-marijuana-law-up-in-
smok...](https://mg.co.za/article/2008-08-11-marijuana-law-up-in-smoke-as-
agents-raid-dispensaries)

there was no 'resistance' back then because Obama was the chosen one, who
would lead us all into a golden age. Well, Obama's gone, and he didn't change
shit in regards to drug laws, or at the very least neutering the DEA.

However, aside from my arguments from very limited first hand experience,
there is also, oh right, all those pesky facts. Poor, powerless Obama, he's a
victim!

Obama’s War on Pot | The Nation

[https://www.thenation.com/article/obamas-war-
pot/](https://www.thenation.com/article/obamas-war-pot/)

(you can google search statistics yourself. i'm not going to list out links to
someone who is clearly stuck on "talking points" from some publicist.)

However, he loved using the DEA as tool when it suited him:

The secret backstory of how Obama let Hezbollah off the hook

[https://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/obama-
hezbollah-d...](https://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/obama-hezbollah-
drug-trafficking-investigation/)

------
ianai
Honestly they need to do more of this to make a compelling reason to vote for
them.

Just some key points I think they need to seriously try to enact

-legalize it

-universal healthcare

-New Deal style infrastructure programs

-re-negotiate cap and trade

Got any others?

~~~
pstuart
They try all of that and are blocked at every turn.

The better question is: what are the compelling reasons to vote for the other
side?

~~~
stochastic_monk
The only people I know who vote red are effectively single-issue voters. That
issue? Abortion.

~~~
wskinner
This says more about you than about people who vote “red”.

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scarface74
Anything that lessens the power of the criminal "justice" system, I'm all for
it.

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fallingfrog
Well of course if there was a citizens referendum on the issue tomorrow
morning it would be legalized nationwide. But we live in times where the body
politic is miles away from where the public is on pretty much every major
issue. That's not really supposed to happen in a democracy. But that's the USA
for you.

------
mindslight
_De_ criminalize implies that there is some intrinsic immorality to self-
affective substances. The term should really be _un_ criminalize, as it was
only recently these meddling authoritarian shitheads conjured up the problem
in the first place.

~~~
cbluth
Tomato tomato

------
RickJWagner
There are boatloads of studies that show heavy marijuana use is tied to brain
damage.

Caution is warranted.

~~~
greglindahl
Heavy alcohol use is tied to all kinds of problems, yet when alcohol was
outlawed, it was a disaster.

