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US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

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331–340 of 918 posts

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#331
post #2

It's actually wild what the executive can get done in an election year... With the side effect of dangling bait for legislators to take a contrarian, nationally unpopular position.

I think it dovetails with the Administration's recent pausing of outlawing menthol cigarettes which has been reported as adversely effecting African Americans. It's blatantly political, which giving the people what they want and all, but it's disingenuous when these things only occur at election time. The President could have done this on day one.

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#332
post #56

One major effect of this is that weed stores will be able to use banks and payment processors legally once the regulators catch up.

I don’t get why they don’t just use Bitcoin or Ethereum.

Because you can't yet purchase electricity/internet with bitcoin (directly).

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One very important thing this does is get rid of a really glaring error. As a Schedule I drug, Marijuana supposedly is completely useless, its only role is as a potential danger and that's why nobody must have any - except, we've known for many years a bunch of people find it useful as a therapeutic drug, so that's clearly wrong and the Schedule I status is an error. Perhaps there shouldn't be any Schedule I drugs at…

Yeah, I largely agree. Alcohol is broadly available/legal due to historical quirks, not sane regulation in relation to other similar (social impact, not chemistry) drugs. Same for tobacco to an extent.

Also booze is really easy to make. Marijuana is hardly difficult but if you ain't got any plants somebody has to smuggle them to you, whereas if you've got a bunch of say, apples, or potatoes, or berries - which are just food - the only thing that prevents you from having booze is constant oversight to ensure you don't allow the food to be converted into booze.

I can see tobacco becoming effectively a Schedule III type substance, made only when it is deemed necessary for some reason and not generally available - New Zealand tried to set off on that path, the UK is attempting it now, unlike booze (or marijuana) which has a population of people who say "Hey, that's fun, don't take that away" the smoker are almost all against smoking, they see it as an unpleasant mistake they made rather than a choice they're glad to have taken.

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#334
post #291
post #56

One major effect of this is that weed stores will be able to use banks and payment processors legally once the regulators catch up.

People are talking about schedule 3 needing a prescription, etc. From the financial point of view that's irrelevant; the point is that you CANNOT legally sell schedule 1 drugs commercially (with some exceptions that I can't remember). Schedule 1 -> banned from the financial system. Schedule 3 -> OK to use the financial system. How the DEA schedule and the financial system interact is still unclear. The important part…

> How the DEA schedule and the financial system interact is still unclear.

You already answered this already :)

> the point is that you CANNOT legally sell schedule 1 drugs commercially

Schedule 1 means illegal under (nearly) any circumstance, commercial dispensaries fall under “any circumstance.” Drug scheduling is just a tiered system for classification in order to determine which rules to apply to its sale, distribution, and possession of the substance.

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Under Wickard even all-in-state marijuana trade would still fall under the Interstate Commerce clause and be subject to federal criminal statutes, regulations, and taxes.

Yep, some people tested this same theory out for firearms (or was it suppressors?) all produced and sold in one state in accordance with state laws. Of course the Feds shut that down and the courts agreed. The only reason they don't do this with pot is because they don't feel like it.

I believe that case is not resolved yet.

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#336
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being gulped up big corporations is good. They will much more efficiently serve the market. SMBs are notoriously unproductive. Though maybe you want your drug dealers to be unproductive, for society's sake! I may take this back...

Even without nationwide economies of scale, Michigan regularly has businesses selling weed vape carts for <$10 apiece. I don't know how much cheaper we want the weed to be, honestly. It's already at least 10x cheaper than the cheapest alcoholic beverage on a buzz-for-buzz basis.

[deleted]

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#337
post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't that be leaving money on the table? The bank that accepts business with marijuana vendors is at a competitive advantage to one that doesn't, no?

Not necessarily. It depends on the risks, morals, and stuff like ESG. We've seen this with stuff like alcohol, tobacco, and guns.

But you can buy alcohol, tobacco and guns with just about any payment method?

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to a really old SC decision that rests on shaky foundations at best.

They'll never give it up. It would mean the end of the civil rights act, and tons of popular regulatory regimes that apply to in-state only trade. And the return of in state over the counter machine guns.

Relevant case:

Wickard v. Filburn United States Supreme Court case Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111, is a United States Supreme Court decision that dramatically increased the regulatory power of the federal government. It remains as one of the most important and far-reaching cases concerning the New Deal, and it set a precedent for an expansive reading of the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause for decades to come. The goal of the legal challenge was to end the entire federal crop support program by declaring it unconstitutional. An Ohio farmer, Roscoe Filburn, was growing wheat to feed animals on his own farm. The U.S. government had established limits on wheat production, based on the acreage owned by a farmer, to stabilize wheat prices and supplies. Filburn grew more than was permitted and so was ordered to pay a penalty. In response, he said that because his wheat was not sold, it could not be regulated as commerce, let alone "interstate" commerce. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickard_v._Filburn)

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#339

There you have it, the administrator themselves saying they believe in myths about cannabis: It’s a gateway drug; while simultaneously ignoring that the drug killing people, fent has a perfectly causal gateway drug in vicodin/percs > Jack Riley, a former deputy administrator of the DEA, said he had concerns about the proposed change because he thinks marijuana remains a possible “gateway drug,” one that may lead to t…

It is a gateway drug. When marijuana is illegal you have to get it from drug dealers, who have an incentive to upsell you to harder stuff. Make it legal and that gateway goes away.

Anecdote: I've had countless dealers over 20 years in many countries and continents, not once has someone tried to sell me anything else (besides hash). It's always been some cheery barefoot guy with dreads growing it in his closet.

Now that it's legal in Germany I'm going to grow my own, and experience the (surprisingly common!) miracle of harvesting the exact legal limit of 25 grams from 3 plants ;)

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh fair enough about the "user" vs possession. but my point was they could possible use this info to get a warrant to surveil you to catch you using it.

They don't need that. I was served a federal search warrant after a detective wrote an anonymous officer claimed an anonymous DOG accused me of wrongdoing. When 3rd order anonymous interspecies hearsay is sufficient for a warrant it means a warrant is just a rubber stamp.

Even a rubber-stamp warrant process serves a point, by making the police identify who they are targeting, as opposed to targeting everyone, and deciding who to charge after the fact.

Warrants aren't supposed to be hard to get. They are only supposed to stop the most blatant fishing expeditions.

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