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US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

(apnews.com)
662 points JacobHenner | 5 comments | 30 Apr 24 17:32 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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vkou ◴[30 Apr 24 17:38 UTC] No.40213662[source]▶
It's actually wild what the executive can get done in an election year... With the side effect of dangling bait for legislators to take a contrarian, nationally unpopular position.
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segasaturn ◴[30 Apr 24 17:52 UTC] No.40213870[source]▶
Election year and not to mention that the President's numbers are in shambles with younger voters. This move feels extremely transparent to me.
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1. laidoffamazon ◴[30 Apr 24 18:54 UTC] No.40214765[source]▶
Yeah, he's doing something that's reasonably popular among everyone. How dare he?
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2. thegrim33 ◴[30 Apr 24 19:12 UTC] No.40214997[source]▶
A third of the population, 111 million citizens, do not want it legalized. I wouldn't consider that "popular among everyone". https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/10/facts-abo...
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3. triceratops ◴[30 Apr 24 19:20 UTC] No.40215105[source]▶
Your own link says it's 70% in favor of legalization and 29% against. 29% is as close to "a quarter of the population" as it is to "a third of the population" - 400 basis points.

Putting it another way nearly 3 quarters of citizens want it legalized. That's massive. It's as close to unanimous consensus as you can get on a hot-button issue like drugs.

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4. thegrim33 ◴[30 Apr 24 23:45 UTC] No.40217845{3}[source]▶
So, just to clarify, you're actually taking issue with me referring to 29% as one third, while you have no issue referring to 70% as 100%? Either way, there's still over a hundred million human beings living in your country that disagree with you. Call it whatever you want but don't dismiss it.
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5. triceratops ◴[01 May 24 00:13 UTC] No.40218042{4}[source]▶
> while you have no issue referring to 70% as 100%?

And you have no issue putting words in my mouth. I said it was close to three-quarters, is "massive" and that you can't get closer to unanimous than that.

> Call it whatever you want but don't dismiss it.

29% want to lock up the other 71% for consuming a plant. And we don't know for sure that all of that 29% are entirely clean themselves.

So why not dismiss it? Why does the 29%'s opinion matter here? If 29% of the population said you should jail people for premarital sex, or smoking, or wearing shorts, or whistling in elevators, would you take them seriously?

A simple majority or supermajority is more than enough to legalize or abolish anything. Pretty much no issue requires 100% of everyone to agree.