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Cory Booker to Introduce Marijuana Justice Act to legalize marijuana at federal level

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MeisaMcCaffrey
Warren isn't very popular outside of the Dem base.
That is what's required to get through the primary process in the first place. She has a very high chance of becoming the nominee if she decides to run. I don't know how she will perform in the general though.
 

jtb

Banned
(Sherrod) Brown doesn't really need to declare before his re-election campaign in 2018 and I would guess whether he chooses to run or not depends on whether he's re-elected and the choice to run for 2020 is not going to impact a re-election campaign, should he want one, in 2024.

But I also think you overestimate the risk it is for them to run even in the year they're up for re-election. In a recent example, Rubio essentially gave up his Senate seat to run, then literally gave up his Senate seat by announcing his retirement, then ambled into the election campaign at the latest moment possible and said "yeah I'm going to run again", and still easily carried the FL seat. Yeah, Trump carried FL and the coattails were good, but nothing about the 2010 -> 2016 transition suggests Rubio was impacted by his decision to run and that's a purple state. Running also does not appear to have hurt Kasich (Gov, also a purple state), or Paul (red state), or Sanders (blue state). You can make an argument it hurt Christie (blue state), I guess.

He'll likely be cornered into making a 'pledge' that he will serve all six years by his challenger. Paul and Rubio's approvals took major hits, but in the end, they had moribund challengers and near unlimited wells of dark money to call upon.

It's probably just dumb conventional wisdom that isn't actually born out by facts. Though I do think the money is a huge issue. Everyone hates raising money, and if you tap out your donor base in a losing primary, how willing will they be to donate as much for your re-elect.
 

Trey

Member
Even if it's for the optics, this is absolutely necessary policy that should be highlighted in the Democratic platform. Prison regulation overhaul should be soon to follow, if not linked directly with marijuana legalization.
 

alternade

Member
Trying to pass a bill like this is basically just for a bulletpoint when/if he runs because no way in hell this goes through with this house, senate and president.

I'm a hardcore democrat and want us to win, but something about Booker just strikes me as fake and opportunistic. Its like he read a book on how to have charisma the night before every time he speaks. He doesn't feel natural if that make sense.
 

theWB27

Member
Trying to pass a bill like this is basically just for a bulletpoint when/if he runs because no way in hell this goes through with this house, senate and president.

I'm a hardcore democrat and want us to win, but something about Booker just strikes me as fake and opportunistic. Its like he read a book on how to have charisma the night before every time he speaks. He doesn't feel natural if that make sense.

I'd let a talking tree in if they aligned with majority of what I wanted.
 

GetLucky

Member
Even if it's for the optics, this is absolutely necessary policy that should be highlighted in the Democratic platform. Prison regulation overhaul should be soon to follow, if not linked directly with marijuana legalization.

agreed!
 
Reefer criminalization is an injustice, it's time to stop the madness.

72680924.jpg
 

Mully

Member
It's great that Booker wants to legalize marijuana, but how is he going to reintegrate the people incarcerated for weed related offenses? Some of these people been in prison for decades, how do we properly ensure that they find a path in a world they haven't been a part of for a long time?
 
If he takes money from pharmaceutical companies or private prisons, it's probably just an act to run for president. If it had any real support, and was down to one vote, he'd probably vote against his own bill, TBH. These hero bills don't mean anything. Just look at the GOP that voted to repeal Obamacare, but when reality struck, can't get anything passed.
 

mlclmtckr

Banned
hey kids we know you kind of hated our last big business neolib technocrat candidate in 2016

but how about a big business neolib technocrat candidate with legal weed for 2020?

what's that? free college, free health care, no more wars? no. you can have a bank-approved centrist. enjoy your legal weed and vote for us thanks
 

Hari Seldon

Member
This is one of those issues where lobbyists and industries are forcing the politicians to go opposite the wishes of the american people. If Hilary taught the Dems anything, it should be that you need to worry more about what the people think than what the lobbyists want.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
hey kids we know you kind of hated our last big business neolib technocrat candidate in 2016

but how about a big business neolib technocrat candidate with legal weed for 2020?

what's that? free college, free health care, no more wars? no. you can have a bank-approved centrist. enjoy your legal weed and vote for us thanks

I buy that there's a world where the majority of Americans are silent progressives who are bored of centrist bankers and they need a real progressive to excite them. I buy that there's a world where 2016 gives us a lesson about elections that we should learn.

I'm not sure I buy that there's a world where a majority of Americans are silent progressives who refuse to learn the lesson that not voting collectively results in Trump-style chaos presidencies and brinksmanship about the core functioning of government, but that the party can easily learn the lesson and pick a different candidate.

It's probably just dumb conventional wisdom that isn't actually born out by facts. Though I do think the money is a huge issue. Everyone hates raising money, and if you tap out your donor base in a losing primary, how willing will they be to donate as much for your re-elect.

I definitely feel the strongest part of the argument could be restrictions on fundraising but I don't know enough about them to believe or disbelieve the claim. My prior belief was that pretty much any incumbent can raise pretty much the money they need to win re-election (and incumbent re-election loss is more about structural factors like a national swing or personal factors like scandal than in-party elites backing off their support or being hamstrung by laws), but it's not a strong belief.

It's great that Booker wants to legalize marijuana, but how is he going to reintegrate the people incarcerated for weed related offenses? Some of these people been in prison for decades, how do we properly ensure that they find a path in a world they haven't been a part of for a long time?

I think the median Democrat believes in some version of "ban the box" at this point and I know Obama and Holder had tried to implement it for federal hires, although I'm not sure how successfully. I'm not really a fan of Booker personally (quite apart from all the "He's a banker!" stuff, he just doesn't strike me as all that impressive regardless) but I can't imagine any nominee in 2020 wouldn't agree with you in principle.
 
So why do people hate Booker? Don't have time to research his history and scandals atm.
Don't quote me on this but I think it's because while Newark mayor he didn't do anything for NJ public schools while fully supporting charter schools and he recently voted against importing cheaper meds from Canada to the US. I also think he took donations from Jared Kushner's family.
 
Don't quote me on this but I think it's because while Newark mayor he didn't do anything for NJ public schools while fully supporting charter schools and he recently voted against importing cheaper meds from Canada to the US. I also think he took donations from Jared Kushner's family.

Isn't Kushner's family all Democrats and have funded pretty much every local democratic candidate before trump ran? That's what I heard in the past, I legit don't know
 

Draxal

Member
Don't quote me on this but I think it's because while Newark mayor he didn't do anything for NJ public schools while fully supporting charter schools and he recently voted against importing cheaper meds from Canada to the US. I also think he took donations from Jared Kushner's family.

The facebook donation from Zuckerberg where Christie and Booker had that nice photop went disastrously as well.

Booker also had a reputation of being an outsider (he was raised in a suburb and not in Newark).
 

Kill3r7

Member
Don't quote me on this but I think it's because while Newark mayor he didn't do anything for NJ public schools while fully supporting charter schools and he recently voted against importing cheaper meds from Canada to the US. I also think he took donations from Jared Kushner's family.

You are correct for the most part but there are logical explanations for each of his decisions, instead of nefarious ones. He did not want the gift from Zuckerberg to go straight to the public schools and be controlled by the local school board which is notoriously corrupt. Also, the gift was given with the objective of developing a successful plan that was easily scalable across America. Something that is easier to implement via charter schools due to having to avoid buracracy and teachers unions. By and large the charter schools in Newark are doing well but they fail to meet the needs of the community. They can only handle about 30% of the student population. He left to go to the Senate before the project started to bear fruit. Booker voted against cheaper meds from Canada because it hurts the biggest industry in his state. Not a good stand nationally but perfectly reasonable given his constituents.
 

aeolist

Banned
You are correct for the most part but there are logical explanations for each of his decisions, instead of nefarious ones. He did not want the gift from Zuckerberg to go straight to the public schools and be controlled by the local school board which is notoriously corrupt. Also, the gift was given with the objective of developing a successful plan that was easily scalable across America. Something that is easier to implement via charter schools due to having to avoid buracracy and teachers unions. By and large the charter schools in Newark are doing well but they fail to meet the needs of the community. They can only handle about 30% of the student population. He left to go to the Senate before the project started to bear fruit. Booker voted against cheaper meds from Canada because it hurts the biggest industry in his state. Not a good stand nationally but perfectly reasonable given his constituents.

that's a lot of words that boil down to "booker does whatever the money people want"
 
Considering how deep Booker is in the pocket of pharma corps I assume said corps are going to later push for it to be heavily regulated so only big organizations can grow and sell it.

Dude is as big if not a bigger puppet of pharma corps than Mr. Obese cheeto is a puppet of Russia.
 

whitehawk

Banned
it's simpler than that
Honestly, this is a good argument to let legalization happen slowly for a while, state by state. Allow smaller weed companies to grow and let competition thrive. The big pharma companies can't jump in yet until it's legalized nationally.
 

Calm Mind

Member
Like everything Cory Booker does, a shrewd publicity stunt that will lead to precisely zero policy outcomes.

Hope you get a nice photo-op out of it, though!

(P.S. You will never be President.)

You're a five alarm hater if ever there was.
 

JWiLL

Banned
Now all he needs is a few photo opps with Justin Trudeau and he'll slay the young vote in 2020.

Unfortunately, instead of dealing with real issues the little fucking Keebler Elf of an AG that the US currently has is dedicated to battling "reefer madness" so this will likely go no where.
 
Why is marijuana even illegal in the US if alcohol, a way more dangerous substance, is legal? I'm not a smart man, so don't blast me pls if there is an obvious answer.
 

hawk2025

Member
Honestly, this is a good argument to let legalization happen slowly for a while, state by state. Allow smaller weed companies to grow and let competition thrive. The big pharma companies can't jump in yet until it's legalized nationally.


Gold medal on that particular olympic event for you.
 

Calm Mind

Member
Why is marijuana even illegal in the US if alcohol, a way more dangerous substance, is legal? I'm not a smart man, so don't blast me pls if there is an obvious answer.

Racism.

“The demonization of the cannabis plant was an extension of the demonization of the Mexican immigrants,” Dr. Malik Burnett and Amanda Reiman, PhD, explains. “In an effort to control and keep tabs on these new citizens, El Paso, TX borrowed a play from San Francisco’s playbook, which had outlawed opium decades earlier in an effort to control Chinese immigrants. The idea was to have an excuse to search, detain and deport Mexican immigrants."

http://www.medicalmarijuanainc.com/...ca-make-marijuana-illegal-in-the-first-place/
 

whitehawk

Banned
Also while it started with Mexicans, it remained a tool for the government to employ racist tactics against those who opposed them.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/polit...chard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie/index.html

"The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people," former Nixon domestic policy chief John Ehrlichman told Harper's writer Dan Baum for the April cover story published Tuesday.
"You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities," Ehrlichman said. "We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."
 

zelas

Member
hey kids we know you kind of hated our last big business neolib technocrat candidate in 2016

but how about a big business neolib technocrat candidate with legal weed for 2020?

what's that? free college, free health care, no more wars? no. you can have a bank-approved centrist. enjoy your legal weed and vote for us thanks

Show up during primary season (or ever) and you'll see more candidates of your liking. Voting matters. You're not going to get anything done by screaming from the sidelines.
 

h1nch

Member
Whoever runs on the D ticket in 2020, they had better fucking be in full support of legalization.

Hillary being wishy-washy on the issue was one of my biggest criticisms of her campaign platform.

I've said this a whole bunch of times on this forum, but there is not one single legitimate argument to be made against removing cannabis from the controlled substances act.
 

Kthulhu

Member
Nothing will come of it, but it's nice to see an attempt. Plus I suppose it could be used as ammo against the GOP for future races.
 

Jarmel

Banned
The Marijuana Justice Act, as Booker is calling his bill, would also allow people serving time for marijuana-related offenses to be resentenced and automatically expunge federal marijuana use and possession crimes.

This part is a mistake. They should have that in a separate bill after the legalization is through.
 

jamwater

Banned
Like everything Cory Booker does, a shrewd publicity stunt that will lead to precisely zero policy outcomes.

Hope you get a nice photo-op out of it, though!

(P.S. You will never be President.)


Why the Disparagement? Seems to me to be "one of the good ones"
 
Why can't a group of Phantom Progressives steal Mr. Booker's heart? All you need in U.S. politics is personality, I fear Corey might have a shot within the next decade.
 
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