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Asante
Omnicyclion prophet


Registered: 02/06/02
Posts: 87,640
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Dear America: some states legalized, the gov't did not. What's the internal politics like regarding weed? 1
#27693445 - 03/13/22 07:02 AM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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So, do government spokesmen widely criticize the legalization, do they keep quiet to remain unity,..
Whats the internal US climate like regarding the wave of legalizations?
How does the US handle this?
asking as an outsider.
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christopera
Stranger


Registered: 10/13/17
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Re: Dear America: some states legalized, the gov't did not. What's the internal politics like regarding weed? [Re: Asante]
#27693509 - 03/13/22 08:33 AM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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I am sure there are some people in law enforcement that are completely against legalization. There are very few politicians willing to speak out against legalization as they know where the populous stands.
The vast majority of the populous are in favor. The problem as far as I can tell is that legalization federally is a giant piece of legislation. The bill has to include taxation, interstate commerce, and deal with regulations regarding quality of the weed (FDA type stuff, or at a minimum basic consumer protections). There is also the private prison system which has a really tough lobby here, and putting away people for weed makes them money. Free-est nation in the world and all that nonsense.
The solution is to pass a bill that would legalize it federally, allow banks to deal with companies selling weed, and then let states deal with it on their own. But the federal government wants that tax money, so that won't happen. Instead we will languish, likely through the rest of this presidency and all of the next one (conservative dipshit to be elected next), then maybe we will stand a chance. One example of state regulated laws that I think compares well is drivers licences. For the longest time another state would recognize your license, but if you were penalized outside of your home state that penalty would not come home with you. That was until states started working together to carry over penalties. For weed something similar would have to happen. There will be states that refuse weed, so their laws and regulations will carry different penalties than weed legal states. It just gets messy.
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LifeUnderAwno
Registered: 07/04/16
Posts: 980
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Edited by LifeUnderAwno (03/13/22 10:25 AM)
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Psilynut2
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Registered: 04/28/17
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There are allot of people in California that are really happy about the way things are . They can grow weed legally here in large quantities which lowers the cost and take it to a states where it's illegal and make a fortune on it .
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ONE OZ SLUG
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Registered: 05/22/13
Posts: 17,839
Loc: TX
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Re: Dear America: some states legalized, the gov't did not. What's the internal politics like regarding weed? [Re: Asante] 1
#27694038 - 03/13/22 04:48 PM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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When it was first being legalized the federal government did not take a liking to it at all. While state police wouldn't make any arrests (due to it being legal), the DEA would enforce federal law and would make arrests even though the states had it legalized. Somebody can probably word it better than I can, but basically in the US federal law > state law.
Eventually the arrests slowed down or stopped altogether, I'm not sure as I haven't been keeping up, but the feds can make the choice to prosecute an individual or company for breaking it's laws or they can choose not to prosecute.
State independence is a bit of an illusion.
Obama (who was president when states began legalization) took a hands-off approach and let the DEA do its thing and while many people were outspoken about the busts being made, people were generally powerless to stop the federal government.
They still are powerless to this day. So long as marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, the feds can continuing making busts with impunity. Regardless of state law.
Edited by ONE OZ SLUG (03/13/22 04:52 PM)
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nooneman


Registered: 04/24/09
Posts: 14,700
Loc: Utah
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Re: Dear America: some states legalized, the gov't did not. What's the internal politics like regarding weed? [Re: Asante] 1
#27694060 - 03/13/22 05:02 PM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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Mostly sympathetic except for law enforcement. It's been very successful across the aisle. Although republicans and democrats seem to be heavily divided on many issues, there is broad agreement concerning weed, which is probably why you don't hear a lot about it.
The moment that both conservatives and liberals realized that they like smoking pot, it was over. Now it's just being held back by some people who have never tried it, mainly law enforcement. In some states, legalization is being pushed heavily by conservatives, in others heavily by liberals, but mostly its a non-issue with broad agreement on the subject. From what I've heard, in portland both antifa and the proud boys smoke weed, it's one of the few subjects they agree on.
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Enlil
OTD God-King




Registered: 08/16/03
Posts: 67,514
Loc: Uncanny Valley
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Re: Dear America: some states legalized, the gov't did not. What's the internal politics like regarding weed? [Re: nooneman] 1
#27694409 - 03/13/22 10:34 PM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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Slug was pretty much on the spot except the federal law really doesn't trump state law in the way it might appear to an outsider. The underlying premise is that everything is illegal unless there's a law against it, so the absence of a ban in California, for instance, means that there are no state crimes to prosecute. This means the state courts won't be holding trials, and state, local, and county police won't be investigating, etc.
Now, there are federal laws about weed, but because the federal government doesn't have full police power like the state government does, it can only make laws pursuant to Article I of the Constitution. As a result, the federal ban on controlled substances doesn't really apply to any violation that doesn't cross state lines. There are many ways this can be argued, of course, but the practical upshot is that the federal government isn't really chasing weed growers unless they are trafficking a lot across international or state borders.
For perspective, 8.2 million people were arrested for weed offenses in the U.S. between 2000 and 2010. Currently, there are exactly 153,827 people in federal prisons. 64,324 of those are in for drug offenses. This should give you some idea of how insignificant federal enforcement is in comparison to state enforcement.
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Kickle
Wanderer



Registered: 12/16/06
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Re: Dear America: some states legalized, the gov't did not. What's the internal politics like regarding weed? [Re: Asante] 1
#27695002 - 03/14/22 12:54 PM (2 years, 2 months ago) |
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So I'll say that coming from a Red (conservative) State, it is NOT smooth.
As a populace we voted to legalize medical use back in 2004 and then under threat of the removal of Federal funding (which is deadly to a low populace State) it was withdrawn by the State government. So that was the first smack to the almighty power of the "vote". I think if given the chance, the same populace would have voted to repeal the law in order to receive the funding. So it's a wash, right?
Well how about this one.
In 2020 the State voted to legalize recreational Marijuana. The law was set to go into effect January 1st of 2022. Press releases starting in December of 2021 revealed that the legislature modified the law with no public input.
"As part of the negotiations over recreational marijuana during the 2021 legislative session, lawmakers inserted a provision into House Bill 701 that linked adult-use sales to whether county voters supported I-190."
In about half the state it is illegal, and in the other half it's legal. It's a cluster fuck. If you ever think about traveling with weed in this State, I'd recommend paying close attention to which counties it's legal in and which it isn't. Most small towns along the highway have speed traps, and guess what, marijuana will also be illegal there. So good fuckin' luck saying it's legal in the State. It aint. And every voter I've brought this up to had no clue. The vote was in 2020, the results were clear and it passed by a 13 point majority. And then the next year it gets fucking modified by the legislature before it's due to become law. What a crock of shit man. It is NOT what the people voted for, but it is what the legislature decided for the voters.
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