> I always try to explain this to people, that the Republicans actually unwittingly legalized weed in 2017, but no one ever gets it.
It's because you're using the word wrong. Weed is illegal federally. The problem is that you think THC is weed, and Delta-9 is weed, and CBD is weed. Words have meaning. A caffeine pill isn't coffee, and beef steak isn't a cow. Something being derived from something doesn't make it that original thing.
I think they are using the word correctly in the commonly agreed upon wording. Republicans legalized hemp technically, then set the legal definition of hemp such that THCa flower fit under that definition. THCa flower does not have more than 0.3% THC by weight (well it might but that's another issue of allowing pre harvest testing), it can however have more than 0.3% THCa by weight. THCa converts to THC when exposed to heat (such as combustion in a joint, pipe, oven, etc.). In common word usage of weed as a plant that gets you high off THC when you smoke it then they did legalize 'weed'.
It's because you're using the word wrong. Weed is illegal federally. The problem is that you think THC is weed, and Delta-9 is weed, and CBD is weed. Words have meaning. A caffeine pill isn't coffee, and beef steak isn't a cow. Something being derived from something doesn't make it that original thing.