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US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

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Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#351

Post by ddp26 »

I did some AI-assisted research on this, and have come to the following tentative conclusions:

1. The re-scheduling will happen (90%), the administrative hurdles will be cleared. Only counterexample I could find was Kratom in 2016, which was the reverse of this situation, and the DEA dropped the proposal at the public comment stage.

2. Trump will not reverse it if elected (80%). He's been pro-states-rights on cannabis (or outright legalization) going all the way back 1990, and has criticized Biden on this.

3. Unlikely many US states that outlaw it will change, but I do predict (75%) at least one major European country will follow suit within a year, given Germany beat US to the punch

4. Effects in the US will be minor, outside of weed stores using the banking system as another comment pointed out, since most enforcement is state level.

5. But if there are changes, the best evidence we have on this comes from state legalization, where the effects are estimated to be huge (+3% state income, +17% substance use disorders).

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#352

Post by cynicalsecurity »

causal wrote: post #53
cynicalsecurity wrote: post #31

[flagged]

I don't smoke tobacco, I seldom drink, and I don't use marijuana. Those are habits I hope my kids avoid too. Nonetheless I would never wish for a world where my kids go to prison for failing to avoid them.

But they do. Your kids will be put to prison for drunk driving, drinking in public places or you will go to prison for buying them booze. Is it an oppressive world? Do you feel the urge of strongly fighting against it and promote alcohol? I'm amazed how people regard fighting for legalisation of yet another drug as some sort of a freedom fighting act.

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#353

Post by viccis »

RankingMember wrote: post #20

While it being moved to Schedule ~II~ (Correction: III) rather than removed altogether is a bit disappointing, I'm not gonna miss the forest for the trees on this one: this is a big deal after all this time.

I agree. To me this feels like Biden, who loathes cannabis and has opposed its legalization at every turn, found a good way to still sontewall legalization and move the goalposts to distract everyone enough that they think he's done them a huge favor.

This will be nice for certain things, particularly payment processors for dispensaries, assuming that card processors don't continue to get in the way (don't see why they would).

But this won't fill the huge skill gap in public sector computer security due to weed getting in the way of clearances, for example. And for people in non-legal states, they will have to continue to use black markets to get it or gray markets like the "THCA" loophole (thanks unfortunately go to Trump for that one).

We shouldn't tolerate politicians delivering us half solutions when it's on issues that don't need compromise due to popular support!

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#354

Post by bawolff »

jkaplowitz wrote: post #307
oooyay wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can in the U.S. too. For instance, in Portland we have a neighborhood shop and you can use a debit card there because each transaction is classified as an ATM transaction. All the ban ever did was making accounting and reporting more complicated, it didn't stop state legal sales or transactions.

The difference is in Canada it's actually fully legal at all levels of government, so the transaction is a normal point of sale transaction, it can also go through a credit card as a normal purchase without being subjected to the expensive cash advance interest rates, and so on. It can even be a tax-deductible and reimbursable business entertainment expense under similar conditions to alcohol.

Its super weird how america can make things half legal. In canada the responsibilities are divided up between different levels of government. None of this legal at one level but not another level bullshit.

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#355

Post by hughesjj »

mikestew wrote: post #342
CydeWeys wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the ATM isn't actually dispensing cash. You're doing an ATM transaction for a certain amount of money, but what you're actually getting is weed. It's not just "You can buy with cash, and we conveniently have an ATM available to get cash if you didn't go to your bank."

It's not just "You can buy with cash, and we conveniently have an ATM available to get cash if you didn't go to your bank." I have heard from a very reliable source that the ATMs in most weed shops on the Eastside of Seattle dispense cash because you're going to be required to pay with cash at the counter. There are allegedly a few exceptions, but the majority of shops accept only cash and the ATM dispenses bills.

Out of the 15+ SWIM has been to in WA state, SWIM has never seen a dispensary take anything but physical cash (bills and coins).

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#356

Post by 0x5f3759df-i »

colpabar wrote: post #120
paxys wrote: post #102

On one hand I'm very happy with all the recent policy changes coming down from different federal agencies, but on the other there's a very high likelihood that they will all be reversed a few months from now if/when a new administration takes over. That is always the downside of executive rule. With Congress unwilling/incapable of acting though I guess this is the best we'll get.

What bothers me is that all these things are only happening because it's an election year and the incumbent doesn't have great polling numbers.

You obviously haven’t been paying attention as these rule making processes started literally years ago that’s how much red tape there is to get through.

And even if what you are saying was true (it isn’t) isn’t that the entire argument for democracy in the first place? “Politicians make good policy because they want to get re-elected” is how we should hope things work.

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#358

Post by bbarn »

I really don't think this is a positive in any way, unless you oppose recreational marijuana usage.

Making it a schedule III puts it back in "Doctor prescription" territory, and since there's now a legal route to getting it, a lot of these businesses that have operated with impunity are breaking a different set of laws if it's schedule III. No doubt that laws and decriminalization statutes would need to be updated to comply federally. Banks may be able to be used, but only if you're a registered pharmacy. It's really just a lot more questions and a lot more people to profit on the chain to selling it.

Most of the world still treats it as an illegal substance. In the US we have definitely allowed popular sentiment to make it appear much less harmful than it is. I'm not sure it belongs in schedule I, but it certainly doesn't belong OTC.

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#359

Post by mattmaroon »

wnevets wrote: post #151
andrewxdiamond wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of them have wiggled around this problem by offering “atms” at the cash register. You pay with a debit card, but it’s not a normal transaction, it’s an ATM withdrawal! I don’t understand how the money is vended to the business, but it keeps it out of the store

That's a fairly a common practice for cash only businesses, normally a different company is supplying the ATM and its cash. For example I've seen cash only ice cream shops with the same setup.

That's not what he's describing. In this case there actually is no cash or traditional ATM involved on-site. It's connected to the dispensary POS, not a physical ATM. (They often have a regular ATM like you describe also, though.)

So you do an ATM transaction, but the money goes to the dispensary somehow. I do not know how it works on the back end, but I've used it as a customer. It's lovely and can even be done over your phone.

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#360

Post by dingnuts »

consumer451 wrote: post #318
treflop wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, maybe not. Support for the legalization of marijuana has consistently only gone up for 50 years and even more than half of conservatives supported it in 2023: https://news.gallup.com/poll/514007/grassroots-support-legal... You typically see flip flop rulings on issues that half the country actually does not support. Abortion is probably the biggest issue and that's because a lot of the country does not support…

> Abortion is probably the biggest issue and that's because a lot of the country does not support it and this has not substantially changed in over 50 years: https://news.gallup.com/poll/1576/abortion.aspx I'm sorry, am I reading the data incorrectly, or your comment incorrectly? > Do you think abortions should be legal under any circumstances, legal only under certain circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances?…

the wording of the questions aren't good, but the states that have recently banned it certainly seem to be catering to the 13% who say illegal under all circumstances, due to the extremeness of the actual laws passed

before Roe was overturned I would have considered myself pro life because I don't believe in late term abortions, but with the new legal landscape I've become effectively pro choice because the new laws are so extreme that they ban life saving health care that has little to do with the life of the unborn

I wonder how many are like me

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