Posted on 03/28/2022 4:24:10 AM PDT by RandFan
The House is poised to pass legislation this week that would legalize marijuana, just the latest example of the swiftly changing attitudes on drug laws that marks a near reversal from the Reagan-era “war on drugs” that also reverberated through the 1990s.
The bill legalizing marijuana has near-uniform support among Democrats and a top ally in Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.), who has been aiming to introduce a similar measure this spring.
And it’s just one of several pieces of legislation that underlines the shift in Congress’s attitude — a change that has come about in part because of the way past drug laws have disproportionately hit minority communities.
At least 37 states, four territories and the District of Columbia allow cannabis products for medical use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Cannabis is also allowed for nonmedical use in 18 states, two territories and the nation’s capital.
Schumer has also been soliciting input from colleagues ahead of introducing a marijuana legalization bill, which he previously said could come this spring.
Cannabis industry advocates, meanwhile, have been urging lawmakers to pass the SAFE Banking Act to allow marijuana businesses to use banking services, since it is more likely to secure bipartisan support.
The legislation set for a House vote, titled the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, would eliminate criminal penalties associated with marijuana.
It would further establish a process to expunge the convictions of nonviolent marijuana offenders and fund programs to help communities negatively impacted by the war on drugs by imposing a federal tax on marijuana sales.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Post of the day - worth repeating:
lack of control in ANYTHING in life will cost a person in end.
Gambling is legal as well.
Prostitution is legal in some States.
Alcohol is legal.
Vaping pure nicotine is legal.
Viagra is legal.
Get the US Government OUT of your house and your personal business.
I’m 59.
I don’t need a babysitter anymore.
“Once legal, everyone and his brother will be growing it in their back yard.”
That was what I thought would happen.
However, .gov has created state regulated monopolies with high taxes for “legal” marijuana.
This is a total joke.
What matters in the real world is how they treat the “home grown” stuff—if they decriminalize it then it is de facto legalization—otherwise it is not.
That still may vary by state and by community—no matter what the feds do.
From just smoking pot? No other drugs/booze?
I don’t know.
Why don’t you tell me, genius.
Shouldn’t that be left to each state to decide, rather than fedgov?
“In the past, there have been many stories on Free Republic about marijuana legalization. And quite a few people here are in favor of legalizing marijuana. This issue is one on which conservatives here are really split on.”
True, but there should be no split among them as to who decides intrastate mj policy. Those who think fedgov should decide are peeing on the Tenth Amendment.
I suppose. My real concern is that it’s easy enough for kids to get their hands on it now, so imagine once it’s legal and stores are selling it? I wouldn’t have done pot at all in high school if not for the peer pressure, which is not an easy thing to ignore at that age. And my grades went to pot as well. Am I a unique case? Hardly.
“...tell me how much fertilizer it takes to grow a weed...”
It takes little to no fertilizer to grow “a weed”.
Not much of a genius, are you? Or...more likely still...your wife takes care of the yard.
“imagine once it’s legal and stores are selling it?”
The stores are selling it at high prices (with heavy taxes in most states).
“Legalization” is targeted towards the well to do—the kids with little money will keep doing it the old way.
And psychotropic, hallucinogenic, schizogenic, and airborne–force dosing others.
Sleazeball and f%ggot drug as well.
Yup. Heavy fine.
We all smoked plenty of weed when I worked at McD’s back in ‘85 and there were still fries to sell.
Tell that to Philip Morris or R.J. Reynolds.
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