Holy shit it's so embarrassing that we still don't have this legalized federally. And pathetic we probably never will. Makes me want to scream at old white fucks About 71 percent of those arrested on suspicion of cannabis offenses in Oakland between 1995 and 2015 were Black, according to an analysis by the city. During that time, Oakland’s Black population was 30 percent. Article does a good job highlighting why even in elite states we still need federal legalization https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/15/business/cannabis-dispensaries-oakland.html
$4.5 million in the first 3 days https://www.koat.com/article/cannab...ening-weekend-for-recreational-sales/39621666
I believe the House passed some bill again that's surely not to go anywhere. Just thankful for my Grow Sciences and Everest rosin carts
House Votes to Decriminalize Cannabis Democrats, with some Republican support, voted 220-204 to remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances, moving to catch up to the states. Spoiler WASHINGTON — The House passed legislation on Friday to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, as Democrats and three Republicans banded together to capitalize on the political resonance of legalized cannabis as an issue of economic growth, racial justice and states’ rights. The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, which passed 220-204, is unlikely to secure 60 votes to pass the Senate, despite the backing of the majority leader, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. But supporters of marijuana decriminalization — even some Republicans who voted against the Democratic legislation — said on Friday that the vote was a necessary step toward building consensus on something that can become law. The Democrats’ bill would remove marijuana from the federal government’s list of controlled substances, impose an 8 percent tax on cannabis products, allow some convictions on cannabis charges to be expunged and press for sentencing reviews at the federal and state levels. It would also make Small Business Administration loans and services available to cannabis businesses while setting standards for them. The Republicans voting for the measure were Representatives Matt Gaetz and Brian Mast of Florida and Tom McClintock of California. But other Republicans have signed on to a similar bill by Representative Nancy Mace, Republican of South Carolina. (Two Democrats, Representatives Henry Cuellar of Texas and Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, voted against the legislation on Friday.) Congressional Budget Office estimated that the act would reduce the federal deficit by nearly $3 billion over the next decade. Similar legislation passed in 2020 but went nowhere in the Republican-controlled Senate. The vote on Friday was the first since Mr. Schumer elevated the issue in that chamber. After its passage, he said, “the time has come for comprehensive reform of federal cannabis laws.” He added, “Of course, we will need Republicans to pass a legalization bill in the Senate, and we will be working hard to try and get them.” Ms. Mace, backed by four other Republicans, has her own bill, with a lower tax rate to discourage an illicit cannabis trade and other measures to discourage youth consumption. And the Democratic senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Ron Wyden of Oregon have written a marijuana decriminalization measure with Mr. Schumer. With 47 states and the District of Columbia having relaxed marijuana laws in some way, the federal government is far behind. Thirty-seven states have legalized cannabis for medical use, and 15 have granted adults legal access for purely recreational purposes. But because cannabis remains a federally controlled substance on par with heroin, banks insured by the federal government have been loath to make their services available to the burgeoning marijuana industry. Sales in that industry totaled $20 billion in 2020 and are projected to more than double by 2025, according to the bill. But those transactions are by and large in cash, without banking services. “If states are the laboratories of democracy, it is long past time for the federal government to recognize that legalization has been a resounding success, and that the conflict with federal law has become untenable,” said Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Even as states move forward with legalization, people convicted on marijuana offenses — disproportionately people of color — remain imprisoned. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill’s provision to expunge marijuana convictions and lower sentences would reduce time served by current and future inmates by 37,000 years. “Make no mistake, this is a racial justice bill,” said Representative Barbara Lee, Democrat of California. Republican states like Oklahoma have become marijuana boom states. Kansas is the latest state on the verge of legalizing cannabis for medical use. Federal law is far out of step. “This is an issue of individual freedom and basic fairness that clearly transcends party lines,” Mr. Schumer, Mr. Wyden and Mr. Booker wrote in a letter to fellow senators in February. “However, one major hurdle continues to stand in the way of states’ ability to make their own decisions about cannabis — the continued prohibition of marijuana at the federal level.” Ms. Mace said the Democrats with whom she had been negotiating needed to pass their version of a legalization bill before getting serious about talks on a bipartisan bill, with buy-in from the Senate. She has used the issue to distinguish herself from her Republican primary opponent, Katie Arrington, whom President Donald J. Trump has endorsed. “I hope that I can be forgiven for voting against it,” Ms. Mace said on Friday, before casting her vote against the Democrats’ bill. “Because I want to continue. I want to work on this issue, but we have to work on it together.” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/01/us/politics/marijuana-legalization.html
It won't happen but if we do ever get federal legalization we're gonna see posters on this board (particularly Michigan med card holders within a short drive of Bay City) become super popular. Would love to put together some care packages for my stoner comrades
Prices be high and the state drags their dicks handing out licenses. Hopefully this setting only lasts another year or so.
I knew Illinois prices were high, but didnt realize how much until I looked at the same store's prices in Michigan just now.
Nine republican co-sponsors for, an estimated 12 Republican supporters but looks like McConnell and Schumer are what stands in the way
The critiques of it not having restorative justice components are right. Be curious what the legalization and regulation bill in there will look like.
that's just a banking bill. but I don't get Schumer's position if you can't add criminal / restorative justice aspects to that type of banking bill. Passing piece by piece is probably better than trying to get everything at once
I feel like the Federal government has already made clear they have no interest in stopping states from legalizing it, but they are still forced to operate in 1. A very dangerous cash only business and 2. An incredibly inefficient and expensive cost of capital. If you allowed US financial institutions to deal in this industry the rest would fall into place (either by practically every state legalizing it themselves or at the Federal level) Stock Exchanges would love to list these companies Banks would love to lend/take deposits from these companies Alcohol companies dieing to put it in their beverages Those are some pretty big lobbies albeit going up against the pharmaceutical lobby. If you have legal banking, and a generation of olds dies off, there aren't enough pearls in the world to clutch for pols to fight it much longer. Tax dollars, well paying jobs, retail storefronts (how many empty former bank branches are rotting to the ground?)
because he'll have no leverage over the republicans who want it or the capitalist dems to get the restorative justice portions as those groups only want the banking portion to go through for their own self enrichment you pass banking reform the rest vanishes from possibility
What I read this morning said they legalized hemp derived THC up to 5mg a serving or something like that.
Wasn't this already legal through the farm bill, as long as it didn't exceed .3%? Or did some states even block that?
Some states block that. TN unsurprisingly looked at banning all Delta 8. I’m pretty sure Delta 8 is illegal in colorado and several other states with legal weed too.
I drive by the Oklahoma dispensaries on my way to Fayetteville multiple times a year so this has me hopeful
The fact we're nearly two years out from the 2020 election and this centrist cuck still can't wrap his stupid mind around marijuana being a social justice issue is so frustrating Kamala Harris said she was going to try to sway Biden on this... Seems she's just not really doing anything on that front? Thank god for Liz Warren Six Democratic senators asked the Biden administration to reclassify cannabis and pardon nonviolent offenders, a push to get the president closer to marijuana legalization. The senators — Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Edward J. Markey (Mass.), Bernie Sanders (Vt.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Cory Booker (N.J.) — sent a letter to Biden on Wednesday calling on him to use his authority to pardon “all individuals convicted of non-violent cannabis-related offenses” and to remove cannabis’s classification as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act. The letter was addressed to Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. Biden, during the 2020 campaign, stopped short of a full endorsement of marijuana legalization but did say that he believed “nobody should be in jail for smoking marijuana.” He also said he’d be willing to support reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule II drug. So far, however, his administration has stayed mum on its marijuana policy and efforts to pardon nonviolent offenders. “The Administration’s failure to coordinate a timely review of its cannabis policy is harming thousands of Americans, slowing research, and depriving Americans of their ability to use marijuana for medical or other purposes,” the Democrats wrote. The senators also mentioned an attempt they made last fall to get the Justice Department to reclassify marijuana. In a half-page response, which took six months, the department told the Democrats that they couldn’t reclassify cannabis because it “has not been proven in scientific studies to be a safe and effective treatment for any disease or condition.” “It is obvious that cannabis has widely accepted medical benefits, affirmed by medical and scientific communities both here and across the globe,” the senators wrote.
Back on the ballot in ND. This time the moron circulating the petition made it more reasonable so maybe the idiots in this state will vote for it.