And I don’t think I need a cite to point out that it’s still illegal at the federal level, and Biden’s recent efforts to reclassify aren’t nearly sufficient. Weed businesses will still be locked out of the banking system.
The real crux of the question is: What the hell is going on? At this point, it doesn’t seem controversial to just make it a straight states’ issue. Just make federal law mute. I don’t understand why the President and Congress don’t see this as an easy bipartisan win. It’s hard to imagine with 70% support some Republican senator in Utah is at risk.
What’s the real story here ? I’m interested in both opinions and factual (to the extent possible) reporting.
It’s an election year and Biden wants to appease the MJ crowd while not offending the anti-MJ crowd.
As for farms in New Mexico, these seem to be more of border control actions and not cracking down on growers as you state. I don’t see where the DEA is involved, only Customs and Border Protection agencies. The farms they are talking about are within the border zone and are likley suspected as being run by the cartels.
IMO … Right now nothing except electoral politics matters to anyone in power. Legalizing weed might be popular with 70%, but it also provides a ready made propaganda win to the frothing RW extremist crowd. Who have far more voting power than they have numbers.
There’s no electoral upside to Biden touching this. Between the Ds, the Rs, the MAGAs, and the Freedumb Caucus, our sitting Congress couldn’t get its shit together enough to pass a bill whose only provision was to double their own salaries. Much less to approve something with actual controversy attached to it.
So nothing will be done until the next congress and administration. And what would be done then will depend massively on which of the presidential candidates and congressional contingents does well out of it.
Mostly unrelated to the above:
Also never forget that e.g. “70% approve of [whatever]” is a very different thing from “70% care tremendously about [whatever] and will alter their vote to favor whoever will deliver [whatever], regardless of any other considerations.”
IOW, there are many single-issue voters, but there are very few marijuana legalization single-issue voters.
Back in 2014 I campaigned hard for Tom Wolf, who promised to get a medical marijuana program started in PA. I contacted everyone I knew and kept contacting them until they also were involved. Long story short, Wolf won and kept his word. That was my one and only foray into politics.
Oh, and Wolf did a fantastic job dealing with COVID!
Rescheduling is a huge step; it’s just a huge step that should’ve happened decades ago. It will do things like open the door for lots more research into the potential health benefits of cannaboids, which will go a long way towards shifting public perception of it as a Bad Drug for Bad People.
I consider cannibus similar to alcohol. Not all uses of alcohol are healthy or safe. But consumed responsibly, I got no problem with. Same is true of cannibus.
They’re seizing cannabis being transported through CBP checkpoints (what we called skin checks growing up.) Nothing to do with who anyone thinks runs what.
I suspect it’s sort of a detente type situation where the non-weed states and the weed states are kind of in an uneasy balance where the Feds basically don’t enforce, and let the states do their own thing. The status quo benefits both sides, so neither is really willing to rock the boat.
To the extent that the cartels control the pot trade, that would be gone upon legalization as Mom & Pop growers openly take over. Don’t they realize that anyone who wants pot already has it, and no one is going to smoke any more or any less just because it’s legal?
