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Most Iowans to want legal weed and also seven out of 10 americans It’s as popular an idea as there is in modern politics, with majorities in virtually every demographic supporting legalization.
Now, a Senate candidate is making a new push for President Joe Biden to decriminalize marijuana, which would mark a major first step toward legalization.
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the state’s Democratic candidate for Senate, called on Biden this week to use his executive power to decriminalize marijuana.
“It’s long overdue for us to finally decriminalize marijuana,” Fetterman said in a statement. “The president must use his executive authority to begin deprogramming marijuana.”
Fetterman’s comments come as many other Democrats have too pushed Biden to decriminalize marijuana in recent months.
According to a 1970 law, marijuana, yes exponentially safer that alcohol has caused zero documented overdoses—is illegal nationally and is listed as a “Schedule I drug,” in the same group as heroin, LSD, and ecstasy. Under the federal government’s drug policy, cannabis is considered more dangerous than cocaine and methamphetamine, which were linked to the death of more than 57,000 Americans just last year.
The federal government’s criminalization of cannabis as part of the failed “War on Drugs” has been blown out of proportion. devastated The blacks, that they are imprisoned for drug crimes at a rate 10 times that of whites, even though they use drugs at roughly the same rates.
Instead of fighting drug overdoses and saving lives, the government’s war on drugs has devastated millions of American families while leading to a 500% increase. in the US prison population since 1970. Now there are more than 2 million Americans in jail and prison: the highest rate of incarceration in the world–and overdose rates in reality grown up exponentially since 1970.
During a town hall Tuesday in Bedford, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said he views marijuana three ways: He supports the production of hemp and medical marijuana, but he doesn’t support recreational use.
And Grassley laid out his stance on legalizing marijuana pic.twitter.com/PCQqPGBmKM
— Iowa Starting Line (@IAStartingLine) August 31, 2022
“I have to have proof that it doesn’t lead to harder drugs,” Grassley said.
Grassley also said he and Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) have commissioned a study on the issue.
Marijuana is totally legal in 19 states, and Washington DC, and legal for medicinal use in 18 additional states. In Iowa, however, cannabis remains illegal and criminalized and only CBD oil is legal for medicinal use.
The decriminalization and legalization of marijuana is overwhelmingly popular among Iowans of all political affiliations, as 67% of the state’s voters support legalizing cannabis, according to the polling firm civics.
Biden, who had campaigned on the promise of decriminalizing marijuana, has yet to take major action on the issue. In comments made last month, Biden said he plans to follow through on a promise to release people imprisoned for nonviolent federal marijuana offenses. He also added that he doesn’t think Americans should be locked up for using cannabis, and that he was working on a “bill,” though it’s unclear what legislation he was referring to.
House Democrats past a bill earlier this year to federally decriminalize marijuana and eliminate cannabis-related criminal records. Only three House Republicans voted in favor of the bill, which has yet to receive a vote in the Senate, where it is likely to be blocked by Senate Republicans.
by Keya Vakil
09/01/22
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