Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been striking fear in the marijuana industry since he took office.
In just over two months on the job, Jeff Sessions has taken many opportunities to threaten the marijuana industry and safe access for patients.
He has linked marijuana to “more violence than one would think.” Sessions also basically admitted to being clueless about the science of marijuana. No wonder he is unable to value marijuana as a medicine.
Unfortunately, identifying Sessions’ single most outlandish statement on marijuana is almost impossible. His disdain for marijuana has a long history. Sessions once claimed that smoking marijuana was the worst thing the KKK did. This could be why so many were fearful when Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Sessions.
Now Sessions is calling for members of the Justice Department to evaluate current marijuana enforcement policy. The attorney general is requesting recommendations to be submitted to him by July 29. Is he bracing America for a crackdown on state-sanctioned marijuana laws?
With his views on race and marijuana, it seems Jeff Sessions has not burdened himself with the constraints of public opinion during his political career.
“So when we in the U.S. Attorney’s office, working with the DEA, looked at a marijuana case here in Colorado, we had to ask ourselves, ‘All right, we have to assume if we take this case to trial, seven out of 12 people sitting in the jury box are statistically likely to have voted for marijuana legalization,’ ” former U.S. Attorney John Walsh said to NPR. Walsh served in Colorado under the Obama Administration.
It is unclear if Sessions understands that marijuana is not as harmful as other drugs.
“In the world of federal drug trafficking enforcement, marijuana has never been at the top of the list,” said Walsh.
Sessions was an early supporter of the Trump campaign. His views are at odds with another early Trump supporter, Roger Stone. Stone, who also taps into the power of Twitter, warned Trump that his supporters did not elect him to dismantle state marijuana laws while speaking on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher last Friday.
“The Trump administration should be mindful that the recreational marijuana measures that passed in several states all passed this same way, with overwhelming popular support,” he said to Maher. “This was clearly the Will of the People. It is not Jeff Sessions place to prosecute his version of morality and President Trump should not allow him to do so.”
