Marijuana decriminalization progress

Only those who smoked weed.

Depends on whether you ever used MJ in violation of state law. Biden canā€™t pardon those violations. Of course itā€™s legal in a bunch of states now, but it wasnā€™t always and still isnā€™t everywhere.

Itā€™s now legal in every state i ever used weed in. I suppose they could theoretically prosecute because it was against the law then, but they arenā€™t wasting their resources doing that.

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https://apnews.com/article/marijuana-reclassification-biden-garland-dea-3c9478472e124c7aaa9b934270b0d450

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is moving toward reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug. The Justice Department proposal would recognize the medical uses of cannabis, but wouldnā€™t legalize it for recreational use. The proposal would move marijuana from the ā€œSchedule Iā€ group to the less tightly regulated ā€œSchedule III.ā€

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IMO, the most important thing in that article is this:

Under the federal tax code, businesses involved in ā€œtraffickingā€ in marijuana or any other Schedule I or II drug canā€™t deduct rent, payroll or various other expenses that other businesses can write off.

At the extreme, this means youā€™re paying FIT on gross revenue rather than net profit. That amounts to a sales tax equal to your marginal FIT rate.

I donā€™t think it actually goes to that extreme. Iā€™ve seen elsewhere that they can currently deduct the wholesale cost of the marijuana. Thatā€™s probably their biggest expense. But, even after adjusting for that, this has to be a boost for after tax profits to retailers.

Edit: I started just thinking of retailers. But, producers must have the same rules. They should have an even bigger gain.

MJ here is just basically beer. Easy to get, nobody cares.
No 'shrooms are coming along. We have a local shroom store. Cops raid it and shut it down, lay some bogus charges. Two days later, store is operational again. Next day, cops raid it, close the doors and lay some charges. Two days later, store is open again. Cops donā€™t bother shutting it down lol.

The only problem in Canada is that many pot smokers think they have an exemption from the ban on cigarette smoking in public areas. Cigarette smoke of any kind irritates my eyes. I have no problem with public consumption of edibles though.

Until people think it is OK to drop a deuce wherever they want.

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Iā€™m pretty sure my state will decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms in the next 30 years. I leave the long timeline because there isnā€™t nearly as much public pressure for it, but several localities in the state have had it decriminalized for years and thereā€™s been no problem.

Cannabis is widely accepted in my state (US). I wouldnā€™t call it beneficial to the majority of users (medical uses clearly exist), but Iā€™m encouraged to see more than a few acquaintances reduce or entirely eliminate alcohol from their diet in favor of cannabis. An entirely sober population would be healthier, but Iā€™d prefer the person that takes an edible and watches a movie versus the one who goes to a bar and has 6 drinks and might drive or fight someone.

Psilocybins are only currently permitted in Canada for limited medical uses. I expect though that if the research on their effectiveness is positive there will be liberalized laws to permit their use. In any event there are stores selling psilocybin products here illegally.

I blame Timothy Leary primarily for governments deciding to end research into medical applications for psilocybins and LSD. Their effectiveness or not should have been established 50 years ago.

I did that once upon a time. It was a fun project.

Oregon reversed/modified their decriminalization law. Unintended consequences.

I live in GA and weed is illegal. Some jurisdictions have reduced penalties for possessing small amounts to just a fine.

I smell weed just about every time I drive anywhere in metro ATL, and metro ATL is a BIG area. Adults should be free to smoke weed, but smoking while driving or driving stoned is a problem imo <this space reserved for ā€œbut Iā€™m a better driver when highā€ responses>.

True, but with the exceptions granted via the farm bill you can get something fairly similar legally with different cannibinoids.

Ah, THCA. As near enough matters itā€™s exactly the same as marijuana, since THCA converts to THC (I think about an 85% conversion rate) when itā€™s heated. And of course thereā€™s the Delta 8, aka weed light.

copying portugal in rules without copying their social safety netsā€¦thatā€™s likely the issue.

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IIRC Portugalā€™s experience hasnā€™t been as good as hoped. Too lazy too gtfy. So OR isnā€™t too surprising.