5 ms·

The timing here is awfully Political. I imagine Democrats wouldn't do this if they had control of the government. Seems like lip service to their bases.

ble 6y ago
It would be a shame if politicians got some Politics in our politics. /s
ceejayoz 6y ago
> I imagine Democrats wouldn't do this if they had control of the government. Why not? It's already decriminalized in virtually the entire country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis_by_U.S._jurisdiction#/media/File:Map_of_US_state_cannabis_laws.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis_by_U.S._j... 35 states have legalized it for medical use, and 15 have legalized it recreationally. From the map, it looks like Idaho stands alone on it being completely illegal and criminalized.
- free2OSS 6y ago
  Big policy changes spends your political capital. You are going to be getting angry phone calls. Better to get those angry phone calls in exchange for a spending bill that goes to your donors/constituents. Elections have razor thin margins. What benefit does the politician get?
  - ceejayoz 6y ago
    > Big policy changes spends your political capital. That's the point, though. It's not a big policy change - the map demonstrates that. Decriminalization is already the de facto situation in nearly the entire country. Federal law with regards to marijuana is completely and openly ignored in much of the country. Dispensaries operate with relative impunity.
- tick_tock_tick 6y ago
  There is a really good point Democrats were almost universally against gay marriage until it cross the public support threshold. Looks at the stark difference between Obama on gay marriage in his first vs second term. If the polling shows enough people support it Democrats will pretty quickly flip to the support side of the issue if it goes anything like marriage.
  - loeg 6y ago
    Legalizing marijuana (67-32) is slightly more popular than gay marriage (61-31), and the crossover was at roughly the same time as gay marriage. https://www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/changing-attitudes-on-gay-marriage/ https://www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/changing-attitudes-on-ga... https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/14/americans-support-marijuana-legalization/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/14/americans-s...
  - BHSPitMonkey 6y ago
    To a certain extent, that's how representative government is intended to work.
    - tick_tock_tick 6y ago
      For sure this should be considered a feature not a bug.
avolcano 6y ago
Eh, it's a broadly popular policy with huge moderate appeal: https://news.gallup.com/poll/323582/support-legal-marijuana-inches-new-high.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/323582/support-legal-marijuana-... Centrist Democrats have been trying to get this moderate base for a while, and leftist Democrats are obviously gonna support legalization, so this seems like the rare case where they actually get to be aligned on something broadly and would push it if they were in power.
bslyke 6y ago
> Seems like lip service to their bases. Awesome! What's the problem?
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

ble 6y ago

It would be a shame if politicians got some Politics in our politics. /s

ceejayoz 6y ago

> I imagine Democrats wouldn't do this if they had control of the government. Why not? It's already decriminalized in virtually the entire country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis_by_U.S._jurisdiction#/media/File:Map_of_US_state_cannabis_laws.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis_by_U.S._j... 35 states have legalized it for medical use, and 15 have legalized it recreationally. From the map, it looks like Idaho stands alone on it being completely illegal and criminalized.

free2OSS 6y ago
Big policy changes spends your political capital. You are going to be getting angry phone calls. Better to get those angry phone calls in exchange for a spending bill that goes to your donors/constituents. Elections have razor thin margins. What benefit does the politician get?
- ceejayoz 6y ago
  > Big policy changes spends your political capital. That's the point, though. It's not a big policy change - the map demonstrates that. Decriminalization is already the de facto situation in nearly the entire country. Federal law with regards to marijuana is completely and openly ignored in much of the country. Dispensaries operate with relative impunity.
tick_tock_tick 6y ago
There is a really good point Democrats were almost universally against gay marriage until it cross the public support threshold. Looks at the stark difference between Obama on gay marriage in his first vs second term. If the polling shows enough people support it Democrats will pretty quickly flip to the support side of the issue if it goes anything like marriage.
- loeg 6y ago
  Legalizing marijuana (67-32) is slightly more popular than gay marriage (61-31), and the crossover was at roughly the same time as gay marriage. https://www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/changing-attitudes-on-gay-marriage/ https://www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/changing-attitudes-on-ga... https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/14/americans-support-marijuana-legalization/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/14/americans-s...
- BHSPitMonkey 6y ago
  To a certain extent, that's how representative government is intended to work.
  - tick_tock_tick 6y ago
    For sure this should be considered a feature not a bug.

avolcano 6y ago

Eh, it's a broadly popular policy with huge moderate appeal: https://news.gallup.com/poll/323582/support-legal-marijuana-inches-new-high.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/323582/support-legal-marijuana-... Centrist Democrats have been trying to get this moderate base for a while, and leftist Democrats are obviously gonna support legalization, so this seems like the rare case where they actually get to be aligned on something broadly and would push it if they were in power.

bslyke 6y ago

> Seems like lip service to their bases. Awesome! What's the problem?

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]