Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday called on the federal government to move “as quickly as possible” to change the way it officially classifies marijuana, saying that “nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed.”

“I cannot emphasize enough that they need to get to it as quickly as possible,” Harris said. “We need to have a resolution based on their findings and their assessment. This issue is stark when one considers the fact that on the schedule currently, marijuana is considered as dangerous as heroin ― as dangerous as heroin ― and more dangerous than fentanyl, which is absurd, not to mention patently unfair.”

Marijuana is currently listed as a Schedule 1 drug by the Drug Enforcement Administration. That classification designates it one of the most dangerous drugs possible, with no medicinal uses. Other substances in the same category include heroin, ecstasy and LSD. Marijuana advocates have been pushing for years for the federal government to either reschedule marijuana to a different category or deschedule it entirely.

  • Monkey With A Shell@lemmy.socdojo.com
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    1 year ago

    You know, this is a pretty smart way to approach the political side of this tactically.

    Biden can’t say deschedule it outright without offending at least some borderline fence sitters and the elder crowd indoctrinated with the old propaganda that made it out to be among the most terrible things.

    By having the younger VP who wouldn’t really have direct authority to have it changed but is directly I’m the same circles, it gets the idea out there as a ‘very strong unofficial stance’.

    Next step, the ‘cool grandpa’ moment when Biden gets to make a gesture for the younger crowd by having it pulled from the schedules. Financially the feds have undoubtedly been eyeing the income (and lack of incarceration costs) brought into states with legal sales for a while and would like a piece of it too.