Biden, once a warrior in the ‘war on drugs,’ may slowly retreat

January 13, 2021
AggregatedNews
Federal
0 Comments

The president-elect has reluctantly embraced decriminalizing marijuana, but he could struggle to change laws.

President-elect Joe Biden built part of his political career on being known as a fighter in the “war on drugs,” supporting legislation as a senator that set harsh penalties for some drug offenses.

But as president, Biden could potentially oversee broad changes in federal drug policy, including how the government and law enforcement agencies view drug addiction and treatment and classify the use of marijuana.

Biden will take office at a time when the nation’s attitudes about drugs, particularly the legalization or decriminalization of marijuana, appear to be one area where there is relative, and growing, bipartisan unity.

In an election that was otherwise defined by stark political differences, voters in both red states and blue states — Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota — supported ballot initiatives to legalize the personal use of marijuana, while Mississippi voters legalized it for medicinal use. Along with earlier action by state legislatures or voters, 15 states have legalized marijuana, while 36 others have approved some form of medicinal marijuana use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. [Read More @ The Washington Post]

This Post Has 0 Comments

Recent Stories

A Research-Driven Inquiry Into ‘Endotoxin On Cannabis’

About a month ago, Kevin McKernan, the founder and CSO of Massachusetts-based Medicinal Genomics, which also produces the CannMed conferences, posted online a rerecording of the Endotoxin on Cannabis presentation…

State treasurer racks up big legal bills in effort to remove cannabis chair

Massachusetts’ state treasurer has paid a private law firm hundreds of thousands of dollars as part of her months-long effort to suspend and potentially remove the chair of the state’s…

The exodus at NY’s Office of Cannabis Management continues

At least four high-ranking employees at New York’s Office of Cannabis Management have recently resigned their positions, a month after NY Cannabis Insider reported on other high-profile departures from the…

A year after legalization, where you can and can’t smoke pot in Minnesota is still a little hazy

Despite being legal for months, it was still kind of surreal to see people openly smoking marijuana in public recently, and smell the pungent clouds surrounding them. A small crowd…