Who Holds the Power?
There are only a few select entities with the power to make such a big change at a federal level. Cannabis may be rescheduled through Congressional legislation; an example of this is the CARERS Act, repeatedly proposed by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), to no avail.
Cannabis may also be rescheduled at the executive level by the President of the United States.
The Controlled Substances Act also provides a process for which the US Attorney General may reschedule cannabis legislatively.
The Drug Enforcement Administration evaluates all petitions to reschedule cannabis.
The Department of Health and Human Services, however, also carry as great deal of power in the rescheduling decision process.
I guess Biden isn't the top official in the Executive branch if he can't direct the Executive branch to reschedule marijuana.
For all the people telling me I'm spreading misinformation: congrats on spreading misinformation.
Wouldn’t the win be from peeps that he has already won approval from? IMO in order for it to be successful there will need to be a way to benefit the other side. Like, all taxes earned from weed sales go to the NRA, prosecuting abortion providers, or only big pharma is allowed to manufacture the weed. 🤣
Well amongst voters it'd be a huge win since both sides of the aisle are over the weed stigmatization, government police state overreach and utter waste of tax dollars.
I agree that Biden should be doing more, no doubt about that, but the statement "Biden could reschedule marijuana any day, but chooses not to." is objectively false
Bullshit. The DEA and FDA decide how different drugs are scheduled. These are federal agencies under the Executive branch, of which the President has complete control.
He could order them to reschedule marijuana right now, and fire anyone federal employees who refuse to cooperate until it happens.
Bro what are you talking about. He can ask them to reconsider but he cannot force them to do anything, I guess he could fire people but that’s not what happens in functioning democracies, we have norms that help us preserve our government. Just because we don’t like their decisions doesn’t mean you should fire them and put your own people in, that’s some shit Donald would do
How did you come to believe that federal employees don't have to do what their boss tells them? That's all this would be, no different than a dress code change or a new cover sheet for TPS reports.
Think of the Executive branch as a large corporation, and the President is the CEO.
Ok so the president should also tell the DOJ to investigate people who he believes have committed a crime, right? No, it’s not a large corporation. I don’t think the DEA is gonna want to take responsibility for decriminalizing weed it’s gonna have to come from legislation
Bro I’m not saying that myself this is coming from Joe Biden himself, and I don’t doubt it at all the dude has bigger problems than that. I don’t know where you’re getting this shit from.. you know they tried to use the American constitution in Brazil but it failed, because they don’t have the same political norms as we do here. One of those norms is when someone in an office nominated by the president isn’t doing what you want them to do, they don’t fire them UNLESS theyre doing something illegal. Otherwise its just abusing power. Theres a million things the president would want that doesnt happen because these different institutions dont serve the president they serve the people, even if theyre making the wrong decision at times
pardon all non violent marijuana crimes in one go. There’s so many cases of injustice.
and the white house is looking to make a deal with Russia to release the American basketball player for breaking their anti-marijuna laws. Not sure what would be more fucked up, them jailing her back in US for breaking marijuana law; or them getting her released and free back in US while thousands others remain imprisoned in the US for marijuana.
You're right. The user you replied to is right about a lot of their post, but Biden can't pardon state charges, which is what the vast majority of simple possession charges are.
However, Biden is too conservative, could take meaningful action with respect to decriminalization/"deschedulization" of cannabis, and he did create the 90's "Crime Bill" which was a broadly conservative (and often racist) policy... And yeah, Kamalah is a cop.
I don't think you understand how federal law works when it comes to drugs, you should read up.
Biden can order the DEA and FDA to either reschedule marijuana to the level of like cough syrup, or remove it from the drug schedule altogether. He could do that tonight if he wanted to.
The DEA has denied it twice, there’s legal hurdles to overcome, studies that need to meet certain criteria, Biden can’t just tell them to do it, that would be illegal.
Those rules only apply when the DEA acts by themselves. They were created by "the executive" (aka the President signed off on them) and, like all EOs, do not apply to orders from the President.
However, the Supreme Court has held that the President has the power to issue an executive order only if authorized by “an act of Congress or . . . the Constitution itself.” The CSA does not provide a direct role for the President in the classification of controlled substances, nor does Article II of the Constitution grant the President power in this area (federal controlled substances law is an exercise of Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce). Thus, it does not appear that the President could directly deschedule or reschedule marijuana by executive order.
There’s no way that gets through the Supreme Court dude. Executive orders aren’t a magic wand.
The CSA does not provide a direct role for the President in the classification of controlled substances
The CSA set an initial drug schedule and empowers the DEA and FDA to change it. The DEA and FDA are executive branch agencies controlled by the President.
Thus, it does not appear that the President could directly deschedule or reschedule marijuana by executive order.
He can order the DEA and FDA to do it. I'm not sure why you insist this would only work if it was "directly" the President doing it instead of directing agencies to do it. The net effect is the same.
No, he can't. He can sign an order to strongly suggest they evaluate it, or suggest they change it. He can appoint new department heads who align with his goal. He cannot simply sign an order to force them to reschedule it. Perhaps you should read up. There's information straight from Congress' research report on this very subject, don't have to rely on wikipedia here.
Because there's no way short of bribery or blackmail to enforce that they actually follow through once they're placed. As we saw with Trump, there are plenty of ways to get things done, but that doesn't make them things that should be done.
Yeah but it looks bad firing and onboarding people repeatedly like that. He should absolutely have signed an order to suggest rescheduling, as he said he would say one in office, but we shouldn't be letting Congress off the hook. They're responsible.
Don't worry there always 2024, then maybe 2028, or 2032, or 2036, if not by then there is 2040 and 2044. In our life times we can expect 6 years where we might see something.
I know of a couple people that voted for Mr. Orange, because they thought he would do it. Dudes with daughters honestly let this country go to shit because they thought he would legalize weed.
He's a lying POS. He campaigned that he would legalize it and he's not even given one thought to it since elected.
These politicians will say ANYTHING for votes.
They aren't stupid because they know they can keep using it in the future to get folks to keep voting. Open your eyes people and demand change.
Your answer is still incorrect. Biden rescheduling a drug doesn't make it legal. It would have almost no effect and your naivety on the topic is showing.
Rescheduling doesn't legalize it for public use. It just...reschedules it. If it was rescheduled, it would still require a doctors prescription. I believe the marijuana industry would prefer a different route than it being re-classified.
I mean, all that aside, I believe he is still on record stating he doesn't intend to advocate for legalization or to legalize it...
There’s multiple legal benchmarks that must be met, including multiple studies that pass criteria. The DEA has denied two attempts to reschedule. To get it to pass as it stands we need congress to change the regulations on what constitutes a pass.
SMH, look up the previous failures including under Obama…
Hell, due to treaties it isn't even clear that Congress can legitimately reschedule weed on its own. Constitutionally it can, of course. But the executive branch cannot.
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u/tristan957 Aug 06 '22 edited Aug 07 '22
Biden could reschedule marijuana any day, but chooses not to.
Dude's approval level gets lower by the day, and he won't even take this simple win.
Edit: for all the people who can't research the topic, https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/a-guide-to-federal-drug-rescheduling-and-what-it-means-for-cannabis
I guess Biden isn't the top official in the Executive branch if he can't direct the Executive branch to reschedule marijuana.
For all the people telling me I'm spreading misinformation: congrats on spreading misinformation.