discussion Should Biden legalize weed as a sign of support for Brittney Griner?

[Communion]

Inspired by this recent podcast from former Bernie Sanders national press secretary Briahna Joy Gray on Biden's lack of reaction to Russia using its similar drug laws that saw Griner plead guilty to drug trafficking during her time within the country.

 

 

Discuss 

[Pop]

There's a lot of things he should do, but he seems inert to make actual changes. 

[anklebiterrs]

I’m honestly not following this man’s argument at all. What has Griner’s incarceration in Russia have to do with USA federal law? Legalizing weed in the US does nothing to bring Griner back. And the whole tirade about basketball players? What?

 

OT: he should be more transparent about progress with legalization of weed, considering it was one of his core campaign promises, but understandably the US has been having way bigger problems than this atm and it won’t pass in the Senate anyway. 

[Bloo]

27 minutes ago, anklebiterrs said:

I’m honestly not following this man’s argument at all. What has Griner’s incarceration in Russia have to do with USA federal law? Legalizing weed in the US does nothing to bring Griner back. And the whole tirade about basketball players? What?

 

OT: he should be more transparent about progress with legalization of weed, considering it was one of his core campaign promises, but understandably the US has been having way bigger problems than this atm and it won’t pass in the Senate anyway. 

Marijuana can be effectively legalized with a stroke of Biden’s pen via executive action by descheduling it as a Schedule 1 drug. Biden just refuses to do so because he still believes the “gateway drug” myth and actually doesn’t care about doing so. He fired staff members in his administration for using marijuana even though it’s legal in DC to do so recreationally. 
—

Biden should have already legalized marijuana. This would be an interesting way to posit it as political shade against Russia (which maybe some normies would support). But he won’t because Biden is as anti-marijuana as they come. 

[Johnny Jacobs]

Can Biden authorize this on his own? 

[Communion]

1 hour ago, anklebiterrs said:

I’m honestly not following this man’s argument at all.

That Biden claims to be strongly against Russia and proudly pro-American but his lack of will to differentiate America from places like Russia that harshly punish cannabis usage (something a vast majority of Americans agree should be legal for recreational use) forces people to question just how pro-America he can be while refusing to put pen to paper to codify the will of the American people. 

[chessguy99]

2 minutes ago, Johnny Jacobs said:

Can Biden authorize this on his own? 

No. Best he can do is to recommend the AG and Sec of HHS review the classification of marijuana. 

[Johnny Jacobs]

2 minutes ago, chessguy99 said:

No. Best he can do is to recommend the AG and Sec of HHS review the classification of marijuana. 

Oh.. Im not from the US but I was pretty sure it's not how things work 

 

[Communion]

14 minutes ago, Johnny Jacobs said:

Can Biden authorize this on his own? 

Many legal experts and lead Democrats believe so, yes. 

Even if his administration were worry about the details, he could instead pardon all Americans with non-violent offenses related to weed. We know this is something he can do on his own because he did it already for crimes including and outside of drug possession:

Quote

Two of the pardons went to people with low-level drug offenses, and the third was given to Abraham Bolden Sr., an 86-year-old former U.S. Secret Service agent and the first Black person to serve on a presidential detail.

Bolden was accused of trying to sell a copy of a Secret Service file in 1964. Bolden maintained his innocence throughout his first trial, which resulted in a hung jury.

In fact, the head of his executive pardons office has confirmed that the department does pardon approval on a one-by-one applicant basis yet would follow an order from Biden to prepare pardons for all current non-violent drug offenses related to marijuana if Biden simply directed them to do so:

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Communion

[VOSS]

1 hour ago, anklebiterrs said:

I’m honestly not following this man’s argument at all. What has Griner’s incarceration in Russia have to do with USA federal law? Legalizing weed in the US does nothing to bring Griner back. And the whole tirade about basketball players? What?

 

OT: he should be more transparent about progress with legalization of weed, considering it was one of his core campaign promises, but understandably the US has been having way bigger problems than this atm and it won’t pass in the Senate anyway. 

I think he was pointing out how strange it was to be swapping a dangerous arms dealer in exchange for someone arrested for weed in another country when weed is illegal in our own country

[chessguy99]

8 minutes ago, Johnny Jacobs said:

Oh.. Im not from the US but I was pretty sure it's not how things work 

 

Look it up there are articles everywhere and a Wikipedia page specifically on it. 

[Communion]

20 minutes ago, chessguy99 said:

No. Best he can do is to recommend the AG and Sec of HHS review the classification of marijuana. 

 

16 minutes ago, Johnny Jacobs said:

Oh.. Im not from the US but I was pretty sure it's not how things work 

The person who decides who the Attorney General and Secretary of Dept. of Health and Human Services are... is Biden because he is the president and holds authority over who is or isn't apart of his presidential cabinet.

 

It's like arguing your boss can't make you do a certain action, because it is true that they physically can't make you, while ignoring that they still have the legal right to fire you and simply replace you with someone fully willing to do the job you didn't.

 

This is largely how Trump wielded his executive authority - punished those outside of his party's ideological goals. Or publicly threaten them. He didn't care about things like 'norms'.

 

Xavier Becerra is the head of the HHS and Merrick Garland is the US Attorney General because Biden nominated them and holds the executive authority to fire them at will. Now, will he *want* to do that? Given that he largely rejects partisan solutions to problems and finds weed to be a gateway drug and has called it dangerous, no, likely not. But does he hold the authority to? Yes, objectively.

Edited July 31, 2022 by Communion

[bleuwaffle]

he should legalize it regardless of this situation. she traveled to a foreign country and knowingly broke their laws. i don't feel any sympathy for her.

[A Bomb]

5 minutes ago, Communion said:

 

The person who decides who the Attorney General and Secretary of Dept. of Health and Human Services are... is Biden because he has the president and thus holds authority over who is or isn't apart of his presidential cabinet.

 

It's like arguing your boss can't make you do a certain action, because it is true that they physically can't make you, while ignoring that they still have the legal right to fire you and simply replace you with someone fully willing to do the job you didn't.

 

This is largely how Trump wielded his executive authority - punished those outside of his party's ideological goals.

 

Xavier Becerra is the head of the HHS and Merrick Garland is the US Attorney General because Biden nominated them and holds the executive authority to fire them at will. Now, will he *want* to do that? Given that he largely rejects partisan solutions to problems and finds weed to be a gateway drug and has called it dangerous, no, likely not. 

 

The way people lack common sense, but also the basic fact of POTUS having the authority to direct agencies. Either directly by executive orders or by nominating someone who is willing to do anything remotely popular, because the Senate is overwhelming undemocratic, and we are being stopped by a minority rule. 
 

All that to push the responsibility off of Biden. Hoping they are paying them at least. The level of propaganda. “We cant do anything about the courts except vote!!” Is starting to be used for any reasonable pushback on doing ANYTHING at all. 

[Nano]

11 minutes ago, bleuwaffle said:

he should legalize it regardless of this situation. she traveled to a foreign country and knowingly broke their laws. i don't feel any sympathy for her.

Girl This much anger just over pot? Do you think gays deserve to go to jail for having sex in countries where it's illegal?

[chessguy99]

4 minutes ago, Communion said:

 

The person who decides who the Attorney General and Secretary of Dept. of Health and Human Services are... is Biden because he is the president and holds authority over who is or isn't apart of his presidential cabinet.

 

It's like arguing your boss can't make you do a certain action, because it is true that they physically can't make you, while ignoring that they still have the legal right to fire you and simply replace you with someone fully willing to do the job you didn't.

 

This is largely how Trump wielded his executive authority - punished those outside of his party's ideological goals. Or publicly threaten them. He didn't care about things like 'norms'.

 

Xavier Becerra is the head of the HHS and Merrick Garland is the US Attorney General because Biden nominated them and holds the executive authority to fire them at will. Now, will he *want* to do that? Given that he largely rejects partisan solutions to problems and finds weed to be a gateway drug and has called it dangerous, no, likely not. But does he hold the authority to? Yes, objectively.

The Controlled Substance Act specifies the process. Executive orders can't circumvent this, SCOTUS will toss that right out. Most executive orders that have been struck down by SCOTUS have been attempts to get around administrative process.  Also, the JD/DEA regularly get requests for the review of the classification of marijuana, but none for gotten past initial review by the DEA.

[bleuwaffle]

9 minutes ago, Nano said:

Girl This much anger just over pot? Do you think gays deserve to go to jail for having sex in countries where it's illegal?

well one is a human rights issue, the other is weed. not comparable in the slightest.  no one forced her to go to russia. if you're gonna travel to another country the least you can do is respect their laws. you're not above that as a westerner!

Edited July 31, 2022 by bleuwaffle

[Communion]

18 minutes ago, chessguy99 said:

The Controlled Substance Act specifies the process. Executive orders can't circumvent this, SCOTUS will toss that right out. Most executive orders that have been struck down by SCOTUS have been attempts to get around administrative process.  Also, the JD/DEA regularly get requests for the review of the classification of marijuana, but none for gotten past initial review by the DEA.

Again, you're quite literally refusing to recognize this power gridlock is superficial, not innate or somehow beyond us.

 

These are all human decisions that only continue to go on as "the norm" because all figures of power involved deciding this is the way things simply are. The DEA Administrator, like all agency staffing, is *literally* also appointed by Biden.

 

 

Of course the DEA is going to be an agency that won't be friendly to the idea of legalizing cannabis when even Democrats who hold power continue to use this executive power to put in place people who do not think it should be legal:

 

 

Citing the CSA is misleading because the CRS paper that outlines this issue quite literally highlights what we're talking about:

Quote

Although the President may not unilaterally deschedule or reschedule a controlled substance, he does possess a large degree of indirect influence over scheduling decisions. The President could pursue the appointment of agency officials who favor descheduling, or use executive orders to direct DEA, HHS, and FDA to consider administrative descheduling of marijuana. The notice-and-comment rulemaking process would take time, and would be subject to judicial review if challenged, but could be done consistently with the CSA’s procedural requirements.

https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/no-president-biden-cannot-legalize-weed-or-deschedule-it-even-with-an-executive-order

No one is arguing otherwise. Yes, the CSA means Biden's executive order can't just be "weed is legal now lol #blazeup!". But he objectively can use the role allowed to him within the Controlled Substances Act to "recommend" directives to heads of agencies part of his administration... agencies that only he holds the power of assignment to.  Why is the Biden admin from top to bottom full of hacks and powerbrokers completely at ideological odds w/ most Democratic voters?

Edited July 31, 2022 by Communion

[GhostBox]

No and no one cares what joy joy has to say about anything. Shes one of the reasons Sanders lost…..twice ?

[Communion]

3 minutes ago, GhostBox said:

No and no one cares

Big MAGA energy to say no one cares what Carl Hart, a Columbia professor and one of the leading voices on the movement on drug legalization, as a black man, has to say, because it scolds a geriatric white politician who used to rub elbows with segregationists and get joy from locking black men up for having a joint on them. 

Quote

Carl L. Hart (born October 30, 1966) is an American psychologist and neuroscientist, working as the Mamie Phipps Clark Professor of Psychology (in Psychiatry) at Columbia University.^[1] Hart is known for his research on drug abuse and drug addiction, his advocacy for the decriminalization of recreational drugs, and his recreational use of drugs like heroin.^[2] Hart is one of the first tenured African American professors of sciences at Columbia University.^[2][3]

"I won't listen to him, I know Biden is doing a damn good job!!!" 

[LatinFreak]

No. 

 

[rihannabiggestfan]

Even Trump is more likely to legalize weed at this point.

 

The way Biden is such a hypocrite for simping for Griner despite jailing everyone in the US (except his corrupt son!) for marijuana

 

 

[Communion]

1 hour ago, rihannabiggestfan said:

Even Trump is more likely to legalize weed at this point.

 

The way Biden is such a hypocrite for simping for Griner despite jailing everyone in the US (except his corrupt son!) for marijuana

 

 

 

[Ferret]

He wont do **** cause he is USELESS

[rihannabiggestfan]

6 hours ago, Communion said:

 

When will Biden (make points) 

Edited August 1, 2022 by rihannabiggestfan