this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2024
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[–] [email protected] 203 points 7 months ago (9 children)

Some critics argue the DEA shouldn’t change course on marijuana, saying rescheduling isn’t necessary and could lead to harmful side effects.

I wonder who those fuckheads are and how much of their portfolio is invested in for profit prisons.

[–] FlyingSquid 107 points 7 months ago (2 children)

That's the harmful side effect. They'll make less money.

[–] cm0002 17 points 7 months ago

Frfr, they always say harmful side effects but never mention side effects for whom lol

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[–] [email protected] 57 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The only thing that proves those worries wrong is every single place where marijuana has been legalized and regulated has less crime and more taxes collected through regulated legal sales. So, just reality.

[–] Jimmyeatsausage 16 points 7 months ago

Never let reality interfere with your politics.

/s...obvs

[–] [email protected] 43 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It seems so out of touch when people make these arguments these days as they pretend like marijuana is some mystery drug that's barely used when in reality it's already medically legal in 4/5ths of the country and recreationally legal in 1/2 the country.

[–] disguy_ovahea 23 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Our founding fathers grew and used hemp. For decades, the cotton industry was famously the largest lobbying agent against its legalization. It’s gotten a bad rap for centuries.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 7 months ago (1 children)
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[–] FlyingSquid 104 points 7 months ago (18 children)

The DEA’s proposal, which still must be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, would recognize the medical uses of cannabis and acknowledge it has less potential for abuse than some of the nation’s most dangerous drugs. However, it would not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use.

I am really sorry for those of you who use it recreationally, because it deserves to be legal for you too, but as a medical user in a non-legal state, this is amazing news.

[–] cm0002 35 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I am really sorry for those of you who use it recreationally, because it deserves to be legal for you too, but as a medical user in a non-legal state, this is amazing news.

One step closer, IMO id rather medical people get it first ASAP anyways. Us recreational users have fun with it and it's far better than say alcohol for a good time, but at the end of the day I don't need it.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Congrats to you!! Hopefully your ability to get ur medicine becomes easier/safer, but either way at least itll be legal for u!

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[–] [email protected] 63 points 7 months ago (3 children)

tl;dr: DEA moving cannabis, ketamine, and some other stuff to schedule III; first it goes to OMB for approval, then they have a comment period, then they issue their final ruling.

Better a couple decades late than never, I suppose, but they should really just take it off entirely. Psilocybin too.

[–] FlyingSquid 43 points 7 months ago (8 children)

The idea that something you can just grow yourself like a plant of a fungus is illegal is ridiculous on the face of it.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

Yeah. It doesn’t make a whole lotta sense does it? lol

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

Yeah. It's perfectly legal to grow and use your own tobacco plants. It's only regulated when you want to sell or distribute it.

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[–] kinsnik 13 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

ketamine

wasn't ketamine schedule III already?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yeah I think they misread that part. Cannabis was moved to schedule 3 which, for example, contains ketamine.

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[–] ashok36 43 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Just a reminder that if trump is elected, he will reverse this immediately only because Biden did it.

That's not speculation. That's a godamn fact.

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[–] 3volver 40 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Seriously fuck the fact that Marijuana is still illegal, broken ass racist bullshit system while alcohol is legal and marijuana is not.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Still makes me sick to think of all of those cunt fucking cops who sent people to prison for this shit.

[–] 3volver 12 points 7 months ago

Absolutely, and the DEA is a fucking failure, we have an opioid epidemic and they've done absolutely nothing to help the US. Complete fucking bullshit agency that does NOTHING to help the American people.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 7 months ago (12 children)

If Alcohol isn't scheduled, why is marijuana?

[–] [email protected] 72 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Because they used it as a tool to hunt down and arrest civil rights groups and Vietnam protestors.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

The down voter should read Nixon quotes

"I want a goddam strong statement... one that just tears the ass out of" cannabis supporters.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

Marijuana was considered a black person drug. If you didn't know, the US kinda hates black people, statistically speaking. It's pretty fucked up!

According to the available information, there is no direct mention of the percentage of black people who used marijuana in the 1960s and 1970s. However, we can infer some information from the provided snippets.
In the 1970s, marijuana use became more widespread among the general population. According to Gallup’s trend by age, widespread experimentation with marijuana first occurred among adults aged 18 to 29 between 1969 and 1973, rising from 8% to 35%. It then continued to mount, reaching 56% by 1977, and remained at that level in 1985.
It is important to note that the available information does not provide specific data on the percentage of black people who used marijuana during this time period. However, we can infer that marijuana use was more prevalent among younger adults, particularly those in the 18-29 age range, during the 1970s.
In terms of the potency of marijuana during this time period, reports suggest that pot in the 1970s had THC levels of around 1%. In contrast, today, the herb you’re smoking has a lot more THC, with levels averaging more than 6-8%. Some specially grown plants can contain THC levels as high as 51%.
It is also worth noting that a 2022 analysis of marijuana possession arrests in Texas for the years 2017 to 2019 reported that African Americans comprised 30.2 percent of all possession arrests, yet Black people comprised only 12.9 percent of the state’s population. This suggests that there may be racial disparities in marijuana use and arrest rates, but the available information does not provide specific data on the percentage of black people who used marijuana in the 1960s and 1970s.

Edit: The above is kind of incorrect, the herb I smoke brags ~25%, though sources say those #s vary greatly.

[–] partial_accumen 40 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Marijuana was considered a black person drug. If you didn’t know, the US kinda hates black people, statistically speaking. It’s pretty fucked up!

John Ehrlichman, Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon said the following:

“You want to know what this [war on drugs] was really all about? 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

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[–] FlyingSquid 10 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Before that, it was a Mexican person drug, which is why it's called marijuana to many people. It was a scare tactic. "These Mexicans smoke MARIJUANA!" And why I will only call it things like 'cannabis' and 'weed.'

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[–] paultimate14 12 points 7 months ago

They tried banning alcohol. There was enough popular pushback they had no choice but to un-ban it.

There was less popular demand for marijuana. It seems like it's moving in the same direction, just more slowly.

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[–] kinsnik 29 points 7 months ago (2 children)

i wish that they would also reschedule lsd and psilocybin to schedule III, but at least some progress is better than no progress

[–] ChonkyOwlbear 16 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Seriously. There have to be more people who die from ketamine than LSD every year. It all seems so arbitrary.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (3 children)

And MDMA? It shows a lot of promise in therapeutic use. Schedule 1 is for substances with “no currently accepted medical treatment use”.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (5 children)

I'm sure all the "stroke of a pen" trolls are going to be here to apologize any second, right?

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[–] Ultragigagigantic 19 points 7 months ago (4 children)
[–] cmbabul 16 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Better idea, make them enforce regulations on pharmaceutical companies instead of people. They wouldn’t even have to change the signage!

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[–] raynethackery 14 points 7 months ago

What's the likelihood of this happening before the election?

[–] dogslayeggs 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I know Biden tasked the FDA to investigate reclassifying it, which should be a win, but until the FDA actually finishes the reclassification it won't show in the polls. If the bureaucracy can move fast enough for this to get done before the election, it could mean a decent little bump for Biden.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago (2 children)

DEA. The FDA makes the recommendations, then then DEA decides if they want to follow it or not.

This should be fixed. DEA are cops, not medical experts, and shouldn't be making this decision.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The reactionaries in the GOP will immediately start trying to prevent this from happening, of course.

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