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Delaware will become the 22nd state to legalize recreational marijuana

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Re: Delaware will become the 22nd state to legalize recreational marijuana

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Caveat is Congress enjoined the DOJ from enforcing against medical marijuana use. Get a medical card (suuuuuuuper easy) and you’ve derisked. Sucks to have to hack around stupidity wrt federal policy on marijuana, but This Is America. It also reduces the tax you pay (typically, ymmv based on state) vs recreational purchases. https://www.mpp.org/policy/federal/are-consumers-or-cannabis... > There are some exceptions. I…

There are some federal forms that ask about drug use and will disqualify you for use of marijuana. For example, employment forms and firearm background checks. And if you lie, they are still enforcing those laws. So while you may not go to prison for smoking weed, you might go to prison for smoking weed while doing something else that is regulated.

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Re: Delaware will become the 22nd state to legalize recreational marijuana

#32

The 22nd state to stop separately making marijuana illegal on top of federal laws. Since federal law applies everywhere, marijuana is still technically illegal everywhere in the US. It’s fascinating, however, that under three presidents spanning both parties, the federal authorities have given up on enforcing the ban in states that have removed marijuana laws from their own books. Perhaps this is a glimpse into the l…

And this is not just hypothetical. E. G. If you're crossing the border, say from Ontario where cannabis is legal, flying to California where cannabis is legal, you can still get into enormous amount of trouble. A lot of Canadians are banned from ever going to USA again because of their misunderstanding or ignorance of the usa federal law.

Re: Delaware will become the 22nd state to legalize recreational marijuana

#33

The 22nd state to stop separately making marijuana illegal on top of federal laws. Since federal law applies everywhere, marijuana is still technically illegal everywhere in the US. It’s fascinating, however, that under three presidents spanning both parties, the federal authorities have given up on enforcing the ban in states that have removed marijuana laws from their own books. Perhaps this is a glimpse into the l…

There's a group of individuals who sued the federal government in the 1970s and won the legal right to use cannabis for medical purposes under the Investigational New Drug program. The first case was United States v. Randall. I believe several of them still get their cannabis supplied by the Federal government lab to this day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvy_Musikka

Re: Delaware will become the 22nd state to legalize recreational marijuana

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never said it’s a bad thing that the feds aren’t enforcing this. All I said is: 1. It’s inaccurate to claim that marijuana is legal anywhere in the US, and 2. The situation is fascinating.

This is debatable depending on your precise usage of “legal.” Marijuana use, particular when compatible with the Attorney General’s 2013 memo regarding federal enforcement of the CSA, is widely considered to be de facto legal. There’s a reason the terms de facto and de jure exist when discussing jurisprudence.

Indeed. My post is about how de facto and de jure legality have diverged in this particular instance.

Re: Delaware will become the 22nd state to legalize recreational marijuana

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the flip side, the federal government is still prosecuting people for distributing cannabis, albeit at a decreasing rate: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/federal-marijuana-arrests-co... If the federal government isn't arresting folks in legal states, how can they justify arresting others? We're close to half the US legalizing cannabis, when will the federal ban end?

When Congress becomes functional again.

So never ¯\(◉‿◉)/¯

Re: Delaware will become the 22nd state to legalize recreational marijuana

#37
I don't really understand how legalising weed makes sense amidst a push to eliminate smoking (in a world where freedom is increasingly seen as dangerous/selfish)

Yeah, it may well be less harmful than cigarettes or alcohol, but if you're smoking it, it's certainly not good for you. Why give people this specific freedom while the trend is to take freedoms away? (Tax revenue, I guess...)

Re: Delaware will become the 22nd state to legalize recreational marijuana

#38

The 22nd state to stop separately making marijuana illegal on top of federal laws. Since federal law applies everywhere, marijuana is still technically illegal everywhere in the US. It’s fascinating, however, that under three presidents spanning both parties, the federal authorities have given up on enforcing the ban in states that have removed marijuana laws from their own books. Perhaps this is a glimpse into the l…

Part of me wants to think that the Feds aren't pushing this as they want to keep their interpretation of the interstate commerce regulation in force. If they push this (and it is contested by the states) they may lose their ability to make any drug illegal as it could be decided that they can only regulate inter-state commerce and not intra-state commerce.

Re: Delaware will become the 22nd state to legalize recreational marijuana

#39
post #15

The governor who was against legalization said of his not veto: "I came to this decision because I believe we've spent far too much time focused on this issue, when Delawareans face more serious and pressing concerns every day. It’s time to move on." It sounds like people are realizing it's an old, useless battle to fight against marijuana legalization. Finally.

I'm from Delaware; I was speaking with my local representative about it a couple days ago. She said that even if the governor vetoed the bill (he vetoed it once before), both the house and the senate were ready and have the means to overturn the veto.

Re: Delaware will become the 22nd state to legalize recreational marijuana

#40

The 22nd state to stop separately making marijuana illegal on top of federal laws. Since federal law applies everywhere, marijuana is still technically illegal everywhere in the US. It’s fascinating, however, that under three presidents spanning both parties, the federal authorities have given up on enforcing the ban in states that have removed marijuana laws from their own books. Perhaps this is a glimpse into the l…

Well, there is also the separate issue that the feds basically legalized marijuana through a not-thought-out-too-well loophole when they passed the hemp farm bill in 2018. Hemp and marijuana are the same species, so the 2018 farm bill just defines "hemp" as a cannabis plant with less than 0.3% delta 9 THC by weight. So some enterprising folks decided to take these low-THC hemp plants, extract the THC from them, and p…

The bill has been amended to remove the cap and focus just on labeling, marketing, and age restrictions. It is a large industry in FL now. Large enough to afford good lobbyists.
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