31–40 of 194 posts
Great to see the worsening COVID crisis getting the attention it deserves...
COVID-19 is still a dedicated category on Google News, and other news sites. Nobody is ignoring it.
2/3 of Americans support legalizing cannabis. I don’t understand why this bill is so bipartisan among politicians if so many citizens support it.
It's because the people who want it will still vote for you if you keep it criminalized. But a significant number of the ones who want it to stay criminalized will totally write you off if you decriminalize it.
In the US, how motivated people are is usually even more important than how many of them there are. Combine that fact with the electoral college and gerrymandering, and there is a constant threat of minority rule.
EDIT: Private prisons. Can't believe I forgot about that. Everyone else who replied has got the main reason nailed.
2/3 of Americans support legalizing cannabis. I don’t understand why this bill is so bipartisan among politicians if so many citizens support it.
> It includes measures to expunge the federal criminal records of those charged or convicted for non-violent cannabis offenses I feel this line is what'll cause the bill to not pass in the Senate. I don't see why the removal of cannabis from the scheduled drugs list needs to be coupled with criminal record expungement. Do one. Then move to do the next. Is this how things are usually done?
> It includes measures to expunge the federal criminal records of those charged or convicted for non-violent cannabis offenses I feel this line is what'll cause the bill to not pass in the Senate. I don't see why the removal of cannabis from the scheduled drugs list needs to be coupled with criminal record expungement. Do one. Then move to do the next. Is this how things are usually done?
Yes, you pack the politically tenuous stuff in with the widely supported stuff so you put the opposing side in an optically bad position if they reject it.
The headlines will be “Senate rejects marijuana decriminalization bill supported by majority of population” rather than “Senate rejects criminal record expungement”.
Politics are fucked in this country.
2/3 of Americans support legalizing cannabis. I don’t understand why this bill is so bipartisan among politicians if so many citizens support it.
2/3 of Americans support legalizing cannabis. I don’t understand why this bill is so bipartisan among politicians if so many citizens support it.
Wild accusation: Follow the money. There are a lot of people making a lot of money off of private prisons, generally in red states.
Without knowing when the Senate will look at this and assuming after inauguration, I can see this as a carrot to get out youth vote in the upcoming Georgia senate run-off elections.
> It includes measures to expunge the federal criminal records of those charged or convicted for non-violent cannabis offenses I feel this line is what'll cause the bill to not pass in the Senate. I don't see why the removal of cannabis from the scheduled drugs list needs to be coupled with criminal record expungement. Do one. Then move to do the next. Is this how things are usually done?
Great to see the worsening COVID crisis getting the attention it deserves...