Trump should de-schedule cannabis (Corporate Profits, employment, Congress, illegal)

[Nepenthe]

He should drop it and all cannabinoids all the way from Schedule I (more dangerous than Crack and Meth) to not scheduled AT ALL, at the Federal level, and he should do it very soon.

Oh, I'm certain he won't (even though he doesn't seem particularly anti-cannabis), this is more a thought experiment.

First: How the President Can End Pot Prohibition Without Congress

It's going to happen eventually, I'm fairly certain -- why not secure a bit of a legacy as the President who actually DID it? Imagine being the guy who did that in his first three months when the previous guy didn't get it done in forty-eight months. Go big.

It seems to me Trump is badly in need of some goodwill, and a sweeping change like this would accomplish a little of that. It could show he isn't beholden to social conservatives, nor to certain members of the international community as well.

States would still have the right to enforce their own laws. This would be a win for states' rights (but they could no longer hide behind the "Federal prohibition" excuse).

Cannabis has the potential to be big business, but the inability to engage banks or use standard accounting principles (among other things) is holding it back. This would be a win for the economy. This could be a lucrative new sector of the economy and employment.

What people do in their homes with their own bodies and minds is nobody's business but theirs, and certainly not the government's. This would be a win for individual freedom.

Research on the effects of cannabis, THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids would be much easier to fund and conduct. This would be a win for the well-being of the people and for the firms developing treatments based on cannabinoids.

DEA funding could be reduced and/or refocused. Same for local law enforcement, eventually.

Cannabis smuggling operations and illegal grows would no longer be as lucrative.

Innocent people would no longer fear arrest (Federal arrest anyway). Trump could release a larger number of non-violent cannabis offenders than Obama did during his entire administration.

Minorities disproportionately targeted by law enforcement would no longer be targeted for cannabis-related offenses.

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It seems to me that Trump likes to win and this seems like it would be a colossal win. It could even be the kind of thing that begins turning around the way certain people feel about him.

Okay, okay, I'm sure there are lots of ways to shoot holes in this and it's probably one of the least likely things to have happen... but what do you think?

[marino760]

I don't know what's up with some of you pot lovers. You have it and smoke it whenever you want anyway, most with the ruse of calling it medical. Grow up and worry about something a little bit more important than getting high.

[Dane_in_LA]

Trump doing that? There's a private prison industry completely dependent on keeping weed illegal. They have money, the stoners don't. And if Trump can be said to have anything resembling an ethos, "People with money are right" is a central part of it.

[MJJersey]

Originally Posted by marino760

I don't know what's up with some of you pot lovers. You have it and smoke it whenever you want anyway, most with the ruse of calling it medical. Grow up and worry about something a little bit more important than getting high.

Great post. We have way too many drug addicts running around already.

[biggunsmallbrains]

Pssh. Come on. That's never going to happen. Trump literally is the man.

[metalmancpa]

Ahh. The stigma of pot smoking evident in just a few responses.

[NLVgal]

Agreed. I don't smoke, but it has legitimate medical uses that need to be researched. You can't do research on a schedule 1 drug. Trumps approval rating would also soar among libertarians, young people, and Willie Nelson.

[skepticratic]

Originally Posted by MJJersey

Great post. We have way too many drug addicts running around already.

On pot?

Most heroin addicts start on prescription painkillers. Funnily enough, the proponents of medical marijuana are usually saying pot is the ideal replacement for those painkillers.

But yeah, not important. Drug addiction is important, but not legalizing pot because that can't possibly be related. At least according to decades of puritan propaganda.

[bawac34618]

People should have the right to smoke it and hope one day there is full legalization. The war on drugs doesn't and never will work. The best place to start ending the war on drugs is with the substance that never should have been included in it to begin with and is proven to be less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. However, I don't see Trump doing this. The private prison industry and the religious right have too much of a stake in his Presidency. It would be nice though and could give him a nice approval rating bump.

[Dane_in_LA]

Originally Posted by MJJersey

Great post. We have way too many drug addicts running around already.

We're eagerly awaiting the initiative to cut down on the overprescription of opioids - y'know, an actually addictive substance. But - that would of course cut down on corporate profits, can't have that.