Kamala Harris Rolls Out National Marijuana Legalization Plan, Pledging To Make It 'The Law Of The Land'

[FightFight]

Source: marijuanamoment

Vice President Kamala Harris is pledging to federally legalize marijuana, ensuring that access to cannabis is “the law of the land.”

If elected, she will “break down unjust legal barriers that hold Black men and other Americans back by legalizing marijuana nationally, working with Congress to ensure that the safe cultivation, distribution, and possession of recreational marijuana is the law of the land,” the Harris campaign said on Monday.

Read more: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/kamala-harris-rolls-out-marijuana-legalization-plan-pledging-to-make-it-the-law-of-the-land/

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1. VP Harris' most successful program as district attorney, “Back on Track,” allowed first-time drug offenders, including drug dealers, to get a high school diploma and a job instead of prison time. Adams, Harris’s previous spokesperson, noted that the program started in 2005, “when most prosecutors were using a ‘tough on crime’ approach.”

2. VP Harris also introduced her own bill to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, and voted to legalize hemp https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/7/23/20703691/kamala-harris-marijuana-decriminalization

3. Biden pardons thousands convicted of marijuana charges on federal lands and in Washington https://apnews.com/article/biden-marijuana-pardons-clemency-02abde991a05ff7dfa29bfc3c74e9d64

[sanatanadharma]

1. I hope to live to see this happen

I am living in Uruguay, where marijuana possession and use is totally legal; unless accessed, grown, or sold illegally. Legal means registering for either pharmacy purchases or club-grow purchases or home-grow permission. Rules, restrictions, and laws apply.
Legal means no paranoia.
However, Uruguay is not a pot purchase paradise like Oregon and elsewhere.

[ZonkerHarris]

2. Prohibition is a failed public policy, again. Legalizing cannabis converts a money pool controlled by cartels

into a stream of jobs, taxes, and revenue that benefit all citizens.

[GB_RN]

12. Yeah...

But the gun manufacturers, body armor makers, etc., won’t make as much money if the vice squads don’t have to buy it all for no-knock raids.🤦‍♂️

[Hieronymus Phact]

3. It's about time!

I was scared trump would do this first.

[Fritz Walter]

4. Meanwhile, if FloriDUH...

On the November ballot is Amendment 3:
Per ballotpedia.org:

The initiative would legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 years old and older. Individuals would be allowed to possess up to three ounces of marijuana (about 85 grams), with up to five grams in the form of concentrate. Existing Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers would be authorized under the initiative to sell marijuana to adults for personal use. The Florida State Legislature could provide by state law for the licensure of entities other than existing Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers to cultivate and sell marijuana products.[1]

Medical marijuana was adopted by Florida voters in 2016 by a vote of 71% to 29%.

If this amendment passes in Florida, that could be a green-light for federal legalization.

[prodigitalson]

5. I'm assuming state prohibitions will remain in place, but this is a huge deal.

[GB_RN]

15. I Might Be Wrong...

But I think this would be similar to how, after Roe v Wade, abortion was legal and took precedence over state laws. If I’m correct, states can make other, more liberal policies with respect to possession of marijuana, regulate growers more than the federal minima, when and how it can be sold (like old, “blue laws” here in the South that prevented alcohol sales on Sundays - until we got the Carolina Panthers).

That being said, IANA lawyer, so don’t hold me to that.

[prodigitalson]

30. In Texas we still have prohibition in "dry" counties

possession is legal but sales are not allowed.

[GB_RN]

31. We Had A Few Counties Like That...

Back in the early ‘90s - but not quite that bad. One of them was Watauga, where Boone/Appalachian State University are. There were ABC stores you could get liquor in, but restaurants could only sell beer, and couldn’t get shit on Sundays.

[slightlv]

18. Being in KS, I'm wondering the same thing.

Right across the state line, we can go to any one of several dispensaries. Here? It's still illegal. And I'm in constant pain. I'd given anything to be able to rely less on my pain meds and more on pot! What earthly difference could it make to the "botherers" which one I take for pain? Or is pain the purpose?

[MayReasonRule]

29. The Fascist Playbook:

Intimidation
Incarceration
Extermination

Same as it ever was.

Nat-C or Nazi no matter the name the fascist depravity's always the same.

Fascists are sadists.
So yes, suffering is viewed by the fascists as a featured benefit.

[ms liberty]

6. Yes!

[JoseBalow]

7. I'll drink to that!

[LPBBEAR]

8. I hope

they will include a provision to allow home users to grow their own instead of locking it into for profit companies. Its such an easy plant to grow as well as being quite prolific. A couple decent plants would provide a decent supply for the average user.

[NNadir]

9. I don't encourage marijuana use as I'm not happy about what I've observed in connection with it.

My sister-in-law is very unhappy what it's done for her son, and as his uncle, I am concerned as well. She says, and I'm inclined to agree, that she's not happy that there are pot stores in Massachusetts, and similarly, I'm not happy to see them in New Jersey.

This said, I oppose criminal penalties for use and possession. I just don't encourage use.

I often take flak for this position, but I'm not going to change my opinion which has hardened over the years.

Kamala could, in fact, argue for decriminalizing heroin, and she'd still be light years superior to the Orange nutcase.

[AZ8theist]

11. I sympathize with your concerns.....

But as a newly retired senior, I can state unequivocally that legal, recreational marijuana has greatly helped my arthritis as well as lowered my BP.

[slightlv]

19. oohh... lowering the BP! I could definitely use that!

[ZonkerHarris]

16. You can either have stores or people dealing out of their house on your block. It's a choice.

[NNadir]

17. What I'd like to see is the stores go out of business.

I have one about half a mile from my house, a quarter mile from the high school.

Happily, it doesn't seem to generate a lot of traffic. The parking lot often appears empty.

[ZonkerHarris]

20. Supporting cartels and black markets is an interesting choice.

You would rather the guy running that store not have to pay rent, insurance, employees, taxes and electricity?
Just dealing out of his house tax free is way cheaper and easier for him.

[NNadir]

21. We have lots of businesses in town that don't...

...sell things to mess up brains.

The business that was there previously sold orthopedic shoes. (It moved to a bigger store down the road.)

Like I said, I don't approve of pot smoking. I don't favor criminal penalties for it, but that doesn't imply enthusiasm for getting high. I feel rather the same about that store as I do about cigar stores, or hookah shops. If these places go out of business something else will else will be there. If not, well, our town will probably do as it did before pot shops opened. A small independent bookstore would be nice, a crafts store, a toy store, art supplies; there could be a zillion other things.

It makes me feel better about my community that the store doesn't seem to be a big hit.

[ZonkerHarris]

22. I hope you take the same tone with people who drink alcohol. and rally against the liquor stores too.

[NNadir]

23. Isn't there any kind of other rote response? If I oppose selling guns, do I have to object also to knives?

I don't eat meat; does this mean I have to object to olive oil?

Because there are alcoholics, does this imply that heroin addiction is benign? How about fentanyl? Does the existence of liquor stores imply that we should have fentanyl shops?

Why is it so important that I object to smoking pot? Am I hurting someone by doing so? Why the deep sense of offense that I'm not happy about a pot store anymore than I'd be happy about a cigar store or a "smoke shop." (We have those too around here; it wouldn't bother me if they went out of business too.)

My father died from tobacco addiction. Should I be happy that in doing so, he generated tax revenue, helped keep convenience stores profitable?

On a personal level, I have a nephew who is addicted to pot - and please don't hand me that line of crap that pot isn't addictive, because just as there are people who drink beer who don't become alcoholics, doesn't mean that there aren't people who smoke pot who can't stop doing so. It seems my nephew can't. And yes, smoking pot has impacted his life negatively.

For the record, I'm dealing with my nephew's case just like I deal with any medical problem in my family; I check the scientific literature.

If I go on Google Scholar and use the search term "Cannabis dependence" I get 17,000 hits in a few seconds. I contend therefore that there is scientific interest in the subject, that it's a "thing." But again, I don't need the literature to tell me that it exists. I see it first hand.

Have a nice evening.

[dickthegrouch]

32. I'm with you, NNaddir

All the people I know who use pot “recreationally” are apparently unable to stop or even limit their use. Two smoke openly in front of their adolescent children. Three have expressed a desire to cut way down, but their only limitation seems to be money.

In my opinion it is just as addictive as alcohol.

I’m all for medical or responsible use.

[cannabis_flower]

33. I have a lot of questions

If I go to Google Scholar and type in "caffeine dependence" I get 333,000 results. So does that make caffeine dependence more serious? Or just more studied?

Exactly how old is your nephew and exactly how has it negatively affected his life?

Is he hurting anyone else because of his marijuana use or addiction? In what way?

Does he think it has negatively affected his life or is this just his mother’s (and your) opinion?

Has he actually tried to quit using marijuana? Or have other people tried to get him to quit and he won’t?

Are you sure that it is the marijuana that is causing the problem or could it be an underlying mental or physical health issue such as depression or pain?

Could it be that a negative home environment caused his problems and not the marijuana? I have a friend who is gay and when his mother and stepfather found out they kicked him out of the house before he was even finished with high school. Would you say being gay ruined his life?

I have a friend who has a son who doesn’t drink or smoke marijuana but plays video games all day instead of doing something more productive, should we ban video game or put video game stores out of business because some people waste to much time playing video games instead of going out and making money, getting an education or doing the dishes?

[NNadir]

34. I'm not going to share a tremendous amount of personal stuff but will say...

Last edited Tue Oct 15, 2024, 04:03 PM - Edit history (2)

...a few things in answer to your questions.

I am addicted to caffeine and I do experience what can be recognized clearly as withdrawal if I am deprived of it, generally manifested symptomatically as headache. It should be obvious however, that the effort of asserting a parallelism between being an alcoholic and a caffeine addict is extremely superficial to the point of being absurd. There are alcoholics who addiction results in them killing people, most notably in driving, but in other syndromes as well, liver disease, metabolic syndromes, and of course extreme intellectual impairment. The physiologic and intellectual manifestations of caffeine addiction are, while real, much smaller. People are not arrested for driving while caffinated.

This alcohol-pot-caffiene-heroin-cocaine-tobacco equivalence, which I generally hear mostly from pot users and defenders doesn't hold water, at least with those I regard as having cognitive skills. People always like to talk about Carl Sagan, obviously a high functioning pot user. They fail however to speculate as to whether he might have functioned at an even higher level without it. Winston Churchill was a high functioning alcoholic. One may wonder if his special case is an endorsement of alcoholism.

My nephew became addicted to pot just out of adolescence, as an early teen. His mother knew all about it and at first tolerated it, something of which, owing to my scientific background and experience I disapproved, but said nothing, minding my own damn business.

Yes, he has tried to quit. I have heard about efforts many times. I have spoken to him just once about his addiction as his uncle, then only to tell him that I love him and if he needs or wants my help, it's available. I put no pressure on him whatsoever; I just hope for him to pull through though it is obviously beyond my control.

Unsurprisingly he failed out of of college as did his housemates who kept a bong in the living room. Thus he needed to get a job, and through a friend had an opportunity to apply for a high paying skilled job using fairly dangerous equipment requiring clear attention. The management of the company required drug and alcohol testing for reasons I applaud. I explained to his mother the physiology of THC and the pharmacokinetics, the long half life and aspects of the technical approach to testing by mass spectrometry. To the best of her ability she translated this to her son, and because he really did want the job, he tried and failed to quit in the weeks before the test, yet another time after previous efforts. He failed to quit, failed to pass the drug test and failed to get the job. Mind you, he had connections, but they could not waive the requirements.

He has a number of serious issues with a psychological basis, but obviously getting high hasn't cured them. From what I hear, they've only made them worse.

He may never succeed at quitting, although his mother is exhausted by this and other issues, which she shares with my wife. She, like others, has traveled the distance from tolerance to objection.

I'm an old man who came of age in the early 70s. Obviously I knew lots of pot smokers and for that matter alcoholics. I'm not niave as to the consequences which are obvious to me, I claim, as a function of sobriety. I generally don't hang around any more with people who get high; generally I find them uninteresting, as often their lives are about their drug as opposed to the greater world.

OK?

[druidity33]

35. Thank you for pointing this stuff out! I hope the poster responds. nt.

[NNadir]

36. I did.

[druidity33]

37. And it was well reasoned...

but my personal experience differs from yours. As an IBS sufferer for over 20 years, the only medication with any degree of efficacy for me has been marijuana. I have good friends who work in this nascent industry here in MA and who are finally making a living wage having moved on from kitchen and restaurant work. I do know "lazy" stoners. But i know lazy drunkards too. It sounds to me like you don't want to compare substances so i won't belabor the point. For me, the fact that i can now grow a few plants right in my garden without the stress and fear of choppers overhead, or i can go to the store and get some legally (of good quality and tested for additives, mind!) outweighs the perceived destructiveness of legalization. It's been a few years since the laws changed and honestly the only difference i noticed in my neck of the woods is that people now talk openly about the subject. Everyone is happy to chime in because the topic is no longer verboten. I am continually surprised at how many successful older folk i meet that have never STOPPED smoking marijuana.

[MichMan]

25. We have as many here as there are Dollar General stores

[gay texan]

10. Please tell me

We will see "420 for Harris"

[Botany]

13. Bonging for the K-Bomb

BTW a good man and the brother of our next door neighbor years ago in PA in a middle class neighborhood was the Governor, Ray Shafer and in the early 1970s studied Marijuana @ the request of Dick Nixon and after a year of real work told Nixon to let it go
and decriminalization should be done but Nixon with the backing of Mitchell and Erlichman shelved that idea so as to fuck with the students, hippies, and the blacks.

BTW Ray Shafer was the finest man I have ever known and he was a Republican too.

Stoners to the polls.

[jalan48]

14. Smart move!

[MistakenLamb]

24. Dank Brandon and Kamala Hashish are killing it

[Figarosmom]

26. Good

And old man trump won't do this. He's against it

[RussBLib]

27. I'll smoke to that!

That move will garner her some more votes, and she might lose a few because of it, but it's the fucking right thing to do after all these years of wasted lives and resources. Sure would be nice to not have to drive 2000 miles just to partake of natures flowers.

https://russblib.blogspot.com/

[Habibi]

28. This would be a tremendous help for those of us living in federally-subsidized housing.

I live in a legal state (NY), and also qualify for medical cannabis, but can't use it where I live because it's still illegal at the federal level. If I use it anyway and am caught, I would likely be evicted.

[marshall]

38. What about legalizing prostitution?

Legalization of the profession and the establishment of an infrastructure around the industry would provide safeguards and health benefits for many who are struggling in the community.

[rockfordfile]

39. For now I don't agree with this

Medical marijuana I'm ok with but the other no.

Until it can be treated like alcohol. When a person can be tested for how much they smoked. I don't want a person driving around high whether it's from a beer or a joint. Whether it's these pos backpack caring drug dealers or some other pos, they should be locked up .

Unless you're using it for medical relief, it's good idea don't do drugs.

[Emile]

40. Hallelujah