The time for incremental progress has ended.  We at present have 40,000 individuals in prison as a result of marijuana convictions.  Many for mere possession of small amounts.

Sadly our unlearned and incredibly ignorant on the subject president has refused to push for rescheduling on the basis that his cocaine addicted son Hunter started with soft drugs and so the rest of the country must be kept safe from cannabis.  At a time when polls indicate Americans support legalization by nearly 80%!!

This issue is such low hanging fruit politically at this point that at a time when Biden needs every political win possible he still buries his head in the sand and ignores the science.

Mark my words, the Republicans will take up this issue before Biden does and leverage it for political gain....Wake up Biden!!!

@chain 

I don't disagree with you but even with the high approval rating for legalization and many States legalizing Cannabis there is still a lingering stigma that it is a drug and should not be rescheduled or legalized at the Federal level.

You would think Democrats would support legalization but I think it is one of the issues that few politicians want to take a public stand on.

There has been a lot of effort and money spent by local law enforcement in my area to teach our children in the schools about the "evils" of drugs including Cannabis. My teenage daughters went through this training when they were young and see Cannabis as drug to be avoided. I think the incremental approach is the only way we will slowly change perception and eventually get full legalization.

As far as the GOP grabbing onto this and using it for political gain I don't see this happening based on their draconian stance on other social issues recently.

Hi Bill,

I understand and appreciate your viewpoint, but allow me point out a couple things:

No one denies cannabis is a drug, but rather that it should not be a schedule one drug.  Caffeine is a drug, alcohol is a drug, nicotine is a drug.  None of which are schedule one substances.  Ironic given alcohol and nicotine kill hundreds of thousands of people every year due to their toxicity and addictive properties.  Combined nearly a million people per year!

Secondly, politicians have taken a stand on the reschedule of cannabis.  There have been several bills cosponsored by politicians from both the Republican and Democratic party in both the House and Senate in recent years.  So there are absolutely certain politicians who have attempted to change the federal laws surrounding cannabis. 

Unfortunately this legislation has never made it out of committee and so is never voted on by the full body of either chamber of Congress.  Much of this resistance, as you correctly point out, is due to the lobbyists and interests for any number of entities who greatly benefit (mostly I would argue from a financial standpoint) the continued federal prohibition.  Law enforcement is but one of those entities.

Thirdly, it's a good thing that young people are taught what cannabis is and that it can be incredibly destructive if abused.  I heard the same information 40 years ago when i was a youngster in junior high school.  I was informed about the same destructive potential of nicotine and alcohol and schedule one drugs like cocaine and heroin and meth.  I only advocate that cannabis should be in the same category as the former and not the latter.  That is to say, regulated, legal availability for adult recreational use without the fear of prison, asset forfeiture, etc. 

Fourth, I think we might disagree slightly on what the definition of incremental is. This nation has been incrementally reforming its state and federal laws vis a vis cannabis since the Clinton administration allowed First Nation people to use cannabis and psychedelics in their religious ceremonies going back to the mid 1990's.  Then there was medicinal cannabis reform at the state level beginning in the late 1990's in California.  Which as you know has led to numerous states adopting similar reform just a few years later.  

We now stand at nearly half the states in the country having reformed their cannabis laws to the point of medicinal or complete recreational use.  In total we've been incrementally reforming the cannabis laws in this nation for close to 30 years.  And I get it, reforming gov't takes time.  A long time.  But a 70 plus year war on cannabis that continues today despite what science has shown, what public opinion has shown (to put it another way, the steady correction of unsubstantiated stigma) needs to end.

Finally, I would remind those reading this thread that the Biden administration, specifically Kamala Harris, stated on the campaign trail in 2019 that they would reschedule cannabis if elected.  Two years in and we have seen very little effort on this issue from the current occupant of the White House.