Ah, yes, because the president can just repeal laws that he doesn’t agree with anymore, and write new laws without any input from congress. That’s how it works, right? King Biden?
No?
There’s the concept most of us learned about from School House Rock called “separation of powers”. And, see, it turns out that the president is the executive; he’s the one that has to execute, or enforce, the rules that congress passes. He doesn’t get to pass new laws–he can’t even directly introduce new legislation-and he’s not supposed to choose which laws to enforce and ignore ones he doesn’t like.
(Given that Biden was one of the authors of the omnibus crime bill, many people find it ironic that Biden is now opposed to criminal prosecutions for marijuana, but people–and politicians–need to have room to change their views.)
There’s the concept most of us learned about from School House Rock called “separation of powers”. And, see, it turns out that the president is the executive; he’s the one that has to execute, or enforce, the rules that congress passes.
You do know that the classification of controlled substances is under the purview of the executive, right?
Congress may have passed the controlled substance act, but the actual scheduling of those controlled substances is left to the FDA, which is under the controll of the executive.
people find it ironic that Biden is now opposed to criminal prosecutions for marijuana, but people–and politicians–need to have room to change their views.
The problem is that Biden has been wishy washy about cannabis scheduling since he’s been on office. He campaigned on rescheduling, and his office even took steps to make it seem as if there had been progress. However, in the last 4 years when asked about it by reporters, he’s fallen back on ideas like gateway drugs, and show general hesitation about rescheduling.
I know this because I own a business adjacent to the cannabis industry. Everyone in the industry in the beginning of his presidency thought rescheduling was going to be a priority. However, year after year it been put on the back burner, and there’s no longer a lot of enthusiasm in the industry.
Imo Biden still thinks cannabis is a dangerous gateway drug that’s poisoning the youth. But his office knows how much of a priority it is for progressives and continues to work on it despite his hesitantly. I think any progress that’s made on cannabis is made out of political necessity, not because he changes his mind. It may also be to get ole Chuck Schumer off his back, if cannabis is rescheduled thank Schumer not Biden. The guys been on a tirade about it for years now.
The president is not intended to have direct control over the DEA or the FDA; the heads of those agencies may be political appointees, but they’re intended and expected to maintain a degree of autonomy. Trump upended decades of precedent by taking direct action over the control of federal agencies. (That’s a bad thing.) That, by the way, is why the ATF ruled that bump stocks were machine guns; Trump told them to do so.
Imo Biden still thinks cannabis is a dangerous gateway drug that’s poisoning the youth.
I would agree with this. There’s pretty solid evidence that pot use by kids and teens causes some pretty serious, lifelong developmental issues. Not a ‘gateway drug’, but it does cause neurological issues when used by adolescents. I don’t think that’s a good reason to keep it illegal for adults though, since kids also abuse alcohol.
write new laws without any input from congress.
You just have to reinterpret whatever law you’re already operating under. If it works for pistol braces* it can work for bongs.
*it probably doesn’t, we’ll see
I could have seen braces being banned if the ATF had said from the start that they should be regulated as SBRs. But saying they’re fine for a decade, and then suddenly ruling that they aren’t creates real problems, esp. since it was an administrative decision rather than a a change in the underlying laws.
Didn’t he pardon a bunch of people?
Oh goodie, he let a few people off the hook. That’s just great
Yes.
OP doesn’t seem to have any knowledge of the history here, doesn’t live in the US, doesn’t seem to understand how the legal system works or the differences between federal and state law, etc, etc, etc.
So, take that as you will.
Yeah… There’s a whole bunch of people who seem to presume to know a lot more than op, and are in reality just a pot calling a kettle black.
While in most cases the executive is unable to implement or redact laws due to the separations of powers, this does not apply to cannabis. The legality of controlled substances were enacted by Congress, but the classification and scheduling of drugs is the purview of the executive via the FDA.
The steps to rescheduling cannabis have already been completed, with an official recommendation being to more accurately reschedule cannabis.
The only thing left is for the head of the FDA, a person Biden appointed, and who has previously advocated for rescheduling to be given the green light.
Biden could reschedule cannabis tomorrow if he wanted, but he’s always been conservative about drugs, and is one of the architects of the modern war on drugs. I still think it’s going to happen, but under political duress and due to necessity, rather than any meaningful change of heart.
Biden can’t change state laws or convictions though.
There are several very different things being mucked about it into one completely misleading and inaccurate mess, making this entire post and a huge amount of the comments just a bunch of nonsense.
Nobody is asking him to change state laws. We’re asking him to change the schedule status of marijuana so he can reduce the amount of resistance posed in legalizing marijuana. Something that is well within his control.
But if we pretend Biden is powerless, we can continue the racist drug war!
That random single floating question mark is really bothering me.
lol @ people who think Biden can just do whatever he wants without congress
Not whatever he wants, no. But drug rescheduling does not require congress.
And he’s already doing exactly what he wants about the racist war on drugs: prolonging it.
Didn’t he do federal pardons a year ago? That didn’t do all that much as it’s mostly state laws+charges which he can’t pardon, but it is the thing which is directly under his control for him to do already. What are you requesting for him to do here?
Seems like this is another of those things like climate change: The US policy was consistently and unanimously dogshit for however-many US presidents, and then in the last few years we started to try to address it, only to have Biden’s “not as good as what we wanted” level of finally-measurable progress be used as a propaganda talking-point to say he’s clearly bad because he’s not doing enough.
What are you requesting for him to do here?
Keep his campaign promise. This is from his 2020 campaign website:
The decriminalization bill passed the house but the GOP killed it in the senate.
Which seems a little contradictory to both the statements (a) it’s all Biden’s fault and he could fix it if he wanted to, and (b) voting doesn’t matter because both sides are pretty much the same.
My question was a little different from the one you answered – what is the meme joking about him being easily able to do if he would only decide to? Actually I think you should call him and tell him, instead of me; it would have saved all the time and difficulty with the decriminalization bill, if he could have just done whatever you had in mind instead of bothering with it.
Plenty of loud people seem to think a president is a king, or at least has the powers thereof. That’s something both tips of the horseshoe seem to agree on.
Weird how republicans seem to be able to do whatever they please when they’re in power but oh no, there’s no possible way Biden could save women’s rights, decriminalize a harmless plant, or say no to a country engaged in genocide.
Wake the fuck up dude, they’re 2 sides of the same coin.
But they Republicans can’t do whatever they want. How many times did they attempt (and fail) at getting rid of the ACA? Even when they had the presidency and both houses of Congress they weren’t able to do that.
I love your username
That’s a funny way of spelling “Oh shit you’re right, Republicans famously tried and failed to among other things withhold aid from Ukraine, repeal the ACA, prosecute their political opponents, have the military confiscate voting machines, have the National Guard shoot protestors, and lots of other terrifying things, but the top levels of government don’t come with a magic wand that causes all the other levels to obey exactly the orders that come from above. And that’s actually a good thing; you want to have a lot of apolitical machinery in the workings of government, not just an autocracy that immediately obeys any new orders that come from above whether good or bad or whether they fit the preexisting structures or not.”
“However, the Republicans do have a detailed plan in place for undoing a lot of that machinery that’s truly terrifying in its scope and thoroughness. If you’re not happy about Joe Biden failing to do enough to take the unprecedented step of legalizing marijuana on a federal level, just wait until CBP agents are empowered to fire on protestors or detain them indefinitely, opposition-party politicians are on the receiving end of harassment from a corrupted justice department, and the power of the US military can be turned against any brown people anywhere in the world for any reason whatsoever on the whim of the world’s most childish man, with no pushback from senior military leadership.”
“Oops I mean both sides are the same, Joe didn’t do a good enough job on my lengthy to-do list of progressive goals, I’m not voting, it doesn’t matter.”
He could have it rescheduled to something far less illegal, at the very least, without an act from congress.
Part of being the executive is executing the process for many things - DEA has many different requirements and can’t necessary act on a whim. More importantly that seems to be happening.
My reading of fpvarious news and promises on this is y’all need to be a little patient
It’s been three years.
I ain’t gonna hold my breath.
Good spot! I did in fact fail to mention that in addition to the federal marijuana legalization bill, and pardons for anyone in federal prison for possession, Biden did in fact do exactly what you’re not holding your breath for, ordering a reevaluation of the scheduling of marijuana. It’s a little bit of an empty priority, since just lowering its classification level would still leave it on the “illegal drug” list and doesn’t do much for anyone who’s in a state prison for breaking a state law, i.e. the DEA dragging its feet on actually doing it isn’t enough of a priority to spend time and political capital on.
I could go on about how numbskulled it is to give the Biden administration a hard time for not doing enough to overcome Republican resistance to the big progressive steps they are taking, while simultaneously claiming that he’s deliberately doing nothing and that he’s functionally the same as the party that’s fighting to obstruct him (with some level of success). But I already made that point.
It’s a little bit of an empty priority, since just lowering its classification level would still leave it on the “illegal drug” list and doesn’t do much for anyone who’s in a state prison for breaking a state law,
And just like that, it’s ok to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Incrementalism goes straight out the window when it’s something centrists don’t want to do, like reduce the harm caused by the racist war on drugs.
No answer on what you want him to do that he could do any time he’s ready?
But… still going to leave the meme up? Even though you’re clearly a person who cares about politics and political outcomes, and it’s clear now that what it says is grossly misleading to people as to the reality of the situation?
You’re right, Biden is powerless.
That’s a funny way of spelling “I cannot give you an answer to your question, because there is none.”
Why would I answer your dumb ass questions?
Oh sorry I thought we were in a political discussion sub and you answered a message where I asked a relevant question. How can I help you instead?
What’s this then?
Too little too late?
Do you even realise how you’re enabling all the things that hold you down? I say this in love, genuinely wishing the best for you.
I don’t live in America. Demand better from your representatives. Don’t be condescending to strangers online.
Then why are you posting memes about a political system you clearly don’t understand, while simultaneously doing a “bOTh SiDeS!” when you don’t even live here?
Maybe you shouldn’t be condescending about processes you do not understand instead, and delete this backwards post?
Or are you just some paid troll?
Lol?
Or are you just some paid troll?
I generally assume people don’t need to be paid to peddle smug cynicism in the name of enabling fascism.
People are really just that awful.
Por que no los dos
There are absolutely paid troll farms at work on social media, it’s well-documented, and the big social media companies actually regularly have meetings with each other to share intel about combating them.
Whether any individual user is one of them, or a homegrown troll, or just a confused person, is probably not worth the time and energy to try to determine.
I certainly don’t intend to be condescending. I’m sorry if it came across that way.
