According to an anonymous DEA agent the department will reclassify marijuana to Schedule II status on August 1 2016. U.S. Gov't Will Legalize Marijuana on August 1 Reading comments around the web my worst fears are being confirmed. All marijuana users (for whatever purpose) are expressing happiness over this which means everyone is ready to roll over and accept this as done. Reclassifying to schedule II is the absolute worst outcome for us. I use for pain relief (lots of back surgeries) AND recreation. What schedule II will mean is the DEA is about to hand over a billion dollar a year industry to big pharma, kill all local, private dispenseries, preempt all states where recreational is legal thereby taking away these states massive sources of income, shut down all recreational use, put enforcement of illegal possession back on the radar for local law enforcement since it will STILL be illegal to own or grow and turn pot into a boxed, regulated, cookie cutter drug prescription you have to go to CVS or Walgreens for. I think this is terrible. The DEA still has roughly two weeks till their own deadline of announcing before the second half of 2016 so I'm praying that this one anonymous DEA agent was sent out as a test balloon to see what the public reaction is. From what I'm seeing they probably like what they're seeing and will go with it. Meanwhile alcohol and tobacco are unregulated and deadly. Compared to cigarettes and booze only complete declassification is acceptable, because once declassification to Schedule II happens all the steam will come out of the decriminilization movement and we'll be stuck with this for decades more. Or forever. For a more detailed view on the consequences of schedule II: The Downside to The DEA Rescheduling Cannabis *update 6/21 4am* According to a story from a Houston paper there's been a statement from the DEA that says the Santa Monica reporter and the anonymous DEA lawyer aren't quite accurate. http://m.chron.com/news/housto-texas/texas/articleComments/The-DEA-is-probably-not-reclassifying-marijuana-8312943.php Unfortunately the Chronicle fails to say what the DEA statement was so this is only helpful in that the DEA has finally responded and they did not say the Santa Monica report was completely wrong. As with all of this take with a grain or two of salt. I can say that of the three publications I've listed and one from a commenter the Houston Chronicle is easily the most reputable and most likely to be accurate source (not that the others are disreputable).
Moderators There were about three places I saw to post this. Please move to either the Legalization or medical marijuana forum if more appropriate. Thanks!
What a sneaky game they play..at first thought this sounds great. With a new President coming into power (probably Hillary), things will either get much better or take a turn for the worse. Americans need access to cannabis. Not black market. Not Big Pharma. I hate drug companies, and I also hate the drug cartels. Conservatively doing some math, I could figure that I've probably smoked a quarter a week since I was 18. Minimally, where I live that would be $25 a week or $100 a month. I'm older now, and after doing the math I've given the cartels at least a brand new car. That's being conservative. The drug cartels and Big Pharma are just as guilty equally of killing my friends. Cannabis never killed anyone. Not possible. We have the right to grow a plant, obviously. We all must practice civil disobedience. Let's make cannabis worth $10 an ounce by growing it ourselves. Sorry to those trying to cash in, but it seems the greed is winning out over the compassion. When they legalized medical marijuana in CA in the late 90's, they really thought it would take off all over the country. The money won out over the compassion.
Could not agree more on every single point you made. Before pot I ended up addicted to opioids trying to get relief from all my back issues and post surgeries. Marijuana got me out from under the thumb of those drugs but I personally know those that have lost jobs and families to "legal" painkillers. I want to be happy about this. I want to see it as a positive step. I can't. Will this make medical available to many who need it but were unable due to it's status? Yes, and I'm genuinely happy for those folks but I'm afraid all the downsides will far outweigh any benefit. I still hold out hope that this rumor was the DEA testing the waters and that a lower classification or declassification is the actual outcome. After all, if the DEA chooses to let it be regulated like alcohol and tobacco the government reaps the benefit. A different classification only helps the drug companies in my view.
I said it before and I'll say it again. Fuck the feds! As always, I'll do everything possible to stay off their radar. dilligaf
I look at it as the first step on the road to full Federal Legalization. It's inevitable now. As for Big Pharma. What did you think legalization was gonna be like? Little Mom and Pop gardeners growing in their basement? Of course the Corporations are gonna get on board this gravy train. I'd much rather have the big corporations distributing it than criminals, any day.
I don't worry anymore. Full legalization has been a very slow process, but it has progressed imensely. My hope has never been stronger than it is now. Weed is the answer!! Sent from my SM-N920P using Grasscity Forum mobile app
It's expected that companies will want to get in on the action but schedule II would ensure that only big companies could compete. Full declassification on the other hand would open it up to anyone to start a cannabis business - exactly the way alcohol allows for micro-breweries - and currently there are hundreds, if not thousands of privately owned dispeneries and pot growers that have, in many cases, spent all their savings to start these businesses. I don't believe it's right that with this decision the DEA could just tell them "too bad, you're out of luck". These people took a risk based on their states giving them permission to start their businesses, which is why states with recreational and all the states (over half the country) that have legalized medical are certain to file federal suits to protect their profits but also their citizens from this decision. Seeing this as a step to full legalization is one view but once the growing and distribution of cannabis products is in the hands of pharmaceutical companies there's no precedent for them ever giving that control up or sharing it that I'm aware of. But I genuinely hope you're right. I'm normally a very optimistic person and I'm certainly not an alarmist. I don't believe reclassifying to schedule II is all bad but I think it's important to look at the substantial negative consequences that it brings as well. The second link I provided in the op is very clear eyed and accurate about what those negative consequences are.
The states that were legal will still be legal. The dispensaries and clubs will still be open. If they were open under schedule 1, they'll certainly stay open under schedule 2. This is just the Feds trying to catch up with history. I'll still grow, no matter what the Feds say. So will many others. Only now, I might be able to get a medical card and be legal. Edit: Read the second article and, to be honest, that sounds like a worst case scenario. I wouldn't put it past the feds to put everyone out of business. But they would be pretty stupid if they did. And like I said before, I'm not afraid of Big Pharma taking over. It's inevitable. And frankly better than the Government controlling it. And of course, way better than the criminal cartels we have now.
Big pharma can do whatever they want as long as can grow my own. If they take over and stop us from growing I am implementing a scorched earth policy and burning all those fuckers down.
Really happy for you, myself and others that will finally have access to medical. Just for clarification though, according to the DEA attorney himself when the declassification happens it changes the status of the way the government regulates cannabis which triggers a Federal Preemption. Preemption is a legal doctrine that causes any state or local laws to be overridden and void. This is directly from the DEA attorney who would know. As far as I can tell Federal Preemption is a required outcome with no room for compromise and that is how the attorney stated it.
Yeah, it's looking that way. To be honest I'm not completely trusting that all of this is legit at this point. I mean I put this story up for a few reasons. Mainly because it had just happened, I didn't see much discussion anywhere and I wanted to get some people talking about it to bounce ideas around. I was also worried that if this actually happens then from what I've seen on other forums a lot of people are sounding like they're gonna just accept it and not do anything anymore and I'd hate for the legalization movement to go down in a whimper. The reason I'm starting to have doubts about the legitimacy of this is that when you posted your comment I went back to that original story just to check myself and I caught some things that didn't really sink in at first. One is that it's unusual for there to be any DEA leaks. I couldn't find a single instance of it ever happening and it's just this one guy. Then there was the frankly weird political opinion he throws in towards the end which makes him sound like he's got an axe to grind and that makes me doubt his motives. Finally there's all the legal stories I've read from before this came out about all the really negative consequences this could have. I doubt the DEA would be stupid enough not to realize the shitstorm this could cause from something like 29 states not to mention literally thousands of business owners. Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part but I'm wondering if this isn't either a head fake by the DEA to see how the public would react so they could maybe change the classification to something more acceptable like schedule 3,4 or 5 or worse if this guy is just full of crap and they'll reject any change. Maybe I need to just pack a few bowls and wait lol!
Big pharma wants to shut down the home grower so they can control the $$$$$$$$$!!! Until now they haven't had a way to get their foot in the door to take over the market except for synthetic garbage pills. If this story becomes true there is their way to the big $$$$$$$$$ and control of the market. Also it helps the prison unions making sure it's going to be illegal in enough ways to keep the prisons full and their unions strong. Think about all the $$$$$$$$$ behind making GOD'S plant to remain illegal. Big Pharma cartel is getting ready to expand!
The FDA will be given control of the industry. That means more regulations more taxes. These small dispensaries and mom and pop stores don't have the money or lawyers to fight the FDA. You know that Big Pharma is part of our government right? It's all tied together. It would be stupid if they did put everybody out. They've been doing it for my entire life. I don't see the trend stopping.
Appreciate that link. It's good to consider stories with only one apparent source with skepticism and just earlier today I expressed my own reservations about whether or not this is a valid story. Having said that I'd like to be devil's advocate on this article as well. The Daily Chronic has a generally good reputation especially in it's advocacy of medical marijuana and I believe has been a good source of news for those of us interested in this topic. I just want to say up front I have a link for this site that I use often. However this article, in it's review of this story spends the first eleven paragraphs essentially saying that since this is the Santa Monica's stories only source it can't be trusted. I brought that up myself. But then the author piles on with a lot of information about journalistic practices, procedures and guidelines - all of which are interesting but not necessarily relevant. It's not standard practice when using a single source to reveal things such as the steps the publications taken to verify the sources bonafides. We have no idea if this source was vetted. You see the Santa Monica Observer also has a very good reputation so it's not likely they didn't check this persons legitimacy. Not to say they didn't but I don't think it's likely for such a well known publication. The Chronic's author also brings up spelling errors and grammar to call into question the stories validity but honestly at this point in the digital publication revolution - even ones like the New York Times or Washington Post - I find the grammar nazi in me coming out on a daily basis due to the poor proofreading done these days, so I don't really think that counts too much. Anyway, as I said, I'm just playing devils advocate. After all I've had doubts about this since before I posted the story and I've said as much earlier. The one thing that pushes me ever so slightly to the side of believing it's true is that there's been complete silence from the DEA or any other related agency as far as I can tell and reporters have been asking for reactions to this story (I've caught a couple broadcasts that very briefly mentioned this story and said they'd not received any reply). I find that... interesting at least, although it could simply be that large bureaucracies can take awhile to respond to reporters. Either way, thanks again for that link. I'm not sure at this point if I want it to be fake since there are positive things that would come out of a schedule II reclassification. Either way I'm looking at this as a dry run. I certainly know a hell of lot more about this subject than I did just two days ago! We'll know in ten days.