Donald Trumps Attorney General could terminate the rule that protects state-legalized marijuana

[n2doc]

The US marijuana industry’s vibrant growth in the grey area of federalism could be threatened by president-elect Donald Trump and his preferred choice for Attorney General, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions.

Sessions, an early backer of Trump’s presidential campaign and an outspoken critic of US immigration policy, is also an opponent of marijuana legalization. He has criticized the Obama administration’s approach to drug policy, including its tolerance of states where voters have approved the use of marijuana for medical or recreational purposes.

“It is false that marijuana use doesn’t lead people to more drug use,” Sessions argued in a speech earlier this year. (Researchers are split.) “It is already causing a disturbance in the states that have made it legal. I think we need to be careful about this.”

Marijuana is still considered a controlled substance under federal law, but a wave of states have relaxed or eliminated prohibitions on the plant and products derived from it. Some see a tipping point at hand on a national level; on election day, eight of nine major initiatives to legalize recreational or medical marijuana passed.

Yet the primary reason that the professional and well-publicized marketers of marijuana in these states won’t being arrested by federal agents and prosecuted in federal court are a policy put in place under president Obama. A 2013 memorandum (pdf) written by deputy Attorney General James M. Cole directed federal prosecutors to focus their efforts on criminal enterprises, with the implicit message to tolerate state-regulated marijuana dealers.

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http://qz.com/842602/donald-trumps-attorney-general-nominee-jeff-sessions-could-terminate-the-rule-that-protects-state-legalized-marijuana/

[Staph]

1. That's odd.

I would have suspected that Jefferson Beauregard Sessions would be proudly behind state's rights -- the state's right to overrule the Union, er, the federal government.

[n2doc]

3. State's rights apparently only count when it comes to enslaving people n/t

[The River]

2. Same as It Ever Was

People have been and will continue using cannabis regardless of the "law".
This would just bring back the cartels, street corner vendors and more crime.
Private prisons will thrive. The poor, the sick and minorities will suffer the most.

[Lithos]

4. Sessions will be the Democrats best hope for 2018 and 2020

This is one of those things which will increase voter turnout.

L-

[TeamPooka]

5. Stock up. nt

[yuiyoshida]

6. Leave it to Team Trump to throw us back to the dark ages

baka yaro! ばか やろ!

[TonyPDX]

7. If legalization efforts in your state are pushed back, thank a protest voter.

Jeff Sessions didn't get there on his own.

[metalbot]

8. Meh

Legalization is here. An attorney general can be a pain in the ass, but it's not going to reverse the momentum. I'' in Texas, so I don't expect to see the benefits of this next year, but I think we'look have a real legalization effort in the 2019 session, and that will be aided by the evidence and that legalization works from an enforcement cost and tax revenue perspective.