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submitted 11 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

12 Senate Democrats, including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, urged the DEA in a letter to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act altogether.

Senate Democrats are putting new pressure on the Biden administration to ease federal restrictions on marijuana in a new letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday as it considers rescheduling cannabis after it was federally classified more than five decades ago.

The Department of Health and Human Services formally recommended in August that the DEA move the drug from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, or CSA, prompting a monthslong review, which continues.

The letter, from 12 senators led by Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and John Fetterman, D-Pa., and signed by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., goes further.

“The case for removing marijuana from Schedule I is overwhelming. The DEA should do so by removing cannabis from the CSA altogether, rather than simply placing it in a lower schedule,” the senators wrote in the letter, first obtained by NBC News.

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[-] PopOfAfrica@lemmy.world -1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

That's a risk I'm willing to take.

There are such things as acting chiefs as well. I keep firing them until we got somebody favorable

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

Trump tried to do that to get an attorney general who would help him out. It did not go well.

[-] PopOfAfrica@lemmy.world 0 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

What do you mean it didn't turn out well? Seems like there were actually zero consequences. I love that Trump was allowed to use the awesome powers of the president to hurt people, but Biden's not allowed to use them to help people. That's where the line is, apparently.

[-] frezik@midwest.social 9 points 11 months ago

It's more akin to Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre, where he kept ordering the next Attorney General successor to fire a special prosecutor until someone finally did it. This finally convinced Congress to get off their ass and start the impeachment process. Republicans then spent the next few decades building a system to make sure a Republican President would never have to face consequences like that again.

[-] PopOfAfrica@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

Right, that's kind of my point. Presidents can do a whole lot to cover their own ass and do illegal activities, but they can't do anything to help the people, such as decriminalizing marijuana.

It's a gross double standard.

[-] lolcatnip@reddthat.com -2 points 11 months ago

Some of us think that kind of thing is unacceptable no matter who the president is.

[-] PopOfAfrica@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Do you find it more objectionable than locking people up for marijuana possession, ruining their lives? I dont

[-] lolcatnip@reddthat.com -1 points 11 months ago

Changing the DEA scheduling well change things a lot less than you seem to think. It's states that lock people up for simple possession, not the federal government.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 0 points 11 months ago

Seems like there were actually zero consequences.

Apart from the consequence of Trump being unable to stay in office after declaring the election a fraud. Which is why he kept firing them.

[-] PopOfAfrica@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Are you implying that by doing something incredibly popular would cause electoral consequences for Biden? Because what you just listed was that Trump lost the election. He faced no fruitful systemic challenges to anything he did ever.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

I'm saying that firing AG after AG did not get Trump what he wanted, so I don't know why you think it would work in this case.

[-] PopOfAfrica@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Right, I'm just saying that the context is incredibly important. It is a popular political maneuver.

The point is that if Biden ordered it, it's likely that this DEA chief would oblige. We've created this hypothetical where they just won't for some reason. And then that's when you strong arm.

I'm just really tired of nothing good happening ever because we lack the creativity.

this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2024
452 points (98.5% liked)

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