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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

#61

Post by notaustinpowers »

andrewxdiamond wrote: post #6

Weed being illegal on a federal level has had some interesting effects. Because of these laws, all legal weed has to be grown, processed, and retailed within a single state. So much industry and local employment has been created by the legal barriers in place. It’s probably still a net positive to release the federal restriction, but I hope all these small/mid sized businesses don’t get gulped up by big tobacco or ot…

I've got my tinfoil hat on but I totally believe this to be due to the lobbying efforts of big tobacco. Purely because cigarette sales continue to decline and vaping is becoming more and more regulated and, therefore, less profitable.

But marijuana enjoys high markups, pseudoscience "health benefits", and is becoming more and more acceptable to Americans each and every year.

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#62

Post by RankingMember »

morley wrote: post #27
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.

It's moving to schedule III, though the new company it's in really highlights how it should be descheduled instead: > It moves pot to Schedule III, alongside ketamine and some anabolic steroids Hopefully the first step but not the last.

Ah, good catch. Yeah, I'll take the progress even if it's not exactly where I'd like policy to be ultimately.

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#63

Post by NegativeLatency »

Alupis wrote: post #28
asveikau wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more like the stuff that doesn't work is being pushed again.

On it's surface it seems to have worked better than these experiments. Otherwise the experiments would not be getting rolled back... There's very few if any fans of what played out in Portland, for instance. Overt drug usage exploded and became a much worse problem. The exact opposite of what proponents had hoped. Some will say "but they didn't do it right" or similar - tired arguments we hear every time pet policies…

This is a very un-nuanced take on what happened in Portland, and lines up with what the uncritical and uninformed national reporting about Portland has been saying.

It was not successful, but it was also never effectively funded, not implemented well, and rolled out in a rush.

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#64

Post by triceratops »

cynicalsecurity wrote: post #31

[flagged]

> A safe, productive and prosperous society cannot be built by drug addicts.

Historian Niall Ferguson has argued that the British Empire was built on a collective caffeine and sugar high, from imported tea and cane sugar from its colonies and trading partners.

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#65

Post by cm2012 »

andrewxdiamond wrote: post #6

Weed being illegal on a federal level has had some interesting effects. Because of these laws, all legal weed has to be grown, processed, and retailed within a single state. So much industry and local employment has been created by the legal barriers in place. It’s probably still a net positive to release the federal restriction, but I hope all these small/mid sized businesses don’t get gulped up by big tobacco or ot…

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...

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#66

Post by Alupis »

NegativeLatency wrote: post #49
Alupis wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Reagan introduced zero tolerance policies. He usually chose the wrong approach That doesn't seem to clear cut with the recent failed (and now backpedaling) experiments regarding decriminalization and legalization of most drugs.

Those policies were not well funded or implemented, we should keep trying alternative solutions to the status quo. In contrast to the "war on drugs" which has been extremely well funded, and implemented to the cost of our own liberties, tried for years and has not been successful either.

> tried for years and has not been successful either.

What's the measurement for success?

It seems, from a casual observer's perspective, we have fewer people trying hard drugs when the consequences are strict and known. We have more people trying hard drugs when the consequences are removed.

Neither system will achieve 0% drug usage - so which policy results in fewer people trying hard drugs?

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#67

Post by alistairSH »

kgdiem wrote: post #43
andrewxdiamond wrote: post #6

Weed being illegal on a federal level has had some interesting effects. Because of these laws, all legal weed has to be grown, processed, and retailed within a single state. So much industry and local employment has been created by the legal barriers in place. It’s probably still a net positive to release the federal restriction, but I hope all these small/mid sized businesses don’t get gulped up by big tobacco or ot…

Yes really good point. Won’t it still be up to the states to decide what the regulatory environment will look like — eg they can choose to preserve these jobs through existing regulatory frameworks in the same way that certain goods cannot be shipped to certain states

Note, they're only planning to move it from Schedule 1 (alongside heroin) to Schedule III (alongside anabolic steroids and ketamine). So, it won't be fully legal in the same sense as alcohol.

Regardless, unless Congress does something to make it legal nationally, we'll still have the state frameworks. Just hopefully avoiding the most draconian criminal charges.

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#68

Post by gnicholas »

throwup238 wrote: post #11
vkou wrote: 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.

The bureaucratic process will take about two years. It's definitely not getting done in time for election.

If it takes multiple years, then it gives voters a reason to support the candidate that will support the process post-election. Basically, vote for Joe if you want Mary Jane.

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#69

Post by RankingMember »

andrewxdiamond wrote: post #6

Weed being illegal on a federal level has had some interesting effects. Because of these laws, all legal weed has to be grown, processed, and retailed within a single state. So much industry and local employment has been created by the legal barriers in place. It’s probably still a net positive to release the federal restriction, but I hope all these small/mid sized businesses don’t get gulped up by big tobacco or ot…

It's also made touching the financial aspect radioactive- none of the big credit cards want to have anything to do with it so all transactions are cash, which makes things more difficult/risky for operators.

Re: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

#70

Post by golergka »

andrewxdiamond wrote: post #6

Weed being illegal on a federal level has had some interesting effects. Because of these laws, all legal weed has to be grown, processed, and retailed within a single state. So much industry and local employment has been created by the legal barriers in place. It’s probably still a net positive to release the federal restriction, but I hope all these small/mid sized businesses don’t get gulped up by big tobacco or ot…

> I hope all these small/mid sized businesses don’t get gulped up by big tobacco or other mega corps

Why not? Laws of scale would drive the price down while improving the profit margins, both clients and investors would win.

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