Posted on 09/11/2020 8:07:34 AM PDT by NobleFree
Democrats are taking an unprecedented gamble this month: voting to legalize cannabis at the federal level.
The MORE Act would remove the penalties for marijuana, erase some criminal records and create grant programs for people hit especially hard by the war on drugs.
Democrats say the timing is perfect: Support has been building for loosening marijuana restrictions over the last decade, with the most recent Gallup poll showing 66 percent of Americans favor legalization, including more than half of Republicans.
The demands for racial justice that have ratcheted up following the killing of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd gave the bill the final push it needed to get a floor vote.
You have sort of a convergence of all of these movements and issues and hype, said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), a co-chair of the cannabis caucus. I think this is the perfect time to move it onto the floor [and] over to the Senate.
But the vote comes with risks. Its landing in the midst of a stalemate between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House over a new coronavirus aid bill, raising worries about the optics of focusing on marijuana during a pandemic.
A historic House vote on marijuana legalization will take place later this month. We break down why Democrats are voting on the bill despite the fact that it'll be dead upon arrival in the Senate.
Republicans mocked Democrats at the Republican National Convention for declaring cannabis businesses essential enough to remain open during the early days of the pandemic, and repeatedly ridiculed them for including a provision to give banks legal cover for serving the marijuana industry in their most recent coronavirus relief bill.
I do find it ironic that the only small businesses the Democrats seem to be worried about are cannabis shops, said Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), who cast one of two Republican votes in favor of the bill in the House Judiciary Committee last November. But I would support this bill whenever it is brought to a vote."
The Trump administration has largely ignored the growing public support for marijuana legalization, and President Donald Trumps first Attorney General Jeff Sessions actually repealed protections the Obama administration created for states that legalized cannabis. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden doesnt support legalization, but he backs making medical marijuana accessible and removing criminal penalties for cannabis on the federal level. His running mate diverges: Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) sponsors the Senate version of the bill.
As more states legalize medical marijuana, recreational cannabis, or both at least four states will put recreational legalization on the ballot in November over 250,000 people remain in prison for nonviolent drug offenses at the state or federal level. According to the ACLU, Black people are on average four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people and in some states the ratio is as high as 10 to one even though studies have shown they use the drug at comparable rates.
House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), the bills lead sponsor, also said the calls for criminal justice reform pushed the bill from committee limbo to a vote on the floor.
We always had the intention of doing this, Nadler said, but the increasing consciousness of the ... Black Lives Matter movement also helped a great deal.
House leadership feels confident they have the votes, even from some more moderate Democrats.
But some pollsters say the House vote could muddle the partys message with just weeks to go before Election Day, especially considering that Biden isnt on board with blanket marijuana legalization.
You're harming your ability to defeat Donald Trump, argued Jon McHenry, a Republican pollster with North Star Opinion Research. He and his Republican allies get to say, See, Joe Biden's not going to be in control. Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez are in control.
Jonathan Thompson, executive director of the National Sheriffs Association, said the pandemic, civil unrest and enacting a federal budget are among the more pressing issues for Americans at the moment. You're telling me that legalizing marijuana is a higher priority than all those things? Thompson said.
House Democrats argue that the chamber passed coronavirus legislation in May, and Senate Republicans are to blame for the holdup in additional aid. Passing this bill in the meantime, they say, will prove to voters what kinds of progressive legislation the Democrat party can pass and help propel them to take back the Senate.
It'll become an issue that the Republicans couldn't bring it up, and then you gotta have a Democratic majority to get it to a vote, said Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), a co-sponsor and vocal supporter of the MORE Act.
Republican Sens. Cory Gardner of Colorado, Susan Collins of Maine and Dan Sullivan of Alaska are all in tough races in states where marijuana is legal. In Arizona and Montana where incumbent Republican Sens. Martha McSally and Steve Daines could also lose their seats legal weed is on the ballot this November.
I think this is going to be brought up in all these contested Senate races, said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), a co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus.
A spokesperson for the Biden campaign declined to discuss the legislation and instead referred to the nominees past statements on the issue.
According to his campaign, Biden believes that no one should be in jail for using marijuana. He supports removing criminal penalties and expunging past records, but wants to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act. The Controlled Substances Act is a list of all federally banned substances which became law in 1970, and it has five tiers, or schedules. Schedule II drugs like cocaine and methamphetamines are deemed to have medical use, but high potential for abuse.
In July, the DNC adopted Bidens position on cannabis a step back from the pro-legalization platform of 2016. But advocates reason now that the former VP's platform is essentially in line with the MORE Act, arguing that both want to remove criminal penalties, expunge records and let states decide how to further legalize.
He supports decriminalization, right? Queen Adesuyi of the Drug Policy Alliance said. Where we're in conflict with Biden is his consideration of rescheduling. Technically, on the federal level, decriminalization is what the MORE Act is doing.
But Kevin Sabet, president of anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, points out that criminal penalties for marijuana use can be eliminated without turning it into a massive, for-profit industry.
A lot of people are going to be benefiting from this that are not people of color or poor communities, Sabet said. The poorest communities are going to suffer as a result of this. Ask anybody living in a poor community if they think they need more things like liquor stores or pot shops.
But all these concerns havent resonated with Democrats, and even some moderates in tough races are on board with the marijuana vote.
In 2018, Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) squeaked out a three percentage point win in a district which Trump won two years before. Her seat is on the line this year, but she isnt worried about how voting for cannabis legalization could affect her campaign.
All three candidates in my race have the same position on [legalization], said Luria, who is running against former Republican Rep. Scott Taylor and independent David Foster. Luria beat then-incumbent Taylor in the 2018 election. I think we need to show that we want to take action on this as a priority.
Not only have I never said marijuana is harmless, I have explicitly said the opposite TO YOU: "A great many things besides marijuana are bad for adults." - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3803676/posts?page=83#83
Everyone should have the right to screw themselves up so that the rest of us can take care of them.
People screw themselves up with alcohol, tobacco, and overeating; the conservative answer is not to ban alcohol, tobacco, and overeating.
Link?
We dont have that for THC.
Until we have a nationally agreed upon legal standard for what constitutes DUI for pot, we shouldnt be legalizing it.
The feds have no Constitutional authority over impairment (except perhaps for between-state travel). Several states have established THC limits.
And unless you are a professional driver or airline pilot, so what? The dude hitting a pipe a few times at lunch is probably in better shape during the workday that Betty the Xanax popper down the hall or Art in the corner office popping oxy or vicodin for his “lower back pain” all day...
Don't forget the 3-beer-lunch guy, or the gal still hung over from the night before.
Throw into the bill the shooting hearing protection act, take mufflers (aka silencers) out of the ATF hands. Legalize them. Shooting damages hearing. Drive the price to muffle the sound to below damaging levels.
SCOTUS made it clear that alcohol prohibition was NOT legal unless a constitutional amendment were passed..
They held the same was true for pot.
The congress passed the Marijuana Stamp Act since they could not legally prohibit it.
The stamp act said cultivation, sale and transport was fine but you had to buy the tax stamps.
They issued a few stamps and then refused to ever issue any more! The whole scheme was a way to skirt the constitution.
Clarence Thomas says the above sentiments are accurate and true.
You should try some, chief. It might help to improve your personality.
Sadly, some FReepers forget about the Constitution when it comes to pot.
Doesn't everyone just love it when whack jobs school us on what a “conservative” is? Thank you Mitt Romney; thank you Paul Ryan; thank you George W Bush; thank you NobleFree.
Doesn't everyone just love it when whack jobs school us on what a conservative is?
So in your view conservative answer IS to ban alcohol, tobacco, and overeating?
Really, Kurt Cobain has hampering your brain function helped with your personality?
So you believe that Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals should be the conservative playbook? Because almost every one of your posts is always a demonstration of one of the rules. You are roughly as conservative as Vladimir Lenin. For that reason I consider every one of your convloluted insults and flawed attempts at reasoning to be compliments.
So you believe that Saul Alinskys Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals should be the conservative playbook? Because almost every one of your posts is always a demonstration of one of the rules. You are roughly as conservative as Vladimir Lenin. For that reason I consider every one of your convloluted insults and flawed attempts at reasoning to be compliments.
Again, so many words and no answer.
At this point it's clear you're not even trying to assemble a coherent argument, but with each post simply flinging whatever you think might stick: Romney! Alinksy! Lenin!
Sad.
Most of what you’ve posted in support of your claim has been rank pothead nonsense
Flaccid tu quoque. I'd urge you to do better but I've seen no evidence you're able.
That does explain a lot. You do realize what long term marijuana use does to people's brains.
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