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.

  • blazeknave@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    22
    arrow-down
    13
    ·
    9 months ago

    I hate it here for that reason. With this being the last option, I’ve reverted to Google News, NYTimes and SF Chronicle apps. Lemmy’s inability to feel joy has helped me ditch social media most of the time.

      • cybersandwich@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        13
        arrow-down
        8
        ·
        9 months ago

        The under current of negativity seems a bit stronger here though imo.

        I guess when you have a huge portion of posters that self-selected to leave a platform in protest you get population predisposed to protesting and complaining about things.

        It gets a bit tiring to hear people see incremental change but shit on it because it’s not perfect or “it should have happened sooner”. I wonder if these people would ever be happy with anything?

        The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today. If they get this rescheduled that would be a huge win.