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Tens of Thousands Call for Federal Marijuana Decriminalization
"When it comes to the DOJ's proposal to reschedule marijuana, public opinion could not be clearer," said a campaigner with Drug Policy Alliance, which analyzed public comments on the pending change.
Jul 23, 2024
Shortly after the public comment period for the Biden administration's proposed rule to reschedule marijuana closed, a reform group on Tuesday released an analysis showing that the majority of submissions advocate for federal decriminalization.
When President Joe Biden pardoned U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents convicted of simple federal marijuana possession in October 2022, he also ordered the departments of Justice (DOJ) and Health and Human Services to review how cannabis is treated under the Controlled Substances Act.
Marijuana is currently Schedule I, the federal law's most restrictive category, despite dozens of states allowing adult recreational or medicinal use. In May, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which is part of the DOJ, proposed a shift to Schedule III and initiated the public comment period that ended Monday.
"Participation in public comment processes gives the American public a chance to speak from personal experience and provide feedback on proposed legal changes—and it gives the federal government an opportunity to adjust their proposals to reflect public opinion," said Cat Packer of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), which reviewed submissions.
"When it comes to the DOJ's proposal to reschedule marijuana, public opinion could not be clearer," added Packer, DPA's director of drug markets and legal regulation. "Rescheduling is simply not enough."
As DPA detailed in a statement, after analyzing the 42,910 public comments, the group found:
- 69.3% or 29,750 of comments support descheduling, decriminalizing, or legalizing marijuana at the federal level;
- 42.4% or 18,207 commentsmention the need for federal marijuana reform to advance racial justice or social equity; and
- 24% or 10,327 comments were submitted through a public comment tool hosted by United for Marijuana Decriminalization (UMD), a coalition that DPA convenes. These comments were the result of months of grassroots outreach to communities that have been impacted by marijuana criminalization.
"The people are demanding the Biden administration do more to deliver on the marijuana reforms that communities deserve," Packer said, pointing to previous promises from Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee to face former Republican President Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) in the November election.
Packer highlighted that nearly half of the comments "recognize that ending federal criminalization is key to achieving racial justice and social equity," and "this is something that the Biden administration has repeatedly identified as a priority in their marijuana reform efforts."
"However, under Schedule III, communities of color would still face disproportionate harms and lifelong consequences from federal marijuana criminalization," she explained. "Under Schedule III, people could still be jailed or deported for marijuana violations, even in states where it is legal. Under Schedule III, people could lose their jobs, their housing, their... food stamp benefits, or even lose custody of their children for marijuana violations."
Earlier this month, DPA and Human Rights Watch released a 91-page report detailing how the U.S. War on Drugs has impacted the lives of immigrants, "punishing people with deep connections to the United States, where they have formed families, attained education, and built their lives."
Packer argued Tuesday that "if the Biden administration wants to be responsive to public opinion and live up to their own stated values of racial justice and repair, marijuana must be federally decriminalized and additional actions must be taken to end the lifelong collateral consequences that result from marijuana criminalization."
"This is a galvanizing moment for our movement for drug policies grounded in health, equity, and reinvestment," she stressed. "Even if marijuana is ultimately rescheduled through this process, there are additional actions that President Biden and Congress can take. In the coming weeks and months, we will continue working with our allies to urge President Biden to take a whole government approach to advance equity in federal marijuana policy and mitigate the harms of criminalization."
"That means expanding pardons and commutations, protecting state marijuana programs, and directing federal agencies to cease punishing people for marijuana use," she said. "We know that the people and the evidence are on our side. It is time that our federal government listened."
Despite support from top figures including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), there is little hope that the current divided Congress would decriminalize marijuana. As Marijuana Momentreported shortly before House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was voted into his role last year, he "has consistently voted against cannabis-related legislation."
The cannabis industry analytics firm Headset on Tuesday also reviewed public submissions for the new proposal and noted that "this comment period has shattered previous DEA records, surpassing even the highly contentious 2020 telemedicine rules that garnered approximately 38,000 comments."
"To put this into perspective, that's roughly equivalent to the entire population of Juneau, the capital city of Alaska," the firm highlighted. "It's as if every resident of a small state capital took the time to voice their opinion on this crucial issue."
Headset found that 92.45% of comments were in favor of changing cannabis' schedule, with 61.7% of them advocating for descheduling and 38.3% supporting a shift to a less restrictive category. Just 7.55% wanted to retain Schedule I.
"Those supporting rescheduling emphasized potential medical benefits, increased research opportunities, and alignment with state laws," Headset said. "Proponents of descheduling, the largest group, advocated for complete legalization, citing social justice concerns, economic opportunities, and personal liberty."
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Genocide Is Not a Game: Congressional Baseball and War Crimes in Gaza
Why did we protest this national pastime? Because the systematic murder and starvation of Palestinians by Israel cannot continue with our silent complicity.
Jun 19, 2024
During last week’s Congressional Baseball Game, dozens of us in the crowd conveyed urgent messages to stop funding Israel’s genocide of Palestinian and to address the escalating climate emergency.
We were met by the disproportionate level of force from hundreds of police across multiple jurisdictions who encircled and followed us around. Activists with Climate Defiance entered the field and were plowed down forcefully by police officers and arrested.
In our seats, we stood with signs, flags, some just wearing kuffiyehs, chanting “Free Palestine” and “Genocide is not a game.” Despite the legality and common practice of cheering and displaying signs at baseball games, we were swiftly ejected by swarms of police officers.
Juxtaposed to our ejection and policing of our rights to freedom of speech, police unsurprisingly, did nothing to address the egregious and blatantly racist verbal abuse laced with profanity being hurled at us. In one instance, an entire section of the crowd erupted in a “fu** you terrorists” chants. Meanwhile, others in the stadium freely displayed their political messages without facing any consequences.
Our aim was to deliver a clear message to members of Congress, who were indulging in a photo-op game amid multiple crises they are directly responsible for through billions in funding to Israel and subsidies for the fossil fuel industry.
Since October, Congress have allocated billions more of our tax dollars to Israel, facilitating the genocide of over 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza while also displacing and starving millions of Palestinians.
The U.S. Pentagon is the largest institutional polluter in the world. Israel has also used white phosphorus and other weapons from the United States to destroy the local environment, facilitating the death of the local habitat. Each U.S. bomb tested, manufactured, transferred, and dropped exacerbates the climate crisis, intertwining Palestine’s plight with climate justice.
More bombs were dropped in the first 100 days of the US-Israel genocide in Gaza than in all of World War II combined.
Despite the majority of Americans wanting a ceasefire in Gaza (including the majority of republican voters), despite the majority of nation-states deploring Israel’s war crimes in Palestine, despite the highest court of the world releasing arrest warrants for crimes against humanity to Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defence, Yoav Gallant, the U.S. is continuing to aid and empower Israel’s ethnic cleansing. Almost every congressperson who played that night voted to sanction the International Criminal Court after it issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu.
The annual Congressional Baseball game is sponsored by a long list of companies profiting off of the Israeli and U.S. atrocities in Palestine, including: Boeing, RTX (formerly Raytheon), Caterpillar, Chevron, Amazon, Google.
It’s not a coincidence that while arms dealers are reaping historic highs in stock prices and earnings, members of Congress are lining their pockets with checks from Israeli lobbying groups. Particularly AIPAC, the American Israeli Public Affairs Council.
The baseball game is technically a fundraiser for groups like the Boys and Girls Club, Nationals Philanthropies, and the Washington Literacy Center. It is paradoxical that Congress raises trivial amounts for education while channeling billions of tax dollars into weapons shipments used to indiscriminately murder Palestinians.
Activists across the U.S are demanding an end to all aid to Israel and a reinvestment of those funds into our community needs such as housing, healthcare, and education. Our actions at the game were driven by a profound sense of urgency and justice.
The systematic murder and starvation of Palestinians by Israel cannot continue with our silent complicity. We must persist in demanding accountability from our elected officials. We demand that funds from warfare be redirected to vital community needs and to address the world’s common enemy, the climate crisis.
We stand in solidarity with Palestinians and all others who are fighting for their lives and dignity. The struggle for justice in Palestine is not just their fight; it is a global cause that calls for our unwavering support and action.
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Invited by Congress, Outraged Critics Say Netanyahu 'Should Be Arrested on the Spot'
"Perhaps," said one progressive critic, the Israeli prime minister "can be arrested for his war crimes on the Senate floor."
Jun 01, 2024
"This is shameful, Sen. Schumer."
That was the reaction of progressive activist Cynthia Nixon on Friday after the Democratic Majority Leader in the U.S. Senate co-signed a formal letter—alongside Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and House Minority Leader Jakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.)—inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress.
With global outrage over Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza at new heights and the International Criminal Court considering an arrest warrant application for the Israeli prime minister over the military campaign that many experts and humanitarians have deemed "genocidal," Nixon suggested that "[p]erhaps Netanyahu can be arrested for his war crimes on the Senate floor."
Nixon was far from alone in reacting with disgust to the decision by Schumer, who faced considerable pressure not to go through with the invitation that has been under consideration for many weeks.
Schumer, Johnson, Jeffries, and McConnell, said the Jewish-led human rights group IfNotNow, "will forever be remembered as the leaders who invited the war criminal Netanyahu to give a speech to Congress in the middle of Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza, days after he crossed President Biden's 'red line' on an invasion of Rafah."
Asked about the possibility of Netanyahu addressing Congress under the current circumstances, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said last month he would boycott the event if the invite was issued. "It's a terrible idea. No I won’t go," Sanders said. "You have a Prime Minister who has created the worst humanitarian disaster in modern history."
"Five percent of the population is now dead or wounded," Sanders said, "and 60 percent of them are women and children. Some 200,000 housing units have been completely destroyed. Every university in Gaza has been bombed. There is now imminent starvation taking place. So why you would invite somebody who has done such horrific things to the Palestinian people is something that I think is a very bad idea."
In March, Schumer vocally criticized the Netanyahu government over its treatment of Gaza in the wake of the October 7 attacks by Hamas militants.
https://forward.com/news/616078/netanyahu-address-congress-johnson-schumer-israel/
Last month, the Forward's Jacob Kornbluh explained how the potential invite of Netanyahu "divided Democrats even when it was just a rumor." He wrote:
On the left flank of the party, critics of Israel don’t want Congress to give a platform to the prime minister, who is widely reviled for embracing right-wing extremists within his government and prosecuting a war in Gaza that has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands.
But mainstream pro-Israel Democrats don’t necessarily want to welcome him either. Many of them are also frustrated by Netanyahu, but prefer to avoid the inevitable calls to boycott the democratically elected leader of a country they otherwise support.
"I understand why Mike Johnson, Mitch McConnell and Benjman Netanyahu badly want this to happen," commentedMSNBC's Chris Hayes on Friday after the invitation was made official. "I cannot for the life of me understand why Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer think it's a good idea."
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