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.

  • Mike@lemmy.ml
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    9 months ago

    Harris has been pro weed for years now. One of the foremost issues with our political system in the US is that these people are elected by a constituency that demands a job be done in a way that they want. (I am purposely ignoring the corporate donor aspect for this statement)

    The locality (and the era) demanded drug dealers go to jail, so she did her job. Where Harris has floundered is how she talks about it and attonrs for it today.

    You can be outspoken about a politicians past, but it’s disingenuous to ignore that a politician has changed, especially so if they have changed with positive progression.

      • njm1314@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I wouldn’t call being angry at a prosecutor putting innocent people into prison blind hate exactly. Certainly I wouldn’t accept the logic that the constituency wanted to put innocent people in prison and that’s why she did it, even if I believe that I would still find that morally repugnant.

        • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          9 months ago

          I more mean that there are a lot of new accounts coming in and plastering this hate all over the place, and their reasoning is always “once a hater always a hater.” They aren’t here genuinely, or they are extremely ignorant of how humans work.

          • Mike@lemmy.ml
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            9 months ago

            I know there’s been a big too-do about lemmy and it’s modding tools (or lack there of) but I worry that this is a major concern for the platforms long term viability. With reddit, we could restrict posting from accounts with less than whatever karma, I don’t know if that exists with lemmy communities.

          • njm1314@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            I’m sorry I don’t take your meaning. In response to a comment about people disliking Kamala Harris for her record as a prosecutor, especially when she knowingly withheld evidence and secured the imprisonment of innocent suspects, you just decided to talk about how hate is bad in general? Seems odd. Don’t know why you make the comment in that exact spot if it is nothing to do at all with the topic. Kind of confusing.

            • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              9 months ago

              I’m saying that the intentional burying of head when it comes to her slow shift to supporting it being rescheduled, is hating for the sake of hate.

              She did her job, and yeah her view was shit at the time. But she did what we all say we want people to do, and changed her tune. But somehow we still hate her?

              You can hate past actions, but she either saw the light, or saw that her views were shit and is acting against her own views in support of the will of the people. A “yeah but” thrown on top is just trying to divide.

              • njm1314@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                I’m sorry what? Where are you getting that she’s changed her tune? She isn’t up there talking about judicial reform or changing the way prosecutors work.

                • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  9 months ago

                  She moved from “I’m prosecuting these petty drug crimes” to “I believe we should reschedule this substance.”

                  How is that not changing her tune?

                  • njm1314@lemmy.world
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                    9 months ago

                    The problem people had with her wasn’t merely that she was Prosecuting drug crimes. Did I not make that clear with the whole putting innocent people in prison knowingly thing?

    • Bakkoda
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      9 months ago

      Except being a politician is also about image as much as we may not want it to be. Biden being the champion of student loan forgiveness while also being the champion of making student loan debt almost impossible to discharge earlier in his career doesn’t really feel all that great ya know? Same shit with Harris.