- cross-posted to:
- usnews@lemy.lol
- cross-posted to:
- usnews@lemy.lol
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.
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.
Of course presidents would never appoint people that agree with them politically. Who would ever do that? A complete misuse of power! That is why every Democrat appointed position is even more right-leaning than the ones Republicans put up!
And there it is
What do you mean? Democrats never put in appointments that agree with them politically. They are always super right leaning, even more right leaning than Republican appointments.
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.