Bernie Sanders Reminded U.S. Already of
the Power of the Controlled Substances Act.

(Feb. 6, 2021) As you may remember, early in the Trump administration, Bernie Sanders actually dared the President to issue an Executive Order legalizing marijuana, since that power was given to the Executive by the Controlled Substances Act by Congress and the Nixon Administration back in 1970.

That power still resides under U. S. Federal law with the Executive Department and the DEA.

But Congress and various state legislatures could pull the rug out from under anything Biden and the DEA were to do. So maybe Biden and the Democrats are actually following the right path. Or maybe not. Maybe what?

As we watch the arguments unfolding at the state level in the "tri-state area", it does appear that Al Capone's ghost (decriminalization) is still hovering about the halls of Congress and various state legislatures. This has been reported in the media.

Better if Biden were to issue such a temporary but powerful FDR style Executive Order that legalizes weed while explicitly acknowledging both the powers of the various state legislatures, as well as the powers of the U.S. Congress. Remember that the Feds legalized possession and usage of alcohol by all adults in the USA in 1933; "dry" areas were only dry in terms of prohibiting manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages. Simple possession and use were made legal most everywhere in the USA soon after FDR took office initially in 1933.

March 1933: we should study how F.D.R. was able to do that! I'm speaking here of re-legalizing simple possession and usage of alcohol by nearly all adult Americans in March 1933. Note that the manufacture and sale of alcohol could still be restricted by state or local prohibition, but in March 1933, people were able again to travel and legally transport alcohol home anywhere they chose in the nearly the entire USA!

The recent changes to pot laws all over much of the USA, mostly since about 1996, have been taking place in a totally different manner, with legalization for medical cannabis product producers occurring first on a state by state basis. Meanwhile the cannabis users are "trapped" inside their individual states and state laws.

The switch to a national consensus in favor of legalization already occurred at the media and individual citizen level most everywhere, but not at the political level as of yet. That is changing as this is being written.

Question: how and why was FDR able to legalize simple possession and usage of alcohol by most all Americans in March 1933? (The exceptions were various U. S. territories and Federal jurisdictions such as D.C.) I speculate that there had never been any traditional prohibition of alcohol in the USA except in limited local situations; so, reverting to the tradition of America's general liberties was a default setting that FDR reinstated, I speculate. There is no presumption of prohibition of alcohol or drug usage in the USA until about the year 1900 or so. It is really sad that traditional American liberty is so generally unknown to the America of today, which is itself very disturbing.

During the ten year period from about 1988 until around the year 2000, former High Times Magazine Editor-in-Chief Steve Hager helped remind the marijuana legalization movement of the roots of American liberty with original 1776 AMERICAN TEA PARTY symbology since colonial times with his Freedom Fighter of the Month awards, and with his extreme pro-liberty editorial stance. It's so unfortunate that Steve Hager has fallen by the wayside as High Times has become editorially weak and meek in latter days. It was actually Hager who began using the term and symbols of the "1776 Tea Party" to describe the marijuana legalization movement during the period from the late 1980's until about the year 2000 or so. The crown jewel accomplishment of that period and movement was, of course, the successful legalization of medical marijuana for California with Proposition 215 beginning in 1996 (and Arizona Proposition 200 to some extent).

Note that the modern "TEA PARTY" movement which opposed President Obama's Affordable Care Act, hss nothing to do with this High Times Magazine pro-pot legalization movement 1988-2000.