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US House passes federal cannabis decriminalisation bill

bbc.co.uk

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Re: US House passes federal cannabis decriminalisation bill

#61

Post by dragonwriter »

frankbreetz wrote: post #40
seanieb wrote: post #7

Great to see the worsening COVID crisis getting the attention it deserves...

The house passed covid relief bill in June and then again in October. What more do you want from them? It takes two to negotiate

The House and Senate are, in fact, in heavy negotiations on a bipartisan ~$1T COVID aid package that apparently Pelosi and McConnell have both agreed should be attached to the spending bill nevesy to avoid a government shutdown. It's not like the House (or Senate) can only work on one bill at a time.

Re: US House passes federal cannabis decriminalisation bill

#62

Post by door99 »

frankbreetz wrote: post #21

I know hn doesn't like politics, but it amazes me how popular one party's policies are(see polls for single payer healthcare, gov funded college, wealth tax, etc ), but it is still competitive. Republicans are certainly better at "politics". It will be fun to see how they spin this into the vague notion of socialism or somehow this is taking away your freedom.

> see polls for single payer healthcare, gov funded college, wealth tax, etc

Except the Democrats don’t run on that. None of this was part of Biden’s campaign, in the primaries, only Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren ran on these issues, and Biden tried to distance himself as much as possible from them. I agree that if the Democrats ran on what you’re describing, they would do much better electorally, but most do not.

Re: US House passes federal cannabis decriminalisation bill

#63

Post by boogies »

frankbreetz wrote: post #21

I know hn doesn't like politics, but it amazes me how popular one party's policies are(see polls for single payer healthcare, gov funded college, wealth tax, etc ), but it is still competitive. Republicans are certainly better at "politics". It will be fun to see how they spin this into the vague notion of socialism or somehow this is taking away your freedom.

> somehow this is taking away your freedom

IIUC it could indirectly reduce some people’s freedom to live, because marijuana can impair driving but is harder to diagnose as the cause for accidents than alcohol — because tests only show whether it has been taken in the last few weeks, not whether the subject is intoxicated at the moment of the test. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

Re: US House passes federal cannabis decriminalisation bill

#65

Post by delecti »

minikites wrote: post #20
meddlepal wrote: post #6

It won't pass the Senate floor. Absolutely pointless.

The Senate is an incredibly un-democratic institution and a truly massive barrier standing in the way of a functioning government. Mitch McConnell alone can dictate Senate business at his whims.

Try not to be misled into thinking that most of the GOP has any problem with how Mitch wields his power. Mitch McConnell wouldn't still be the Senate Majority leader if they did. He isn't acting alone, he's just who's taking the blame.

Re: US House passes federal cannabis decriminalisation bill

#66

Post by jliptzin »

bransonf wrote: post #55

> not expected to advance further as long as the Senate remains in Republican hands. > “This legislation does not legalize cannabis across the country. It stops the federal government from interfering with what states have decided to do” In all seriousness, isn’t the Republican platform weaker central government? Why the exception?

Republicans don't actually stand for anything, other than "do the opposite of what Democrats want"

Re: US House passes federal cannabis decriminalisation bill

#67

Post by lotsofpulp »

kortilla wrote: post #35
huntermeyer wrote: post #19

> It includes measures to expunge the federal criminal records of those charged or convicted for non-violent cannabis offenses I feel this line is what'll cause the bill to not pass in the Senate. I don't see why the removal of cannabis from the scheduled drugs list needs to be coupled with criminal record expungement. Do one. Then move to do the next. Is this how things are usually done?

> Is this how things are usually done? Yes, you pack the politically tenuous stuff in with the widely supported stuff so you put the opposing side in an optically bad position if they reject it. The headlines will be “Senate rejects marijuana decriminalization bill supported by majority of population” rather than “Senate rejects criminal record expungement”. Politics are fucked in this country.

The only thing messed up is that someone would consider expunging convictions from a law that violated people's freedom to consume a substance that does no harm to anyone else as "politically tenuous".

Re: US House passes federal cannabis decriminalisation bill

#68

Post by dragonwriter »

minikites wrote: post #20
meddlepal wrote: post #6

It won't pass the Senate floor. Absolutely pointless.

The Senate is an incredibly un-democratic institution and a truly massive barrier standing in the way of a functioning government. Mitch McConnell alone can dictate Senate business at his whims.

> Mitch McConnell alone can dictate Senate business at his whims.

No, he can't, because he can be replaced if the majority caucus is unhappy with him. He hasn't been because he enacts their will.

Re: US House passes federal cannabis decriminalisation bill

#69

Post by [deleted] »

bransonf wrote: post #55

> not expected to advance further as long as the Senate remains in Republican hands. > “This legislation does not legalize cannabis across the country. It stops the federal government from interfering with what states have decided to do” In all seriousness, isn’t the Republican platform weaker central government? Why the exception?

[deleted]

Re: US House passes federal cannabis decriminalisation bill

#70

Post by [deleted] »

bransonf wrote: post #55

> not expected to advance further as long as the Senate remains in Republican hands. > “This legislation does not legalize cannabis across the country. It stops the federal government from interfering with what states have decided to do” In all seriousness, isn’t the Republican platform weaker central government? Why the exception?

[deleted]
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