She co-sponsored a bill to fully legalize it in 2018. Behind closed doors she was advocating for legalizing it as VP, but Biden doesn’t support full legalization so it would’ve been a bad look for him if his VP was publicly going against him when he was still running
VP debates usually don’t move the needle much. I mean all most people remember from the Pence vs Harris debate was the fly on Mike Pence
If we want to move the needle, one thing we can do is take action ourselves
Find how to register to vote for where you are
Find opportunities to volunteer for dems around you and online
Write letters to voters in swing states or in competitive downballot races
And credit to Walz for succinctly calling it out. If he didn’t, most of the news coverage would have glazed right passed it
Saw someone else reply with this to it and it kind of sent me a bit
Best line of the debate in my opinion
Hey now, Chickens can put up a fight when they need to and are smarter than people think. Can we really say the same about trump?
We can do more than just hope, we can help make it happen! Vote, get active, volunteer for texas democrats
We can fight back against some of their voter suppression tactics
If you know people in texas, make sure they are checking their voter registration and re-register if purged
The part that happened in May was the actual rule being formally proposed.
It [the formal rule proposal] is the next step in the rescheduling process begun by Biden in October 2022, and follows a recommendation by the Department of Health and Human Services in August to reclassify marijuana.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/16/biden-announces-marijuana-reclassification-00158408
He actually started the reschedule process in 2022, but before that there were attempts by dems to do legalization via legislation but in the senate that didn’t end up getting enough votes.
Rescheduling via legislation is more direct and skips the lengthy process describe in the law for executive action. The president is not able to immediately snap their fingers and reschedule. People within the DEA / other agencies have showed it down since 2022. It’s at the last stages now after the public comment hearing in December. For what it’s worth, as VP Harris did try to call on the agencies to speed up said process but she has no direct power to do so
The existing law outlines the complicated process. Biden cannot do it instantly. Here’s an overview of the process that’s already been done so far
Now the rule has been proposed so we’re at the end of that graph. That’s what I mean when I say we’re close. Here’s the actual rule making procedure to do the rescheduling
Additionally, it’s worth noting that earlier, dem senate leader was also perusing a legislative path until it was clear they couldn’t get the votes. Hence later executive action
Decriminalization is not the same as legalization. In terms of legalization, he only supported legalization for medical marijuana which is the process he started. He actually pledged to move it to schedule 2 but has started the process to move it to schedule 3. That process is getting closer for what it’s worth. The DEA has really dragged it out but it’s nearly at the end with the public hearing in December
From the source that politico links to
he will support the legalization of cannabis for medical purposes
[…]
reschedule cannabis as a schedule II drug so researchers can study its positive and negative impacts.
Copying my comment from elsewhere
Decriminalization is not the same as legalization. In terms of legalization, he only supported legalization for medical marijuana which is the process he started. He actually pledged to move it to schedule 2 but has started the process to move it to schedule 3. That process is getting closer for what it’s worth. The DEA has really dragged it out but it’s nearly at the end with the public hearing in December
From the source that politico links to
he will support the legalization of cannabis for medical purposes
[…]
reschedule cannabis as a schedule II drug so researchers can study its positive and negative impacts.
However, unlike that Harris isn’t making a cagey statement here. She’s directly stating that marijuana should be federally legalized
Really the title of this article shouldn’t be signals
He never explicitly said he would be a one term president or necessarily saw himself as one. I looked back to double check again, and he only made cagey statements about seeing himself as the transition between generations. A two term president could still qualify for that. The more explicit one term stuff was from his aides saying he was considering that
Should he have just been more direct, yes, but what he said was nothing as explicit as directly stating we need marijuana it to be legalized
Biden never said he supported full legalization as far as I am aware, so it’s not surprising he didn’t go as far as he could.
She just made the announcement for the first time in this campaign, so not stated that yet, but she has pushed for legalization via legislation in the past as a senator and called for faster action for the DEA on rescheduling as VP
In other areas, Walz and Harris have already given plans for passing legislation to make banking access easier for legal states and helping veterans get access to medical marijuana in the VA
So you’re saying the expectation should be that she should be able to solve every problem without any direct power? Harris could only do more if she were president. The only people that can currently do anything on it are the president and congress.
Biden for his part started the process to move it to schedule 3 which would give medical legalization. Harris could start the process for full legalization if she were elected
Those stories were his aides saying he was considering he might not run again. He never said it publicly.
Here Harris is directly stating publicly she wants it legal federally. It’s not a new stance for her. As a senator in 2018 she co-sponsored legislation to make it legal federally
There already has been one introduced into this congress to do exactly that. With the Republican control in the house it hasn’t gotten anywhere but it already exists
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/5601
It has been updated now