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A coalition of 22 state attorneys general is calling on Congress to address “the glaring vagueness” that has led to legal cannabis products being sold over the counter across the country — including sometimes from vending machines or online.
A letter dated March 20 addresses the consequences of Republican lawmakers’ choice to legalize hemp production in the 2018 omnibus Farm Bill — a decision that perhaps inadvertently led to a multibillion-dollar market in intoxicating cannabis products that are arguably federally legal.
Now, the attorneys general want Congress to shutter the market it helped create. In the new Farm Bill, they want the legislature to enshrine in statute the idea that intoxicating cannabis is not federally legal — contrary to what the law currently states.
No, he can’t. Biden isn’t emperor, and the DEA is an independent agency. Presidents don’t just get to tell the DEA what to do. You clearly don’t understand how our government works. What he can do is have the Dept. of Health and Human Services order a review of marijuana’s scheduling, which he has done.
Now, the FDA has already recommended changing the scheduling, and the DEA is currently considering it, so the process is actually underway.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahsinclair/2024/01/18/dea-considers-rescheduling-cannabis-what-this-means-for-us-and-global-reform/
This on paper is effectively true, however the DEA is in part under the scope of the executive branch. In practice the president has enough influence over the DEA to practically give the head of the DEA an “order”. Or at least suggest that if his instructions are not followed that the head of the DEA should be job searching.
In other words, the head of the DEA would not move forward with following the recommendations of the dept of health without the approval of the executive. In all likelihood he could reschedule at any time, and I imagine that time will be based on the elections.
Again, no. Biden can order a review (which he has), but he cannot tell them what or how to decide. There’s a legally-defined process they have to follow in reaching their determination, and that process was laid out by congress when they passed the Controlled Substances Act. The DEA can’t simply ignore that because the president tells them to. That would be against the law.
If he fires the head of the DEA for refusing to break the law at his command, the president can be impeached for abuse of power.
Right, I already said that. What you are ignoring is that he has the power or fire the person who makes the actual decision.
If your boss let it be known that he wanted a certain result, and your career depended on it… Even if he can’t by strict definition order you to do it so, they are still implicitly controlling the outcome.
A legally defined process that’s already been carried out? The rescheduling process has virtually been complete, everything but the actual rule making and rescheduling that is.
And what aspect of the law is conflicting with the DEAs ability to initiate rule making or rescheduling? They’ve e already received recommendations for rescheduling it to level 3 from HHS.
What law? Rescheduling is entirely within the scope of practice for the head of the DEA. Maybe if they hadn’t already received a letter from HHS, but that’s already completed. The next legitimate move would be for the DEA to announce new rules/rescheduling.
Wow, practically everything you said is wrong, and it illustrates how you really don’t understand how this works.
To answer one of you last questions first:
The Controlled Substances Act
And, no, just because Biden has the power to fire the head of the DEA doesn’t mean he has the legal authority to force them to come to a determination he favors. That’s just ridiculous.
The most he can do is what he already did, and that is to direct the HHS to order a review by the FDA and the DEA of the scheduling of cannabis, and they’ve already done that. The FDA has made its recommendation, and now the DEA has to make a recommendation for final approval. That’s the process as laid out by the Controlled Substances Act, a law passed by Congress, which lays out, in very specific detail, the process for this. And no matter what you insist, the president cannot shortcut this process nor force a decision either way.
Lol, I own and operate a CBD based company. I am well aware of the laws.
And how does rescheduling conflict with the controlled substance act? They’ve already done their due diligence, as I said you may have had a point prior to the HHS recommendation, but according to the controlled substance act setting new rules/rescheduling is the next step.
It’s not the food in drug administration, its the department of health and human services that makes the recommendation. Again, you have no idea what you are talking about.
He can just fire them if he doesn’t and hire someone he knows will follow orders. You’re just being pedantic.
First of all, the initial process of drug scheduling is laid out by the controlled substance act, but not how the rules are changed or modified. That’s handled under the purview of the administrative procedure act. According to both of these bodies the only thing left for them to do is have the DEA actually rewrite the rules, or reschedule.
The only reason the head of the DEA hasn’t done so already (she has made pro cannabis rescheduling remarks) is because the executive is holding off for a bigger impact for the election.
Lol, what short cut? The job is done, it’s just waiting for a signature. You don’t even know what the process is, what agencies are involved, or even the difference between rule making and law making. Stop pretending that you have any kind of actual experience in this field.
You have very clearly demonstrated that you are, in fact, not.
The FDA is part of the HHS, btw. Which, of course, you would know if you r really did “know the law” as you claim.
I’m tired of explaining this to you, as I have over and over again. And I’m sorry you just refuse to accept the fact that you’re wrong. But you are, nothing you said your change with that.
Explain how Biden ordered every federal agency to return to office.
He started out asking
https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/read-the-biden-administration-s-return-to-work-memo-for-federal-employees/baa2e8aa-88f2-43db-9f1f-015561451d72/
Then ordered them to return
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-19/white-house-tasks-cabinet-heads-with-boosting-return-to-office
Non paywalled article
https://www.axios.com/2024/01/19/zients-biden-cabinet-return-to-office
Maybe you don’t have federal experience, but agencies have to do what the president tells them to do.
It’s the whole “chain of command” thing…
Edit for your edit:
So…
Absolutely nothing?
For 80 years the Dem party has been “looking into” FDR wanting universal healthcare. It’s naive to believe this is any different when Dems have been saying the same thing since at least 2008. It doesn’t take 16 years to deschedule. And if you believe there’s still doubts about how harmful cannabis is and if it’s as bad as heroin…
I’m very sorry you can’t tell the difference between a president telling people to get to work and telling them what decision to reach.
I suggest you look up the word “nuance” while you’re trying to cherry pick your way around the facts of the matter, btw
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Thanks for explaining how ordering federal employees back to the office has nothing to do with making a decision regarding the scheduling of marijuana, and how telling people to get back to the office is a totally different order than telling the DEA how to reach a decision.
And, as I recall, your stubborn attempts to refuse all efforts at good reason often end similarly as this one has— poorly for you.
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Nonsense. People aren’t arguing with AIs over Lemmy. There are plenty of people on the left who act like Biden is the worst president in U.S. history. Because American politics is all about hyperbole over rationality.
That’s exactly what an AI would say…
Good morning Flying Squid!
Good mor- SYSTEM HALTED. CMOS CHECKSUM ERROR. RESTARTING.
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Good morning!
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Biden is in the Executive side of the government. He is in charge of executing the work of the government. In your example, he chose how those organizations executed their business. He did not choose what outcome those organizations had from the work he directed them to execute. It’s like a professor telling you to research a new thing. They can tell you what work to do and how to do it, but the results of your research should be out of their hands.
Biden can force them to study legalizing weed. Biden might even be able to propose a law to legalize weed that Congress can vote on, but he knows that vote won’t pass and that the Speaker of the House might not even allow it to come to a vote in the House.
A general can order a private to run into a firefight.
A general can’t order a private to give him oral sex.
It’s that whole ‘chain of command’ thing.
Congress explicitly made it the DEA’s job to schedule and deschedule drugs in the Controlled Substances Act. Much like a general can tell a private to do their job by running into a firefight, the president can tell the DEA to do their job by descheduling cannabis.
Funny, because you started by explaining that Congress created the DEA and laid out how they work, then end by claiming the President tell them what to do, as if that makes any sense.
The DEA is part of the Executive Branch, which the president is the head of. The president tells members of the executive branch, such as the DEA, what to do as a matter of course. Biden even appointed the current head of the DEA, Anne Milgram.
The president tell the DEA to review cannabis’s scheduling, but he can’t tell them what or how to decide.
And he’s done that. And they’re reviewing it now.
But the decision is theirs to make, and Biden can’t force them to decide one way or the other.
As mentioned in another comment:
It’s all about that soft power. The most direct form of this is via appointments. Simply choosing a head that wants to deschedule, for example. And that is just the most obvious, there are tons and tons of soft power avenues the president has at his disposal.
“If I were in power, I’d easily manipulate my hand-selected, corrupt underlings to my will, bwahaha! Certainly my opponents must operate the same way! MWAHAHAHA!”
[ Slithering gurgles of evilness abound, loudly ]
SNAP BACK TO REALITY: No. Actual, responsible government officials don’t act that way and take their jobs seriously— including their oaths to dutifully and honestly execute their duties in service of the people of their nation, rather than their own selfish interests.
No, the president can tell the DEA to do their job, which is studying whether they should deschedule cannabis. He can’t tell them what results their job should have.
In this metaphor, the general can tell the private to go fight on the battlefield. The general cannot determine whether the private kills people or comes back alive. The general can train the private and give the private all the support and tools necessary to win a fight, but in the end the results come down to the private.
What does that have to do with anything anyone is talking about about?
Biden can tell the DEA to reschedule, and they have to listen.
It’s part of the DEA’s job to schedule drugs, it’s not their job to hand out blowjobs
Just like people here in the comments can keep explaining that you’re wrong, and you don’t have to listen.
This is an insane attempt at analogy. Nobody’s suggesting Biden sexually assault the DEA or anyone at the DEA, or anything of the sort.
Do you really not understand that they were illustrating "the power to give orders does not mean every order is legal”?
The president can order the operations of federal agencies, but they can’t order specific procedural outcomes.
The power of the DEA to schedule drugs comes from Congress, not from the executive branch. Congress created the DEA to build process to review drugs and manage them. The president is in charge of executing that procedure, not changing it or skipping it entirely. The power to effectively make laws is Congress, not the president.
As weird as it seems, there isn’t actually a loophole where the president can order someone to change the law even if that person is technically their employee.
https://youtu.be/-CxX8nvLalE
The president can order the operations of federal agencies, but they can’t order specific procedural outcomes.
The power of the DEA to schedule drugs comes from Congress, not from the executive branch. Congress created the DEA to build process to review drugs and manage them. The president is in charge of executing that procedure, not changing it or skipping it entirely. The power to effectively make laws is Congress, not the president.
As weird as it seems, there isn’t actually a loophole where the president can order someone to change the law even if that person is technically their employee.
Nothing about descheduling involves passing a law…
There’s no federal laws about cannabis (technically there is now about hemp).
It’s illegal federally because it’s scheduled 1.
Biden 100% can change it, you just don’t seem to understand the process.
Maybe that’s why so people disagree with me tho. They think this has something to do with laws?
The law is the Controlled Substances Act.
The process has been explained to you (I explained it pretty clearly in my first response to you). We understand the process.
You seem to think it’s just a matter of Biden saying to the DEA, “Do it!”
You’re wrong.
No matter how many times you assert that Biden can simply order the DEA to reschedule cannabis, you’ll always be wrong.
No, you very much don’t understand how the government works.
Federal agencies operate with the force of law because they were given regulatory power derived from Congress. The ability for the DEA to manage drug scheduling is derived from it’s congressional creation. They can’t execute the process as they wish, but have to follow the rules created by Congress for them to change the scheduling.
https://mainelaw.maine.edu/faculty/can-the-president-reschedule-or-deschedule-marijuana/
There’s a law professor explaining it in nice short form.
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/LSB/LSB10655
A more in depth analysis from the congressional research service.
Tldr: you are mistaken as to how it works.
Thanks!
Right there, by a source you just vouched for.
It’s been a busy morning, so I really appreciate you taking the time to link that for me
What, exactly, do you think that says? Because I’m pretty sure you just read that as, “The President can tell the DEA to reschedule cannabis,” and that’s not at all what it says.
Warning! Entering
ecologicalnuance dead zone, are you sure what you are doing is worth it?Taken out of context, that sentence loses significant meaning.
That’s the part you skipped, which indicates that the president has the power to direct the agencies to reevaluate and reschedule. They further contend that this process could be used to entirely unschedule the drug.
The question being answered in the portion you cherry picked is not if the president has unilateral authority, but rather what the extent of the administrative process they must follow actually is.
An even more direct segment from the CRS report:
Man, I thought you understood…
It’s easier for Biden to deschedule, than it is to reschedule. They’re two different procedures.
He can deschedule right now. Instead he wants to reschedule, which doesn’t really do much and still keeps it federally illegal, along with defacto illegal in lots of states. And is much harder to accomplish.
I’m sorry I can’t explain it to you in a way you can understand. But since your own source can’t either, I won’t take it personally
You aren’t even reading things are you?
It’s a report direct from the congressional research service saying “no, the president can’t unilaterally reschedule or deschedule”, and you take that as agreeing with your assertion that he can.
You must be trolling.
That paragraph you just quoted said it MAY be possible… but only if you completely reinterpret one law, use a wide interpretation of how we deal with treaties, and also just ignore other laws in deference to the President.
So basically it is only possible if we ignore the law.