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.
Yes, it’s much better to drag it out until the very last possible second, since it’s not like people are suffering due to the deliberate prolongation of the racist drug war.
It’s still disrupting the communities it was designed to disrupt, so let’s talk about how great it is that we’re trying to game the timing of fixing this. I’d ask if it’s possible to be more cynical, but I already know it is because we’re playing the same timing game with Netanyahu’s genocide.
Yes, it’s theatrical. And people are being used as props.
Didn’t say it was good, but it’s reality. The alternative of attempting to do everything you have on a wishlist with no compromise or negotiation, and thus getting nothing is hardly better. Had it been tried to push everything to max results day one would at best, in some imagined place get all that in, be forgotten 3 years later as ‘what have you done for me lately’ and caused the opposition to be energized en masse to put their guy in and rip it all back out the next day.
A small win that’s held is worth far more than a massive one lost shortly after.
Neat false dichotomy. Enjoy the drug war dragging on for as long as possible and hurting communities in pursuit of putting on a good show.