Kamala Harris Calls For Marijuana To Be Rescheduled 'As Quickly As Possible'
Kamala Harris Calls For Marijuana To Be Rescheduled 'As Quickly As Possible'
“No one should go to jail for smoking weed,” the vice president said.
Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday called on the federal government to move “as quickly as possible” to change the way it officially classifies marijuana, saying that “nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed.”
“I cannot emphasize enough that they need to get to it as quickly as possible,” Harris said. “We need to have a resolution based on their findings and their assessment. This issue is stark when one considers the fact that on the schedule currently, marijuana is considered as dangerous as heroin ― as dangerous as heroin ― and more dangerous than fentanyl, which is absurd, not to mention patently unfair.”
Marijuana is currently listed as a Schedule 1 drug by the Drug Enforcement Administration. That classification designates it one of the most dangerous drugs possible, with no medicinal uses. Other substances in the same category include heroin, ecstasy and LSD. Marijuana advocates have been pushing for years for the federal government to either reschedule marijuana to a different category or deschedule it entirely.
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Harris oversaw more than 1,900 marijuana convictions in San Francisco, previously unreported records from the DA’s office show. Her prosecutors appear to have convicted people on marijuana charges at a higher rate than under her predecessor, based on data about marijuana arrests in the city.
As the political winds blow with her I guess. At least it's a positive change.
Eh.
That was when it went from jail to a fine though.
So lots of people stopped giving a shit and started smoking publicly.
And she's been pro legalization for years now.
There's lots of shit to criticize Biden and Harris on, but Harris's time as a DA and her cannabis conviction just isn't a good one.
"Under Harris, the D.A.'s office obtained more than 1,900 convictions for marijuana offenses, including persons simultaneously convicted of marijuana offenses and more serious crimes.[73] The rate at which Harris's office prosecuted marijuana crimes was higher than the rate under Hallinan, but the number of defendants sentenced to state prison for such offenses was substantially lower.[73] Prosecutions for low-level marijuana offenses were rare under Harris, and go her office had a policy of not pursuing jail time for marijuana possession offenses."
From her Wikipedia page (the reference is pay walled and im not invested enough to figure it out).
As an AG, it was her role to uphold the law and bring forward prosecutions.
I'm recognizing positive change, which is an option now with her new role
Edit I'll also acknowledge it's an election year and this is a popular topic TOO
As an AG it's her role to use discretion in bringing forward cases based on her interpretation of her mandate. That's why it's a political position.
They campaigned on this 4 years ago. They've done plenty of good things, but this one turned out out to be an empty promise.
Yea just ignore that Biden directed the relevant federal agencies to get this done and the HHS has already made the recommendation to move it to schedule 3.
Oh and damn, look at this: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahsinclair/2024/01/18/dea-considers-rescheduling-cannabis-what-this-means-for-us-and-global-reform/?sh=2ce8efef743f
The gears are still moving and the DEA, the agency with the final say according to the legal framework within the controlled substances act, is working on it with the executive branch is actively pushing to have it reclassified.
It’s almost like a bunch of you who are making brand new accounts to make these posts about broken campaign processes have no fucking clue what you’re talking about because, at the very least, you’re not paying any fucking attention.
Buddy, Obama campaigned on this. So in our minds it's been 12 years they've fucked around on rescheduling and legalization. 4 of those years Democrats held a majority in congress. We have every right to be furious with these corrupt pieces of shit.
Oh fuck off.
Don’t blame Obama’s failure on the person that wasn’t president at the time.
Admit that there’s finally some fucking progress on this and stop being so petulant about how it hasn’t happened fast enough for your sensibilities.
Of course it’s idiotic that this hasn’t been done yet, but good god damn it’s getting done but that’s just not good enough is it? May as well protest vote in the election and get trump back in office who, last I checked didn’t make any efforts toward this when he held the office.
Admit that there’s finally some fucking progress
THIS ISN'T FUCKING PROGRESS. NOTHING HAS CHANGED.
You're the one who needs to fuck off. You're celebrating like they crossed some kind of goal line because they talked about it? And then you lecture me for pointing out it's been talked about for at least 12 years? STOP TALKING ABOUT IT FOR A FUCKING SOUND BYTE AND FUCKING GET IT DONE.
This is the definition of progress you wet fart.
Why the hell does following the legal framework not count as progress? Why does the thing have to be finished for it to be progress? I guess at work you don’t keep track of your larger projects to show your progress when your boss comes knocking because unless it’s finished it’s not being worked on?
What the hell do you expect to happen in these cases? Do you expect the king president to wave his staff and decree it so?
Do you expect the king president to wave his staff and decree it so?
Democrats held the majority in congress for four years while Obama was in office. I expected them to get it fucking done. No, when someone repeatedly fails to deliver I don't celebrate status updates because I can't trust the status updates.
We’re talking about Biden’s presidency. Stop bringing up Obama. It’s immaterial because Biden wasn’t president, in case you missed that.
It’s happening now. Stop being a baby and screaming about bygones that can’t change. And when it comes around I expect you to eat some fucking crow. Though I’d bet you’ll just pretend you were never such a whiny child about how progress isn’t good enough because it’s not done
If it's money for extra bombs for Ukraine or if it's bank bailouts it can happen really quick. Stop putting people in jail for weed, enh, we'll get it done "right away".... sure you will.
Don't forget that bipartisian effort to block the rail strike that flew through the senate with 80 fucking votes.
They have time for what they want to have time for. Everything else is just lip service.
Amen. Fuck these liberals acting like Dems do anything they promise.
A campaign promise is very different than a statement from a sitting official.
This is not an excuse for it not being descheduled yet.
Sometimes a hypocrite is just a man in the process of changing.
I kind of want to create an unexpected Sanderson group…
If they’re going with the crowd, that’s societal inertia or peer pressure, not change. Harris is not making a big controversial stand, a majority of Americans want legalization - across demographics, political leanings, and income.
Now if she was advocating heroin prescriptions as a harm reduction, or expunging her own convictions for possession, or a systemic reevaluation of our drug law and enforcement approach? THAT’S a change that shows she understands how the law is bad, not this new political posturing to win votes callously
That's honestly better I think. If she doesn't personally believe it, but is expressing support for it politically, that means the topic is winning.
Or you're being suckered again.
That's obviously not what's happening here. These people are scum.
This view is close minded.
Any other view of the Demcratic party and the corrupt pieces of shit in it is burying your head in the sand.
Ok comrad
Or this is what she wants the law to be, that was what she did when her job was to enforce the law that existed back then.
DAs always have discretion in what cases to drop or move forward, along with being able to offer plea bargains. They aren’t legally required to prosecute everyone who smokes weed, it’s just good optics to a certain political class to do so. And that political class was a much bigger tent even 10-15 years ago.
Also, they talk about marijuana every time there’s an election, then don’t actually change it.
Not really a change, though, Biden asked for rescheduling years ago.