There is a definite schism within the Democratic Party. On one hand, there are a bunch of senators trying to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substance Act. And on the other hand – the President. A President who was supposed to be the polar opposite of President Donald Trump, however, are quite close to the orange menace in approval ratings.
Nonetheless, Biden was seen as the answer to Trump, the party of “progressives” and while it’s true that they have the most diverse cabinet in US history – which isn’t too difficult to achieve considering the history of the cabinets prior – they still have don’t absolutely nothing on the cannabis decriminalization front. Right now, the US government will pick up on cannabis reform until the spring according to some sources.
Biden – who pardoned one turkey this year – did absolutely nothing for the people he allegedly was going to help. People could forgive him for not supporting cannabis based on the fact that he’s a million years old now, they were “okay” with him only endorsing decriminalization – but they expected him to live up to at least one of his promises, which was to “expunge cannabis convictions”.
Kamala Harris was touted as the “ace in the pocket” who was in favor of cannabis. In fact, she probably only got some votes because of her apparent allegiance to cannabis reform. Yet the moment the duo made it to the White House, they simply dropped the cannabis shtick and jumped on the Covid Bandwagon. They were far more interested in Transrights and gay rights and so forth – which isn’t a bad thing to support – however, they completely ignored the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have records because of something that many can purchase legally in their state.
There are roughly 1,000,000 trans-people in the United States, and their rights to express themselves should be respected. This is something that the people in the cannabis community has understood for a long time – let be.
But imagine if every year, 600,000 trans people were arrested and prosecuted for simply being trans. When it comes to cannabis use however, this is the statistic. Every year, about 43% of all drug arrests are cannabis related. There are 127 million people in the US who admit to having smoked weed before. In essence, there are about 50-60 million regular users.
These people are being discriminated against every single day and if they happen to be a black person or Hispanic – the odds of them being arrested increases. Nonetheless, everybody across the board is a target when it comes to cannabis – which makes it a problem that affects more people in general and in my opinion should also be considered to be a priority within the White House.
However, Biden and Harris are simply dodging any questions about their promises and continue to drum the beat of “equity and inclusion” while excluding over a hundred million people every day.
It turns out that the inaction of the Biden Administration invoked wrath from both sides of the political spectrum.
Take a step to the Right…
From the GOP, Reps. Dave Joyce and Don Young wrote Biden and Harris a letter pointing out their inaction in relation to cannabis reform.
Here’s a snippet of the letter as reported on Marijuana Moment:
“As both legislative chambers continue to debate the merits of various common-sense proposals on the issue of cannabis reform and a complete end to federal prohibition garners more and more bipartisan support, your administration’s absence from these debates and lack of action, which is inconsistent with previous statements you have made on the topic, is of serious concern,” Joyce and Young wrote to Biden and Harris. “Each day cannabis remains overly scheduled, patients and researchers across the United States continue to lose access to life-saving therapies and data.”
“Further, cannabis’ Schedule I classification puts the U.S. far behind many of our international partners and scientific competitors including: Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Malta and the Netherlands,” the letter continues. (Source)
If you’re more conservative about cannabis than the conservatives – can you call yourself a progressive? What’s more shocking is that the vast majority of Americans agree that cannabis should be legal. It has become such a point of contention that it is a major contributing factor the decreased popularity of the Administration.
However, it wasn’t just the right that was critical of the Biden Administration.
Take a hop to the left…
AOC also was taking issue with the apparent lack of action in expunging criminal records. She had this to say on Twitter:
Biden needs to lean on his executive authority now. He has been delaying and underutilizing it so far. There is an enormous amount he can do on climate, student debt, immigration, cannabis, health care, and more.
Time is running out - we need to move and use alternative paths.
The fact of the matter is that cannabis is no longer an issue that is taboo. It’s gone mainstream and there are billions of dollars being made. If the Biden Administration cannot see this, then they are more out of touch with the country than they would like to admit. While they are doubling down on the Covid-19 protocols, the fact of the matter is that when you ignore cannabis reform you are ignoring more than a hundred million people.
More importantly, you’re breaking the promises you made on the campaign trail to more than a hundred million people. While this might only negatively affect your popularity now – how will it impact the next election cycle? Will people simply give up on the Democratic party altogether. As an outsider – I have observed the Democratic party force establishment candidates when their base wants something else.
If the Democrats fail to make any meaningful move on cannabis while holding power, they might be in trouble come next election cycle. Let’s see what Spring has to offer.
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