As loathe as I am to give any federal agency more powers, I honestly think the only sensible action is to fold marijuana growing and cultivation into the BATF with limits on THC content and leave it to the states (and localities) to regulate distribution and sales.
Not doing so risks a case coming before SCOTUS and their rightly deciding that prohibition requires constitutional amendment which would be far more problematic for the rest of the schedule 1 prohibited drugs.
And thankfully, there’s enough court precedent to make overturning convictions problematic for previously prosecuted marijuana offenses with the switch to regulation vs a SCOTUS finding.
Do I want marijuana sold at the corner store? No. But rolling it out of the FDA and putting it into BATF solves an incredible number of problems and while still iffy on constitutional grounds, at least we wouldn’t suddenly find us paying for people’s joint prescriptions.
I’ll just have to live with gagging on the odors of the stinky weed when walking the dog. Least one positive thing about rolling it into the BATF is that we can stop pretending it is legitimate drug; yes, it can have some useful uses. So can alcohol and tobacco.
BATF? Really? I’ve always thought that should be the name of a convenience store.
Why not just support the Tenth Amendment and let the chips fall?
“I’ll just have to live with gagging on the odors of the stinky weed when walking the dog.”
That’s the worst thing you smell when walking the dog?