Jeff Sessions Rescinding Policy That Paved Way For Legalized Marijuana To Flourish

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is rescinding the Obama-era policy that had paved the way for legalized marijuana to flourish in states across the country. Sessions will instead let federal prosecutors where pot is legal decide how to enforce federal law.

While Sessions has been carrying out a Justice Department agenda that follows Trump’s top priorities on such issues as immigration and opioids, the changes to pot policy reflect his own concerns. Trump’s personal views on marijuana remain largely unknown. Sessions, who has assailed marijuana as comparable to heroin and has blamed it for spikes in violence, had been expected to ramp up enforcement. Pot advocates argue that legalizing the drug eliminates the need for a black market and would likely reduce violence, since criminals would no longer control the marijuana trade. The Obama administration in 2013 announced it would not stand in the way of states that legalize marijuana, so long as officials acted to keep it from migrating to places where it remained outlawed and out of the hands of criminal gangs and children. Sessions is rescinding that memo, written by then-Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole, which had cleared up some of the uncertainty about how the federal government would respond as states began allowing sales for recreational and medical purposes.

I am generally right leaning on most things but I completely disagree with what Sessions is doing here. In my opinion, t's only going to delay the inevitable nation-wide legalization of marijuana, not stop it. In the meantime, this is only going to add to the confusion of the legality of growing, using or buying pot in states where it is legal.

A complete waste of time and resources. I guess that is a majority of our political process.

AP

It’s part of the war on blue states and their new revenue source.

Sessions will instead let federal prosecutors where pot is legal decidehow aggressively to enforce federal marijuana law, the people said.

Yes.

Damn that Sessions.

Enforcing his beliefs on people.

Oh wait.

a reply to: neo96

How about he just do his job?
That would be refreshing, a politician put into an appointed position that actually does his job.

a reply to: jtrenthacker


Oh the horror! Sessions is going to let the individual States Federal Prosecutors determine their own enforcement of these laws?!? I am actually quite surprised that Sessions has done this. Can someone explain to me, why anyone would find fault with this concession?

a reply to: shooterbrody

Little jeffie can't really do much.

Seems like a dog wag, or he wants to back up the courts, get fired, and end up making the president look bad.

a reply to: CynConcepts

Sure..

1 people are dumb

2 he runs those prosecutors and can advise them on how to act

3 the lobby groups he is in bed with and unions can use the doj as there personal arm of the law to stifle competition

4 the 10th amendment.

a reply to: jtrenthacker

A complete waste of time and resources. I guess that is a majority of our political process.

Very well said. Sessions will be a political has-been soon enough. I think he could be forestalling the inevitable for his career, in part, by being an a55h**e. No publicity is bad publicity for this Attorney General, I guess -- though this might galvanize further defeats for his party come mid-term.

a reply to: jtrenthacker

I seriously am praying that Sessions will ruin his career with this personal vendetta against pot, but I have a feeling that won't be the case as the right lets him get away with his nonsense.

a reply to: Namdru

Unless trump and the party come together and reject him.

This effects the 28 states with medical as well...

Trump could look like a hero and have a separate reason to fire him other than Russia.

Silver lining.
I actually have hope. This is probably the most clear bipartisan issue we have and sessions has very few friends in the electorate on any side.

originally posted by: luthier
a reply to: CynConcepts

Sure..

1 people are dumb

2 he runs those prosecutors and can advise them on how to act

3 the lobby groups he is in bed with and unions can use the doj as there personal arm of the law to stifle competition

4 the 10th amendment.

Starred you for #1! I think that sums it up for sure. #2 may be slightly paranoid, but truth in that he can advise them...but doesn't mean they will follow. #3 they were doing this anyways whether Obama's policy was rescinded! #4 it actually appears that Sessions is recognizing this more than Obama's Policy. States that have legalized and even those that have not have been given the power back. Win /win for both sides of the issue.

a reply to: jtrenthacker

This KKK keebler elf shouldn't be the AG

Sessions' anti-weed platform pisses me off.

I bet that chump enjoys booze every evening as well. Looks like the type who'd yell at the kids about the evils of a plant while sipping his whiskey on the rocks.

a reply to: CynConcepts

No sessions is not recognizing states rights.

Federal prosectors are not states rights. They are feds.

And the point on three may be true. However not on this issue. Trump was supposed to drain not replace the swamp with different stink cabbage.

On a side issue the moron hasn't come down on illegal hiring and is obsessed with sanctuary states..while ignoring the employers that create them.

a reply to: CynConcepts

We both know that Sessions is doing this because of his vendetta against pot and this has little to do with following voters' wishes or states' wishes. This is just the latest step in his plan to bring back 1980's anti-pot enforcement.

And people in Colorado have storage buildings full of what was legal cash. Might as well have a bonfire now because here they come!!!

a reply to: mikell

The good news is I doubt (but can't be certain) he is that dumb.

And if he is he will be in court with a literal majority of states blocking the docket for things that matter. Like say gangs...

Also the big boys have been investing in MJ infrastructure. They have more powerful influence then sessions focus groups, and police unions. The prison industry is powerful but not enough to come down on the corporations who are investing..

Say bye-bye Republicans. Nothing like pissing on the majority of voters.

I'm glad he is doing this. Just digging the Republican swamp deeper. I'll smoke no matter what Donny or the Keebler Elf has to say about it. The Mexican cartels are probably cheering right now.

a reply to: CynConcepts

Because the Cole memo directed federal prosecutors to not bother people who were in compliance with state laws.

With the shift in policy, prosecutors that have a hard-on for weed like Sessions does can go after somebody who is fully compliant with state law but in violation of federal law.

It is the very opposite of "leaving it to the states" as one other member put it in a now deleted thread, and which you seem to be implying.