Today, the USA announced all cannabis possession charges and convictions will be expunged! After generations of harassment, discrimination, stigma, and abuse, the simple act or owning cannabis for personal use will no longer be federally criminalized. This announcement suddenly puts the United States ahead of Canada in cannabis decriminalization, after Trudeau "legalized" it in 2018, without actually doing anything to end prohibition. Now, the USA finally looks ready to remove this safe and effective medicinal plant from Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act, another move in the right direction for freedom. This is something cannabis users, activists, and freedom-fighters have demanded for a very long time, leaving many (including myself) to wonder "WHY NOW?!"
CNN announces: "Biden on Thursday will pardon all prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession. He will also encourage governors to take similar steps.. and will task.. Attorney General Merrick Garland to expeditiously review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law."
They go on to say "the moves stop short of full decriminalization, which has enjoyed growing support among both political parties. But they are the first significant steps taken by a US president toward removing criminal penalties for possessing marijuana. Under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is listed on Schedule 1, meaning it has no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse."
Schedule 1
That cannabis is listed as a schedule 1 substance is absurd, ludicrous, and ridiculous. It's beyond stupid. It makes the Controlled Substances Act into a laughing stock, to be held as an example of what happens when ignorance and corruption intersect. Since the 1970s, the US government has known without a doubt that cannabis has medical uses (like safely curing certain cancers). Cannabis shouldn't be listed in the Act at all, let alone in Schedule 1. Changing this is great, but what really needs to happen is an independent inquiry to determine who is responsible for putting cannabis in Schedule 1 in the first place. And who helped keep it there so long! Doing so has done irreparable damage to millions of individuals, and to society as a whole, and is one of the greatest examples of a crime against humanity ever perpetrated.
To say this change should have happened long ago is a monumental understatement. It has needed doing for decades. That begs the question: Why now?
Then again, the sayings "better late than never" and "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" come to mind. And I'm absolutely thrilled peaceful innocent cannabis users will be walking free. That's a win for EVERYONE. I'm just disturbed we had to wait until today for it to happen. It was wrong, and that's finally starting to come to light.
Cannabis prohibition has been raging nearly a century in Canada and the USA, ruining countless lives, holding back industry, preventing medical advances, enabling big pharma and the war machine. I MUST applaud these changes, which are indeed in the right direction. True decriminalization - the end of bad prohibition laws - is the goal of every cannabis activist in the world. This has been my fight, for over 10 years now. I have lived and breathed this. Hearing these developments is a dream come true. Many of my fellow activists didn't live to see this day. I think of them as I learn of this big change in the USA, which will surely ripple around the world. Yes, the devil is in the details, but unlike Canada's "legalization", today's move really does appear to be a win for freedom.
I made a 47-minute documentary called "Legalization is a LIE" in 2019, and updated it in 2021. It has everything a person needs to know about Canada's "legalization" process, from a grassroots street level. I was there, and documented the whole scam.
So I watch with great interest (and some skepticism) as this process unfolds. I don't know why this is happening right now, but perhaps that will become clear in time.
Congratulations to everyone who has fought for cannabis to be removed from Schedule 1 for decades, to everyone in US prisons for peaceful cannabis "offenses", and to all cannabis activists worldwide, who fight to end destructive and ineffective cannabis prohibition laws. It's not over, but today we get to celebrate a small victory.
DRutter
Haha, after more than 100 years of the "war on drugs", right?
And will they really let it go, just like that? I'm not holding my breath...
But freeing simple growers/users/dealers who haven't done anything else wrong is really good.
They're not freeing growers, or "distributers" and seems that they will continue to prosecute people charged with possession and pardon only those already convicted..
All cannabis restrictions are bad. None can be justified even for basic safety reasons. It should be as legal/illegal as broccoli.
Why now is the right question I'd say. Is it the reset? They tried medicinal marijuana but I haven't heard anything amazing happening with that so maybe they just gave up LOL. People would prefer the au-natural plant than a bastardized pharma version. Maybe they have their pot farm already set up to become the main 'dealer' now they've cleared out all the small businesses.
Just a couple of my own thoughts.
One month before midterm elections, that the Dems are expected to lose. Maybe they/he think stoned voters will vote blue.
Most likely, he is desperate, and they are even more desperate. Considering kakamala was instrumental in putting thousands in prison for simple possession, I'm sure they made friends with "would be voters". They're about as diplomatic as they are oppressed by math. 81million.
It's all in the timing 🥓
Utter load of crap. The plant is criminalized, but its flowers aren't if they are of a certain quantity. Whatever. Until they release all growers, and sellers, nothing has changed.
If there are any restrictions remaining, it's not truly legal. Just "legal lies".
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/06/politics/biden-marijuana-decriminalization-midterms-analysis/index.html
CNN already admitting this was a political move. Sounds like it may be linked to greater "legalization" coming soon. Ie, this is the only good news we'll get. It's coming off Schedule 1 now, because the govt themselves plans to sell it to us. They can't sell something as a recreational product if it's on the Schedule. So this is probably the start of a corporate monopoly, like we see now in Canada.
I can be happy peaceful people are walking free... while being against about the greater picture that is a part of...
I'll believe it when I see it
Those are good news indeed! I hope Canada follows... 🙏🍀
I heard about this today too. But it is so sad that some people were killed and convicted due to this. Great news anyway
Re🤬eD
Matters 🥓
Something good is happening with the mindset. The opioids were legal and killed people while cannabis was helpful and considered a crime. We suffered for years from the drug companies and their governments collaborators.
Great report! I'm pro travel and I'm pro weed! Re-Blurted!
Maybe some day we'll be able to travel with weed.... what an amazing combination that would be!
For now I'm really enjoying the legalization of it here in Thailand. I've traveling all over the country with it! lol
We are seeing a lot of opportunity to open a weed shop here in various places. That very well might be my next adventure!
Yes, generally the privilege to own/carry small (non-vending) amounts is one of the main upsides to any legalization done by governments. This makes 99% of users happy, allowing it to be pushed through, but meanwhile freedoms are being sold off forever and most aren't aware. The same laws that make it legal for people to carry small amounts also make it illegal to grow and sell, giving police/courts/prisons the ability to continue (and even intensify) prohibition. Meanwhile the common user things everything is better, because that one thing (small personal possession) has been made permissible by the overlords.
Still, driving around with a bag of weed in your pocket, and little worry, is sure nice!
A weed shop would be a riot. You'd be temporarily fairly tied down, but you would still have a chance to travel/vacation when not dealing with the business.
Yes, looks like Thailand has skipped over all of that. To my understanding you just pay a like a hundred bucks for a license and you can grow and sell all the weed you want. It's also province by province here, like in the states. So there is some minor BS red tape but most provinces have sent out the word just not to hastle anyone pot related as long as they have a license which is easy to get.
Yes, a weed shop would tie us down a bit, but I'm okay with that. I've been traveling the world for almost twenty years, I think this business venture may be fun an worth it. Plus...not being vaxed and the world looking on the brink of WW3 I think the best days to travel are now behind all of us. I'm just greateful to have spent the best years of my 20s and 30s venturing around the world. Also I've been all over the world enough to know that my favorite lifestyle is smoking weed in the Thai Islands just enjoying life, the island vibe, the beaches, and the natural island beauty. So this is part business, part hobby, part lifestyle choice. We'll see how it goes.
WHY NOW?!
Here in Canada, "legalization" (bigger govt and less freedom) is a very Liberal thing.
What the USA announced yesterday is going to please some Democrats, but I think it will also make some other types (like conservatives) happy because it's pro-freedom and gets government out of some aspects of cannabis. And yes, it was a Biden campaign promise (ending prohibition).
Governments want to grow Government weed to kill more people … Myclobutanil — used to kill mildew — is a known carcinogen that is strictly prohibited for use on plants that are inhaled as it produces hydrogen cyanide when burned.
I had a lot of trouble convincing people of that back in 2019 when the governmedia was claiming a "mystery vaping illness" was destroying lung tissue and killing people. I did a series of articles on it like https://hive.blog/cannabis/@drutter/mystery-vaping-lung-illness-solved and https://hive.blog/cannabis/@drutter/mainstream-media-caught-lying-to-public-about-vaping-crisis. Finally one caught on and went viral on FB. It's still circulating, even though I've been banned for years.
Yes…. Canopy Growth /Tweed and others still use it on their weed. The One World Government created “Covid”to cover up all those vaping “lung” deaths from myclobutanil…. ? It all started in Canada .
Nobody believed me either. Now Biden wants to kill millions of Americans the same way. They are all stock owners of Canopy.
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