Jeff Sessions’ war on marijuana may have run into a snag.
United States Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, has been eager to dismiss science and public opinion as he tries to escalate a war against marijuana. Unfortunately, he seems to be standing on an island alone.
Earlier this year, Sessions tried to link violence and marijuana. “Experts are telling me there’s more violence around marijuana than one would think and there’s big money involved,” Sessions said without providing further detail.
Sessions set up a task force to examine marijuana’s potential danger to the public. They have now presented their conclusion. Many industry members and marijuana reform advocates were fearful that the task force’s conclusions would provide Sessions with the ammunition he is seeking to target legal marijuana.
Unfortunately for Sessions, the task force has issued no new recommendations.
“The task force’s recommendations reflect the fact that the Dept. of Justice has more important priorities than harassing legitimate, taxpaying businesses. In states that have approved marijuana for medical or adult use, these businesses are creating jobs, generating revenue, protecting consumers, and making their communities safer,” Don Murphy, the director of conservative outreach at the Marijuana Policy Project, said according to The Hill.
“The vast majority of Americans want the federal government to let states determine their own marijuana policies. We hope the attorney general is paying attention and maintains the current policy of non-interference,” he continued.
The task force’s decision comes at a time where serious reform to federal marijuana law is being considered. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) has introduced a bill to remove marijuana from the federal list of banned substances.
Although Sessions may not have received the justification he was looking for to launch a large-scale crackdown on marijuana, it is unclear if he will abandon his goal of shutting down the marijuana industry. If holding opinions outside of the scientific and public mainstream was uncomfortable for Sessions, he would have changed his mind years ago.
