Jeff Sessions Issues Ominous Warning On State Marijuana Legalization

March 1st, 2017

Awake Goy

Above Photo: The U.S. Capitol is reflected in a puddle next to the Capitol Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., Oct. 15, 2013. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Note: The new attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has been a long time opponent of ending the war on marijuana, decriminalizing its use and controlling marijuana through regulation and taxation. Eight states and the District of Columbia, representing 68 million people, have now passed laws to make marijuana legal but Sessions is reviewing the Obama-era Department of Justice policy that allowed states to put in place their marijuana laws.

In his statement on the issue, Sessions focuses on violence associated with the marijuana market. His thinking is confused. There is always violence associated with prohibiting a drug, as the United States learned with alcohol prohibition. If Sessions scratched the surface he would find that in states with legal marijuana markets there is very little violence in those markets. The more marijuana is brought above ground in a regulated market, the less violence there will be. If he wants to further a non-violent market, Sessions should urge that US banks be allowed to take money from marijuana shops and dispensaries. Having a lot of cash on hand is an invitation to robbery and violence, being allowed to put that cash in banks will decrease those problems.

How should states react if the Trump Department of Justice decides to enforce federal law in states that have passed legal marijuana — they should refuse to cooperate. Let the federal government enforce federal law without the help of state police. While it may be possible for the feds to stop the marijuana transactions in the regulated and taxed market, they will not have the person-power to stop people from cultivating marijuana, possessing it and sharing it. The market will continue to grow. When a more sensible Department of Justice comes into force, the marijuana market will become an even stronger regulated and taxed market.

In addition, the eight legal states and marijuana reform advocates in all states should make a major push to reform federal law to allow states to put in place a regulated, taxed and decriminalized market. A recent poll found 60% of people in the United States favor legal marijuana and 71 percent of American voters want the federal government to respect state marijuana laws.. If Sessions tries to stop legal marijuana at the state level, it is an opportunity for the reform movement to push harder and win. KZ

The White House last week opened the door for a crackdown on recreational marijuana. Today, the attorney general didn’t walk that back.

WASHINGTON ― Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday restated his opposition to marijuana use and offered an ominous warning about state-level marijuana legalization efforts, suggesting that such policies would open states to “violence,” as well as potential repercussions from the federal government.

“I don’t think America is going to be a better place when people of all ages, and particularly young people, are smoking pot,” Sessions said to reporters Monday at the Department of Justice. “I believe it’s an unhealthy practice, and current levels of THC in marijuana are very high compared to what they were a few years ago, and we’re seeing real violence around that.”

Sessions said he had a meeting on Monday with the attorney general of Nebraska, who is very concerned about marijuana flowing in from Colorado, which legalized weed in 2012. “Experts are telling me there’s more violence around marijuana than one would think and there’s big money involved,” he said.

Nebraska has been pushing back against its neighbor state’s marijuana laws for years. In 2014, Nebraska, along with Oklahoma, filed a federal lawsuit against Colorado in an attempt to invalidate its nascent laws allowing the sale of recreational marijuana, which the states claimed was increasing trafficking of the drug into their states. The Supreme Court dismissed the suit last year.

“You can’t sue somebody for drug debt; the only way to get your money is through strong-arm tactics, and violence tends to follow that,” Sessions said.

“States, they can pass the laws they choose,” he added. “I would just say it does remain a violation of federal law to distribute marijuana throughout any place in the United States, whether a state legalizes it or not.”

His comments appear to line up with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s comments last week that opened the door for a Trump administration crackdown on recreational marijuana.

Spicer raised concerns among advocates for marijuana policy reform when he said states that have legalized recreational marijuana will see “greater enforcement” of federal laws surrounding the plant. Spicer explained that President Donald Trump sees the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana as two separate issues, and while the president understands the importance of the drug’s availability for medical purposes, Spicer said recreational use of the drug is “something the Department of Justice will be looking into.”

Former President Barack Obama’s Justice Department allowed states to forge their own way on marijuana policy with guidance urging federal prosecutors to refrain from targeting state-legal marijuana operations. But this guidance is not law and can be reversed by the Trump administration. Sessions said they were “looking” at the memos that set out enforcement priorities, which he said had some points of value.

And while Sessions didn’t appear to suggest there would be radical changes to federal enforcement of marijuana laws during his confirmation hearings last month, he only offered vague answers about how he might approach the drug and left the door open for increased federal interference with states.

Drug policy reformers have raised concerns that Sessions could use the FBI to crack down on marijuana operations nationwide, or direct the Drug Enforcement Administration to enforce federal prohibition outside of the jurisdiction of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The court ruled in August that a federal rider blocks federal officials from prosecuting state-legal marijuana operators and patients. But that rider must be re-approved annually, and if it’s allowed to expire, Sessions could then order the DEA to enforce federal law nationally. He could also sue the various state governments that have set up regulatory schemes.

A survey from Quinnipiac University released last week found a strong majority of American voters ― 71 percent ― want the federal government to respect state marijuana laws. In that survey, majorities of Republicans, Democrats, independents and every age group polled agreed the feds should not enforce prohibitionist laws on states that have legalized marijuana.

Marijuana policy reform advocates said Sessions’ comments actually show the need for further reform.

“By talking about marijuana and violence, the attorney general is inadvertently articulating the strongest argument that exists for legalization, which is that it allows regulated markets in a way that prohibition does not,” said Tom Angell, chairman of drug policy reform group Marijuana Majority. “The only connection between marijuana and violence is the one that exists when illegal sellers battle it out for profits in the black market.”

Source Article from https://popularresistance.org/jeff-sessions-issues-ominous-warning-on-state-marijuana-legalization/