The progress of marijuana legalization is being threatened once more with the nations top law enforcer speaking out against it. Attorney General Jeff Sessions continues to do anything in his power to stop the progress of legalized marijuana.
Sessions Claims “Legalization Results In Greater Use”
“I’ve never felt that we should legalize marijuana,” Sessions said on Wednesday. “It doesn’t strike me that the country would be better if it’s being sold on every street corner. We do know that legalization results in greater use.”
A new study contradicts the claim that legalization results in greater usage. The study was published in the journal Addiction last week.
“Medical and recreational marijuana policies did not have any significant association with increased marijuana use,” the study claimed.
So it’s not legalized marijuana causing an increase in usage. The study authors believe it is more likely that “policy changes appear to have occurred in response to changing attitudes within states and to have effects on attitudes and behaviors more generally in the U.S.”
Session’s Anti-Marijuana Stance
When asked if he would be enforcing federal laws in states with legalized marijuana, he responded, “Federal law remains in effect.”
Sessions is a long-time antagonist to marijuana legalization. Earlier this year, Sessions called for the return of the stricter anti-marijuana “just say no” view on drugs from the 1980s.
“We have too much tolerance for drug use psychologically, politically, morally. We need to say, as Nancy Reagan said, ‘Just say no.’ Don’t do it. There’s no excuse for this. It’s not recreational. It can be destructive and it consistently is destructive. Lives are at stake and we’re not going to worry about being fashionable,” Sessions said, during a speech in Richmond about violent crime.
During the same speech, he continuously suggested that marijuana was the gateway drug fueling the opioid addiction crisis. He’s not even sold on the value of medical marijuana despite Trump’s promise to leave it up to the states.
“I think medical marijuana has been hyped, maybe too much,” he said, according to the Washington Post. “Dosages can be constructed in a way that might be beneficial, I acknowledge that, but if you smoke marijuana for example, where you have no idea how much THC you’re getting, it’s probably not a good way to administer a medicinal amount. So forgive me if I’m a bit dubious about that.”
Shift From Obama Administration
While the Obama administration remained mostly silent on all things cannabis, they were more relaxed about it. In fact, they passed laws protecting states with legalized marijuana from federal attack. According to the “Cole Memo,” no government money could be spent on intervening with state marijuana laws.
In April, Jeff Sessions instructed a Justice Department task force to review the memo and make recommendations for any changes possible. According to the Associated Press, which reviewed excerpts of the task force’s report, the panel that reviewed it had no changes to recommend.
Despite not being able to change it, Sessions attempted to use the Cole Memo to undermine state laws and prosecute federally. He even wrote to the attorney generals of Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Colorado, claiming they were not in compliance with the memo.
Jeff Sessions clearly does not plan to keep up the Obama administration’s hands-off approach. He doesn’t think easing up law enforcement on medical or recreational marijuana users to focus on harder drugs is a good idea either.
“Going less aggressive in sentencing and prosecutions, we’ve got to be careful about that,” Sessions claimed.
The nations top law enforcer lies to the public about cannabis, and that’s something we’ve got to be careful about.
