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Democrats (USA) Unveil Bill to Decriminalize Drug Possession at Federal Level and Expunge Criminal Records

neversickanymore said:
So as a side topic to this, a question to drug users and addicts who have been characterized as criminals by unjust laws like these, with a law change like this proposed one how would it effect your self image and ability to commit real crime?
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i dont know how much it would affect the current cohorts ability since thats already happened and there. But for future generations it would stop a lot of people from winding up the way some of us do now. Throw in a safer supply or flat out legalize and it's even less.

If the drugs arent in the hands of criminals there wont be nearly as many criminal acts around drugs or people driven to them. Theres no oerfect solution but the fact that the supply of drugs is toxic and underground doesnt help anyone. Criminal people would still exist but theyd be onto other things. They go for whatevers illicit or try to undercut you (eg Canadian street weed is far far cheaper than it used to be and especially since legalization).
 
When I started in 2005 in Canada, $10/g and 240-280/oz was common place (not pricing it was 16 years ago). Legally its now about the same and sometimes more then that. Illicitly its often less than half.

My point is the black market is bigger than ever because legalization wasnt done right. So if there was to be legalization of more substances, they have to be cheap. Its pure profit no matter what compared to the economic impacts of keeping drugs illegal it even just decriminalized for possession so it is possible.

I don't truly believe there will ever be full legalization. Although I do believe it would be a net positive all around although not eliminating the negatives 100%z
 
Outlier said:
When I started in 2005 in Canada, $10/g and 240-280/oz was common place (not pricing it was 16 years ago). Legally its now about the same and sometimes more then that. Illicitly its often less than half.

My point is the black market is bigger than ever because legalization wasnt done right. So if there was to be legalization of more substances, they have to be cheap. Its pure profit no matter what compared to the economic impacts of keeping drugs illegal it even just decriminalized for possession so it is possible.

I don't truly believe there will ever be full legalization. Although I do believe it would be a net positive all around although not eliminating the negatives 100%z
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Prices have been dropping consistently since legalization. There are products at the Ontario Cannabis Store for less than $7 for a single gram and $170 for an ounce now, and in Quebec all the ounces are between $125 and $175. The black market is not bigger than ever. It had dropped by a third between legalization and the third quarter of 2020, and by that point the legal market had already overtaken it in size. Legalization has been a huge success and by any reasonable measure it has been "full legalization." Contraband cigarettes are cheaper than legal cigarettes, but that doesn't mean that cigarettes aren't "fully legalized."
 
S.J.B. said:
Prices have been dropping consistently since legalization. There are products at the Ontario Cannabis Store for less than $7 for a single gram and $170 for an ounce now, and in Quebec all the ounces are between $125 and $175. The black market is not bigger than ever. It had dropped by a third between legalization and the third quarter of 2020, and by that point the legal market had already overtaken it in size. Legalization has been a huge success and by any reasonable measure it has been "full legalization." Contraband cigarettes are cheaper than legal cigarettes, but that doesn't mean that cigarettes aren't "fully legalized."
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Thank you for the clarification. I haven't been to the store for awhile.
 


I spoke with someone in policy who informed me of this part of it. Bit of a plug for BL as well, from the tiktok.
 
Outlier said:
Socialism is terrible. I hate how I have a sidewalk to walk to the Salvation Army, any of its services. Those roads are even worse. Silly cars and their people freely going to get their welfare cheques at their jobs. Those jobs I dont want or am not educated enough to get yet those damn immigrants are taking them all. Ive gotta keep up with the joneses even though I only care if I look cool or not and have a big enough mortgage and VISA to get those material goods. Damn social system. Take a bus but bail me out first!
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It is terrible and has nothing to do with infrastructure. I pay quite a bit of tax that already supports people on welfare who don't want to work. I don't know if you are being sarcastic or serious?

Drugs will not be decriminalized in our lifetime. I firmly believe that as adults we should decide what we put in our bodies, not the government but we still have a large population that thinks weed is a bad drug.
 
Jennn said:
It is terrible and has nothing to do with infrastructure. I pay quite a bit of tax that already supports people on welfare who don't want to work. I don't know if you are being sarcastic or serious?

Drugs will not be decriminalized in our lifetime. I firmly believe that as adults we should decide what we put in our bodies, not the government but we still have a large population that thinks weed is a bad drug.
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www.worldatlas.com

Countries That Have Decriminalized Drugs

Drugs like cocaine, marijuana, and heroin have been decriminalized in numerous countries. To date, these include somewhere between 25 and 30 countries.
www.worldatlas.com www.worldatlas.com

What a "lot" of people think compared and what is legal to decriminalized to illegal in any given country, state or province, or time period is very dynamic. This is a list of countries which are currently in some state of decriminalization.

The bill is literally to decriminalize all drugs. It's your democratic party (if you are American) who is currently in power.
 
It would be nice but people fought weed legalization and it's still illegal at a federal level so i highly doubt this would go through. Definitely steps in the right direction but not anytime soon The dems are in power but they can't pass this bill by themselves . Republicans would have to support it as well and that won't happen anytime soon.
 
Snafu of the Forest said:
The dems are just a figurehead of progression but are just as corrupt as the republicans...

Obama promised legalized weed 13 years ago.... guess where that went? nowhere... silence... helped get him elected
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Justin Trudeau said he would and he did. American politics are pretty fucked up I agree. Im hoping Biden and (mainly) his administratiom (he is mostly just a figurehead) can start breaking the mold. Then theres the 10th amendment issue.
 
Outlier said:
Justin Trudeau said he would and he did. American politics are pretty fucked up I agree. Im hoping Biden and (mainly) his administratiom (he is mostly just a figurehead) can start breaking the mold. Then theres the 10th amendment issue.
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I've wanted to move to Canada for decades, well before the Trump bullshit drama when millions started saying that...

I love Canada man!!

To me, Canada seems like what the US could have, and should have been.
 
Outlier said:
i dont know how much it would affect the current cohorts ability since thats already happened and there. But for future generations it would stop a lot of people from winding up the way some of us do now. Throw in a safer supply or flat out legalize and it's even less.

If the drugs arent in the hands of criminals there wont be nearly as many criminal acts around drugs or people driven to them. Theres no oerfect solution but the fact that the supply of drugs is toxic and underground doesnt help anyone. Criminal people would still exist but theyd be onto other things. They go for whatevers illicit or try to undercut you (eg Canadian street weed is far far cheaper than it used to be and especially since legalization).
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Also there is a possible dynamic of society labeling a drug user as a criminal and then that identity is adopted by an ostracized user which allows them to do criminal behavior they never would have considered before being judged a criminal.
 
neversickanymore said:
Also there is a possible dynamic of society labeling a drug user as a criminal and then that identity is adopted by an ostracized user which allows them to do criminal behavior they never would have considered before being judged a criminal.
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Ansolutely there is. Do you know the saying that if you tell someone something about themselves enough they might just start to believe it? The current law is even more of a setup. Having the supply in the hands of the criminal underworld isn't just telling someone they're a criminal, it's a literal initiation for many.
 
No way this is passing. Sorry to say it. Social attitudes have really only changed towards cannabis and a little bit with psychedelics and MDMA. The overall attitude towards hard drugs isn't really much different than ever honestly.

I think cannabis is going to be fully legal everywhere in the near future, and MDMA and psychedelics will probably be made legal for medical purposes eventually. But beyond that, I'm not getting my hopes up.
 
LandsUnknown said:
No way this is passing. Sorry to say it. Social attitudes have really only changed towards cannabis and a little bit with psychedelics and MDMA. The overall attitude towards hard drugs isn't really much different than ever honestly.
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Fentanyl hasn't changed peoples attitudes to the point of being crisis level and HR agencies everywhere are being given much more clout? To the the point that Joe Biden, who has an addicted son to a variety of things (in recovery with abstinence I believe) isn't coming forward with bills to decriminalize federally? News to me. Even if it doesn't pass, this discussion is being had, and that's attitudes changing.
 
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