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

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191–200 of 247 posts

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

#191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the current fillibuster rules require a 60-40 supermajority to get anything done, but the fillubuster rule itself can be changed with a simple majority of 50%+1. But the incentive structure is not there to actually change this rule -- both parties benefit from it.

> both parties benefit from it. Is that really the case? It is a bias towards the status quo. Regardless, IMO the constituents represented by those parties don't benefit from it.

If a majority of senators did not benefit from having the filibuster, they would repeal it. The minority party is for it because it blocks the majority party. Moderates are for it because it protects them from having to go on the record by voting on controversial issues.

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

#192

The local dispensary in San Jose CA just started accepting debit cards and I was able to make a purchase with mine.

Airfield (San Jose, CA) accepts debit cards for quite some time already. The additional fee is astronomical.

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

#193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes

While still federally illegal, they have not done these raids regularly for years. In 2015 a judge ordered the federal government to stop going after medical places in legal states [1]. If I recall correctly the Obama Admin ordered the DEA to stop busting shops in recreational legal states too. I am unsure if the GOP's recent tenure in the Whitehouse reversed these common sense ideas. [1] https://time.com/4080110/dea…

Jeff Sessions, Trump's first AG, issued this memo purporting to reverse thr policy

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-issues-mem...

However, federal law since 2014 has prohibited expenditures of federal funds to interfere with state medical cannabis laws, which limits what the executive can do (on its face, it only applies to state medical-use laws, though, so in principal federal enforcement against state-legal not-purely-medical marijuana might be viable.)

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

#194
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does suck, but it's what the system of democracy we currently have incentivizes. I've kind of become a bit of a voting reform absolutist for this reason. Publicly funded elections, get rid of first-past-the-post plurality voting (and replace with approval, ranked choice, anything really), electoral college reform, Wyoming rule, etc. If these problems were fixed, the incentives to solve the other problems are much…

I think the problem is more fundamental than that. There’s no mechanism in the system for feedback on improving the system itself because it would disadvantage the people who have been elected by the current system (since those are the people that have figured out how to exploit it the best). The only current method would be to somehow convince the people in power that they will need to overhaul the system to stay in…

You’re right. The federal system is designed to blunt the mob.

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

#196

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…

It doesn’t require being anywhere in particular on the spectrum to hate inconsistencies and “it’s not supposed to be like that but that’s how it is in practice” unspoken policies BS. And especially selective enforcement, which I think is a symptom of corruption.

At least, I don’t think I have that, but I sure hate the unfortunate fact that the world (and this seems to be universal, not specific to any country or culture) is that way.

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

#197

The local dispensary in San Jose CA just started accepting debit cards and I was able to make a purchase with mine.

Airfield (San Jose, CA) accepts debit cards for quite some time already. The additional fee is astronomical.

I'll have to check my receipt next time from Purple Lotus. I'll pay cash if they want to charge me for a debit card. Seems like I'm doing them a favor so they shouldn't charge me.

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

#198
While I've always supported legalisation, I'm bummed that the US is following suit so fast.

Kind of worried about the following scenario: US legalise weed with next to no regulations on e.g advertising. US consumerism/advertising + social media + lack of widespread cultural norms = massive peak in usage short term. Anti-drug lobby uses this as "proof" that legalisation is wrong, convincing enough politicians to keep Europe in the dark ages for another 20 years.

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

#199

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.

Really we should blame all the executive administrations for not forcing the DEA to do their job properly. Keeping cannabis as a Schedule 1 is completely scientifically unjustified. There was already an existing legal framework available to legalize the drug. But since the DEA/FDA is so corrupt, we have to fall back to checks & balances available in the states and Congress.

We should be legalizing (and regulating/taxing) all drugs. The DEA is obviously incentivized to fight this as that would kill their raison d'être.

The War on Drugs has effectively brainwashed most people to think that the best way to control "dangerous" drugs is to make them illegal.

And the politics of this is that were the Dems to try to do this then the GOP would campaign on the Dems trying to give drugs to kids like candy.

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

#200

Prediction: Dems will make a move on federal legalization in the months before the 2024 presidential election, or at least make federal legalization a major election issue. A lot of right wing / libertarian adjacent people were hoping Trump would come out in favor of it as a 2020 election issue, to outflank Biden on at least one issue. It didn't happen, but I bet it would have made the election a bit closer -- it wou…

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.

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