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Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

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Re: Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regardless of your perspective on the morality of it, cannabis is still illegal nationally. Which is the point of this thread To say its legal is simply wrong

Just because there’s a jurisdictional overlap doesn’t make it illegal at state level.

Federal law supercedes State law. That is why the Constitution is "the highest law of the Land".

It's also why so much is pushed for to be done at the Federal level, because it completely sidesteps the chance for States to make their own local laws on the matter. The danger there, is that as it turns out, different places/populations have different views on things, which often do not exactly line up with D.C.'s.

Hence why Federal overreach side of things has been a hot button topic in politics for decades.

Re: Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

#152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sucks how everything is a political football instead of just doing the right thing. They had full control and could have legalized it. But no, they keep holding onto just to drag voters along every election.

>They had full control and could have legalized it That's not how the Senate works. A 50-50 "majority" is not full control. In any case, it's pretty silly to blame the party that's on your side for not being able to overcome the bad-faith obstructionism of the opposing party. It's not about political "footballs", it's about having finite time and public attention to be able to get things done. If every single fight h…

I believe the FDA could de schedule it?

Re: Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

#153
Dispensary payment is a big opportunity in the weed tech space. Dutchie's tried to solve it with a combo of tech and lobbying,[1] cashless ATMs tried to hack around it it,[2] but it's such a weird and difficult space. It's productized social engineering around a policy that makes no sense.

1: https://business.dutchie.com/payments

2: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-05/how-to-bu...

Re: Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

#154

This is frustrating, because I think it’s a near certainty marijuana will be legalized federally. If I was a betting man, which I’m not, certainly not enough to mess with prediction markets, I’d call myself 95% certain. All this ambiguity is just grinding inefficiency in the meantime. Look at all that states where this is legal or decriminalized: https://disa.com/maps/marijuana-legality-by-state And even in states wh…

I think right now is exactly where I want weed to be in society: a taboo, not normalized in the mainstream, you get in trouble if you’re stupid with it, but otherwise if you’re just an occasional user you can get it just fine. This is pretty much perfect to me. What I don’t want is broad normalization of it. Maybe some cultures do just fine with that, but the trend is America has been to maximize the individual liber…

Checkout the Huberman episode about cannabis, specifically the part about pregnant women using cannabis during pregnancy like its no big deal. Resonates with your comment.

Re: Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

#155
There's still a chance that cannabis might trigger schizophrenia, especially among people who start very young. This is at right angles to the legalisation debate, because alcohol and tobacco are likely to be even more harmful. It remains the case that intellectual honestly about this point should not get drowned out in all the politics.

Be careful what you put in your body. Especially if the thing is some novel substance. I guess this principle applies much more broadly than to cannabis.

Re: Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

#156
The elephant in the room is that right wing politics intersects with a certain group of people that will never ever approve liberalization of cannabis (or any drug for that matter), and will lobby hard against it.

This is not only the case for USA - but something you see in other countries.

Maybe something more specific to the US, would be the people and corporations that benefit from keeping cannabis illegal, and thus lobby equally hard against it.

Sometimes market liberalization and conservative thinking does not go hand in hand.

Re: Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is effectively legal federally It is not "effectively legal". You cannot do any of these while possessing and/or using marijuana: * Pass federal employment drug tests * ̶F̶l̶y̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶n̶e̶ * Buy a gun etc.

Yes, you absolutely can fly with it. TSA has gone on the record, at least in local newspapers, stating that they defer to local police if they find cannabis. If it's for personal use, local PD won't do anything other than suggest you throw it away or else risk punishment if you're flying somewhere legal. I've researched this extensively before flying out of specific airports in legal states up and down the west coast…

That still does not change it to being legal, the law is still on the books, and no repeal has passed.

It is still illegal, and all it will take is someone plopping into the Exec seat and getting a hair, then it is back to square 1.

Legal exposure is kind of like HIV, herpes, or COVID. There is a big difference between "I don't have it", and "It's not an issue right now", wherein the exact state of affairs drastically effects how one moves forward.

Until it is off the books /repealed, nothing has changed in the grand scheme of things.

Re: Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

#158

This is frustrating, because I think it’s a near certainty marijuana will be legalized federally. If I was a betting man, which I’m not, certainly not enough to mess with prediction markets, I’d call myself 95% certain. All this ambiguity is just grinding inefficiency in the meantime. Look at all that states where this is legal or decriminalized: https://disa.com/maps/marijuana-legality-by-state And even in states wh…

I think right now is exactly where I want weed to be in society: a taboo, not normalized in the mainstream, you get in trouble if you’re stupid with it, but otherwise if you’re just an occasional user you can get it just fine. This is pretty much perfect to me. What I don’t want is broad normalization of it. Maybe some cultures do just fine with that, but the trend is America has been to maximize the individual liber…

I don't really disagree but my counter argument is that I think breaking the law should be meaningful and enforcement should not be random and perhaps politically motivated. Weed in particular has been used to stop and search cars with minority populations due to the police officer claiming to smell it. Also the US has a culture of having too many laws that are selectively enforced (IMHO but I think this is widely held belief).

Re: Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

#159

This is frustrating, because I think it’s a near certainty marijuana will be legalized federally. If I was a betting man, which I’m not, certainly not enough to mess with prediction markets, I’d call myself 95% certain. All this ambiguity is just grinding inefficiency in the meantime. Look at all that states where this is legal or decriminalized: https://disa.com/maps/marijuana-legality-by-state And even in states wh…

I think right now is exactly where I want weed to be in society: a taboo, not normalized in the mainstream, you get in trouble if you’re stupid with it, but otherwise if you’re just an occasional user you can get it just fine. This is pretty much perfect to me. What I don’t want is broad normalization of it. Maybe some cultures do just fine with that, but the trend is America has been to maximize the individual liber…

Not really grokking your comment, a lot of inconsistency. You point to deeper issues in American society, and you are very much fine with playing endless whack-a-mole with its symptoms manifesting left and right instead of dealing with issue like grown ups do - attack the underlying problem, instead of seeing endless spiral of growing issues that it brings.

You base this on extreme idea that when weed is legalized it will be literally everywhere, which is incorrect, outdated and the very source of utter republican clusterfuck that War on drugs was and is. Hasn't this produced enough evil in whole world so we should wise up for a change?

Re: Cannabis is legal in most US states but federal laws block businesses from banks

#160

The headline isn't true. Cannabis is illegal in all of America, since it's still on Schedule I at the federal level. While some states may have removed their own laws against it, that in itself doesn't make it legal there.

I've started wondering how much my views on civil ethics are influenced by (likely) having Asperger's. I absolutely hate having a persistent divergence between laws on the books, and what's enforced. In my view, that gap exists only to be exploited by villains: both those who would selfishly break the law, and those who would capriciously enforce it. Policies like this make chumps of anyone who obeys such laws, invit…

I don't have Asperger's but I fully agree with you. I also grew up in Scandinavia were laws are not this selectively enforced. Not saying it never happens, but most people think it is wrong.
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