Rand Paul isn’t the one throwing a wrench in things, here. It’s dirtbag Republicans deciding a budget bill is when they’re going to try to kill the marijuana industry with an unrelated amendment to the bill.
They are trying to kill the delta 8 and hemp derived THC products. Those are unregulated and could present serioys issues as black market carts have been a problem in the past.
if only the government had the power to regulate things!
Regulating these out of existence while permitting federally legal cannabis would be my hope.
But they’re not doing that. They choose to do this instead.
The party that just deregulated companies from polluting your drinking water, and removed oversight from food contamination, just outright banned something under the guise of “this isn’t regulated”.
It’s republicans, you know for a fact they’re bound by ancient laws to do the exact opposite of good.
I don’t know who needs to hear this shit but I don’t give a fuck about any of these assholes any longer.
One party’s default is evil. The other aggressively leans towards cowardice.
It’s an imaginary wrench, because it’s still going to pass.
Boy, if only the spineless wimp dems didn’t cave, Trump would be in a fucking panic right now with the ATC situation. Instead, they delivered him a win right before he would have felt the most squeeze.
Our only hope now is the release of the Epstein files. I hope they can prove trump was a client and his whole base turns on him. That’s all I fucking want for Christmas.
and his whole base turns on him
Might as well wish for world peace.
So once again the democrats not only sold out their constituents on healthcare and snap for literally a “promise of a vote” but they shit on them even more by allowing regulation on thc products? This will not only hurt a huge sector of the economy but it will open the door for police to target minorities for minor drug possession.
This makes no fuckin sense.
This makes no fuckin sense
it will open the door for police to target minorities for minor drug possession.
The War on drugs and the police state spawned from it is bipartisan.
Hate is the key factor in all of this.
Paul will cave and allow this to pass, this is what he does almost every time.
That being said, I hope he doesn’t. If Congress wants to increase regulation for hemp derived THC (also called Delta 8 THC) then put together a separate bill and run it through the process.
That won’t happen because Congress doesn’t actually pass bills anymore. They just lump everything together and slap “must pass” on it.
Also this quote is fun,
Manufacturers of beverage alcohol, one of the most highly regulated consumer products, urge the Senate to reject Sen. Paul’s attempts to allow hemp-derived THC products to be sold devoid of federal regulation and oversight across the country
This type of THC has been available for several years with minimal regulation and the US has been just fine.
Edit: Reading articles is difficult. At the time of the article posting (~2pm Monday) Paul hadn’t “caved”. At the time of my comment (Tuesday) he already had.
The Sunday vote was cloture, aka we’re done debating.
The Senate had already taken a major first step toward ending the shutdown Sunday night, voting to end debate on a motion to proceed to a House-passed continuing resolution. But procedural rules require 30 hours of “post-cloture” debate before senators can vote to proceed, followed by four more votes to pass the full funding package.
The Monday vote happened around 8pm, since that was less than 30 hours later there must have been another vote to skip the 30 hour timer.
Given the timing Paul, at best, delayed the vote by 6 hours.
This type of THC has been available for several years with minimal regulation and the US has been just fine
I mean, it hasn’t, but it has nothing to do with the availability of marijuana.
You probably didnt know but marijuana is a racist word invented to blame Mexicans for cannabis consumption.
Edit: As people seem to think this was meant in a condescending way: I really just wanted to get the info out. As we are in kind of a progressive bubble here on Lemmy I assumed that most people try to avoid using racist language and thus would appreciate this info if they dont already know. I at least was glad when told and would appreciate people telling me when I accidentally use racist language instead of keeping quiet and potentially judging me. Sorry I offended so many of you.
Good luck getting people to stop using the word lol
Im not specifically invested in making people stop using it, but I think most people dont know and theres really no need to use the one word invented by racists when theres literally hundreds of synonyms.
you’re getting mad at the wrong thing, everyone knows what MJ is weed, and they dont see it as a racist thing used to describe someone.
Literally not mad, just trying to inform. In my experience many people here make an effort not to use racist language, I at least would appreciate people telling me when I use such words without knowing.
I could dive into any one of a hundred thousand different aspects of our daily life and society that has roots in some form of oppression or hate or violence. Our society is built upon a mountain of skulls.
We all know this, and we move on. We cannot change how we got here, we cannot undo the harm of the past by changing our language. The vast, vast majority of english-speaking people will tell you this: it does not matter the origin of a thing nearly as much as how that thing is used here and now. Marijuana is not used to signal anything or to harm anyone, UNLESS YOU MAKE IT.
You are not raising awareness, you are raising a spectre of hate behind a word that has become disarmed and it serves no purpose other than a desire to see that spectre for some reason.
You are contradicting yourself here. Either you don’t care if people use it, or you do care and want people to use different words. You brought it up so have a stance.
OR, we could direct this energy at actual targets like the people trying to take away all of our rights and actually bring back racism and bigotry as law.
If you just wanted to point it out like some kind of trivia and educate people, but don’t want to sound like you’re lecturing or advocating for something dumb, you need to reformat your original comment in a different way so it’s not prescriptive or suggesting anything is wrong with saying it now since it doesn’t actually bother most people.
I dont see a contradiction. Not everything a person says is meant to make other people do things. We are in a progressive bubble where I assume most people make an effort to not use racist language and when I see someone using it I inform them about it and however they use that information is up to them.
How would you suggest I reword it? English is not my first language and it didnt seem pushy to me.
Im not specifically invested in making people stop using it
You said this, but you’re STILL trying to defend your stance that we should not use the word. It’s not a matter of if you’re being pushy, it’s WHAT you’re pushing.
In this case, do you REALLY want to see progressives in these spaces divide up into camps arguing if the word is safe to say or not? Do you think everyone will just “work it out” between each other? Have you any clue how these issues harm progressive movements?
I am literally half thinking you might be a bad-faith plant or provocateur, even Lemmy has them.
That cat isn’t going back in the bag. Marijuana is what we call weed.
We have several hundred words for it, as far as I know nobody of any race or ethnic background is offended by any of them.
I mean you do you, but there are dozens of words for it and I dont see the need to use the one invented by racists.
Edit: invented by racists specifically to promote racism.
Technically I think most words were invented by racists.
Ur right^^ but most were not invented specifically to promote racisms
This is that kind of hill that some progressives try to die on that serves absolutely no good and just perpetuates the stereotype that the left is full of “thought police” and want to make laws about words.
Let’s focus this energy against enemies, and there are plenty.
What would you call a single serving bottle of liquor?
A fifth.
No idea, what do you mean?
A 50ml bottle would be called what? The most common answer is a racist term for Japanese people and I have to correct almost every employee I have trained because of how common it is.
The correct proper answer is a “mini” but there’s a more common term.
Until recently, my red state has thca which is what the plant naturally produces. It was really convenient to walk into a decent store and get a $5 gram. Then they closed that loophole specifically earlier this year. And to be clear, they had lab results and all the sorta info you would get at a medical place.
Fair enough. The US has been just fine with regards to the wide availability of his particular form of THC.
We’re not living in a world of “Reefer Madness”.
We’re not living in a world of “Reefer Madness”.
Do they even read the bills the first time?
It seems no one likes… Omnibus bills? Where they sneak a loss of citizen rights into a “must pass” bill like this.
It happens every year and everyone hates them aside from lobbiers.
This hide-the-shit-in-the-sandwich bullshit needed to have ended decades ago, along with the filibuster.
“Wait, you have to pass this bill? Sweet, the bill now says that you give me all the money.”
Republicans can’t read. If they could they’d be mad at your comment.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) made the stakes clear Monday morning. There is only one “objector” to speeding up Senate consideration of the government funding package — Paul. The senator wants to strip a section from the bill that would prevent the sale of hemp-derived products like Delta-8 at gas stations, corner stores, or online without federal regulation.
Paul defended his stance as part of his duty to Kentucky. “Just to be clear: I am not delaying this bill. The timing is already fixed under Senate procedure. But there is extraneous language in this package that has nothing to do with reopening the government and would harm Kentucky’s hemp farmers and small businesses,” he said in a statement posted on X. “Standing up for Kentucky jobs is part of my job,” he added.
Hilarious how the alcohol industry gets in on the action. America is essentially a banana republic at this point, corruption and bigotry out the wazu.
Every democrat tried to hold out to keep health insurance rates down for millions of people and the republicans refused to negotiate. Now one asshole republican refuses to cooperate until some drugs are less easy to get and they’re going to accommodate him? Really shows what republicans think of 50% of the population.
Edit: he’s trying to remove the language that would make it more difficult to sell hemp products. He’s still an asshole and the republicans still suck for ignoring half the country and entertaining one of their senators demands, but he’s right about this thing.
You’ve misunderstood what Rand is doing here. He wants language that restricts the sale of hemp-derived cannabinoids removed from the bill. I happen to agree with him here, hemp is practically the only thing Kentucky still has going for it.
Another article I saw said that the rider adds such a strict requirement for THC content that 95% of the CBD sold in the U.S. would be made illegal.
I guess I better stock up.
“Delta 8”? What the fuck? Do they mean “weed”?
it’s a different form of psychoactive compound, it’s a THC-like compound derived from Hemp. It’s not the exact same molecular structure so it’s technically unregulated.
I have only heard mixed reviews and reactions to the stuff, so I avoid it like all untested, unknown head-shop and gas-station drugs barely skirting the law.
edit: sources have told me that the bill’s wording would allow them to absolutely decimate the legal weed market because the wording allows them to ban the sales of anything that even resembles a THC molecule. (Nobody tell them about what your brain produces or they will ban heads.)
Why spend so much effort deriving this diet-THC from hemp instead of just selling actual cannabis?
Because even in states where recreational cannabis is legal, it’s still highly restricted and taxed, that’s why there’s usually only limited numbers of dispensaries and they have to follow pretty strict city guidelines, and still cannot be purchased with credit cards or bank cards because it’s still a federally controlled substance even if the state legalizes it. Which is also why cannabis products can’t normally be shipped over state lines. Cannabis is still giant headache despite being highly profitable.
Meanwhile, this shit basically doesn’t even exist in the eyes of the federal government, it can be sold anywhere and bought with any currency, it hasn’t even been studied enough to get scheduled and managed, and this is also partially due to the fact that every time one chemical compound gets scheduled, a couple more slight variants pop up. It’s almost like people really, really want to get high and the more you try to stop people from getting high, the worse the problem gets.
Sounds like the long arm of the law should just have let the invisible hand of the market do the talking
Because Delta 8 is federally legal. Cannabis isn’t.
Since no one has mentioned it yet:
Delta-8 has a weaker binding affinity to cannabinoid receptors than delta-9, meaning it’s less potent per unit dose, but also harder to green out on.
because I can order it through the mail in Georgia without having to fly to New York every couple of months.
Thank you for the education on it!
You’re welcome, and I wanted to add that it’s unfolding right now that the bill also is worded in a way that it can mean the ban of all sales of anything even resembling a THC molecule, which would wreck the legal market in states that have it decriminalized, and it may be because the alcohol companies are threatened by rising legal weed sales. (McConnel introduced this anti-THC amendment and he’s known to have deep ties to alcohol lobbies, and alcohol sales in the US are flagging hard since decriminalization of weed.)
of course its mitch mcconnel pushing this.
I work in the booze biz and the narrative that cannabis is killing our business is not that true. Most of it is price increases, the realization that “healthy consumption” of alcohol is bullshit, and a complete failure of our industry to market the products correctly.
With wine and beer we should be reminding people that drinking with friends is literally one of the most common things in history. It’s a nice time even if it isn’t the most healthy choice. The important thing is to not make it habitual.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/693362/drinking-rate-new-low-alcohol-concerns-surge.aspx
I don’t know if anyone is saying it’s “killing” the business, but if your bosses are telling you that it hasn’t been harmed, they are lying to you. This is normal, even if a company you love, your bosses will lie to their employees about the state of the business, it’s as normal in business as business itself.
And nobody is moralizing anything here, so I don’t get the defensiveness, if people rather do cannabis than alcohol, that’s a reflection of social trends towards a substance that is less harmful and less apt to cause hangovers and regrettable texts. I’m just talking about what others are reporting.
“if your bosses are telling you that it hasn’t been harmed, they are lying to you. This is normal, even in a company you love”
Do you really think I need someone with zero experience in my industry to explain to me what is going on as if Im a child? The fact is most of the people drinking less aren’t doing so because cannabis is available as when surveyed most cite costs and health as their reasons.
Setting aside your increasingly absurd defensiveness for a moment,
most cite costs and health as their reasons.
Yes, I just posted that as actual data. You are getting mad and losing the plot. I don’t care if you have a doctorate in alcohol, I am talking about the intersection of business and politics. Do you not think attacking alcohol alternatives wouldn’t be part of a broad strategy to increase alcohol sales? Do you know how lobbying and business at scale works? Don’t respond like a child and you won’t get talked to like a child.
I won’t see your reply anyway. Have a good one.
I’ve never had an issue with it. It’s helped my anxiety and if they take it from me, I’m gonna be right pissed. I can’t smoke weed since my 3 stints of Covid
Like I said, it’s mixed. I’ve heard some people found it like a miracle drug that cured their anxiety, helps them sleep, fixed the cracks in their driveway and straightened their teeth. I’ve heard other stories of waking nightmares and seizure-like reactions. I take it all with a few shovels full of salt.
Covid is a nightmare virus that changes your brain and body structure as well, no surprise hearing how it changes how your body reacts to different drugs.
Can you do edibles?
Yeah, if I can get ahold of them
Delta8 is shit quasi-leagal substances that aren’t the same as actual Cannabis. It’s stuff that should “probably” be illegal, but that isn’t why it was included in this bill. It’s a just a backdoor ban for legal weed.
it’s synthetic weed, Delta-8 being slightly less psycho-active than standard Delta-9 which now can also be synthesized from CBD. -I actually agree with Rand Paul on this issue even though i’ve had some truly awful experiences with these products. There’s no real QC safety checks to ensure that not only is what they say is in there is true, but also to avoid precursor chemical contamination in the final products. Some people will point out the QR codes linking to lab reports, but I suspect they never check them because the few times I did, the lab reports were for a different product with a different name dated six months ago… -My point is there should be some basic common sense regulation around quality but an outright ban or restriction is stupid.
I liked him better when his neighbor tackled him.
Paul is holding up? or is mconell holding up adding this unnecessary bullshit in the first place.
mitch is, apparently the other commentor said mcconnel has ties to alcohol lobbies, and thier sales are declining alledgely because weed being legal.
A deal to end the 41-day government shutdown is running into turbulence, thanks to a single Senate objection: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
Senate Republican and Democratic leaders say they need to resolve Paul’s objection to a provision in the government funding package before they can accelerate consideration of the bill. The provision would restrict the unregulated sale of intoxicating…hemp-derived products like Delta-8 at gas stations, corner stores, or online without federal regulation.
I mean, do we really need this provision, right now? I’m not necessarily opposed to federal regulation of Delta-8 products, but can’t we address that at a later date? Let’s get the government open and worry about Delta-8 later.
its almost always sneaked into bills like these, so hopefully nobody notices.
He has more leverage now than he ever will, and he’s using that leverage to get what he wants.
Sure would be nice if Dems did that
he’s using that leverage to get what he wants.
Hemp farming industry is paying him to prevent restriction of Delta-8, which is derived from Hemp.
It’s just money. It’s always money.
So? He wants this because his donors want it, of course, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s using leverage to get what he wants.
There are no deep pockets funding progressive ideas. No senators got a call from the Bureau of Keeping People Alive to keep their bottom line profitable.
And there never will be.
Maybe the Democrats aren’t the best vehicle for progressive ideas.
“Democrats” are a just container, and that container has gone bad and spoiled. It’s time to clean the frig, throw out the rotten garbage and get some fresh groceries.
The rot runs the party, you aren’t going to clear them out without overthrowing them somehow.
I think the DSA should split the party.
