On Monday, California became the 7th state to legalize recreational marijuana. Yesterday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced an end to an Obama-era policy that allowed legal pot to flourish in states across the country. The measure effectively limited the federal government from prosecuting businesses that were in compliance with state laws. If a state were to legalize the sale of marijuana, the Department of Justice was not able to prosecute in any meaningful way.
Now, AG Sessions says that the decision to prosecute dispensaries will be left to individual U.S. attorneys. According to the Justice Department the decision to overrule the Obama-era policy "undermined the rule of law." The decision has left state officials and business owners with a vague understanding of what's to come for legal marijuana during the Trump administration.
Yesterday, Colorado Senator Cory Gardner took the Senate floor to decry the Justice Department's decision. Colorado has already amassed half a billion dollars in tax revenue from legal marijuana. Gardner told his colleagues in the Senate that he would block any future Justice Department nominations if Sessions did not revise his decision to attack legal marijuana.
While it is currently unclear how Sessions, the Justice Department, and the DEA will go after legal marijuana, Gardner and marijuana advocates have made it clear that they will fight them at every turn.
What are your thoughts on legal marijuana and the selective regulation GOP leadership pushes when it assumes power in Washington?
Apparently the GOP takes the a la carte approach to states' rights. Doubling down on the utter disaster that is the drug war is a real stroke of genius.
This is so utterly ridiculous. Why are we letting Sessions private prison profits dictate morality?
Trying to follow republican logic here:
Can't keep guns from crossing state lines, legalize them everywhere!
Can't keep weed from crossing state lines, ban it federally!
Uh....guns are legal according to that thing called the Constitution. You may have heard of it. Get yourself a copy and read it. It will prevent you from making stupid comments like this in the future. And weed, was already federally illegal. Sessions didn't make it illegal, it already was. Sessions is just following the law. Something Obama and his justice department wouldn't do. You can argue whether or not it should be legal...currently it's not. You are greatly misinformed on both of your points.
God, this tired old argument again.
First off, I was commenting on the general arguments you hear from conservatives on both issues and the hypocritical nature of them.
Second, state laws restricting gun sales and putting reasonable requirements on ownership were already determined to constitutional.
Third, the executive branch has wide latitude in enforcement priority. Holder (correctly) determined that using limited federal dollars on prosecuting a highly unpopular and unnecessary law and wasting millions of dollars when states who legalized it sue the federal government over enforcement actions was a terrible idea.
Maybe you should get your own shit straight before calling someone misinformed.
Geez, you are an idiot. Federal law supercedes state law. Yeah states can pass whatever they want. But if they are in contradiction to federal law and the U.S. Justice Department wants to enforce federal law, state laws don't mean shit. Maybe you should get your own shit straight before calling someone misinformed.
I never said Sessions didn't have the right to do what he was doing, I just said that he's a dipshit for using that right. You houd try seeing things with some nuance for a change. And there is a legal basis for state legatization for weed, that being the feds only have the right to make laws regarding interstate, not intrastate, commerse. They certainly have standing to sue in federal court to say that congress consitutionally can't ban states from legalizing the sale of weed. Whether they will win is up to the supreme court. But like I was saying, all of this is a waste of money defending an unnecessary and unpopular law. Might as well argue for the enforcement of consentual sodomy laws while you're at it.
The war on drugs gets sillier the longer it goes on. Drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes is more unhealthy than smoking/vaping marijuana. Yes, there are risks with marijuana but there are also health benefits.
I wonder who is lobbying Sessions to continue this war. My guess is corporations in the pharmaceutical industry.
Sessions seems like the type of authoritarian pure boy that is a true believer in the horrors of marijuana.
I still dont understand how some old men located not so close to me are deciding whether or not I can smoke a f*cking plant that grows out of the ground. Never will.
It's good the government has so much important work to do... like limiting freedom, encouraging black markets and drug wars, and going against the overwhelming sentiments of its citizens. Good times /-:
Good news information @samseder
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I typically lean right in my politics, but holy crap this is so stupid I can't get my arms around it. These states have held votes on this, people have been elected to vote the will of the people in these matters, why in the world is the federal government going against the popular will of the people to rule on this (which in my opinion illegal drug laws such as marijuana should be fully legalized) is totally unconstitutional in the opinion of yours truly. Bewildering stupidity. I am just wondering are both parties right now trying to throw future elections to stay out of power so they can blame the other to fund raise on that? Good post @samseder totally agree.
The people voted and washington is clearly not looking out for the people's interests. Respect to Sen. Gardner
If we are sovereign people is it not our right to chose what we can and can't ingest?
What is up with these old men? Why are they threatened by people having the FREEDOM to partake in a plant? Is is possibly because he has invested in private prisons and gun manufacturing . . . two industries that would be considerably HURT because we can no longer make people who use or sell weed criminals? Is is because people will be too busy smoking weed and having the munchies to purchase guns and shot each other?
Hmmm.
The federal Statutes would nullify a state statute that was contrary. They can prosecute you at the federal level. States can't abrogate USA's laws since US States are inferior to the national constabulary by design.
Your post is based on something that isn't true. This is how lies fake news get spread. Marijuana is not legal. Your headline says "legal marijuana". No such thing. All Sessions is doing is following federal law. If you want to make change the law then change it. But don't post false headlines to support your story. Marijuana is illegal. Obama's justice department refused to enforce the law. Sound familiar (illegal immigration). If you don't like it don't blame the Attorney General of the United States who is supposed to enforce the law for doing his job. Just be "grateful" Obama's Attorney General's didn't. If Jeff Sessions wants all the people and businesses selling marijuana can be shut down tomorrow and everyone arrested. Because, you know, it's against the law. Now if you want to argue the law needs to be changed federally, then do so and go about changing it. But don't falsely claim there is legal marijuana and somehow Jeff Sessions is doing something wrong. You may disagree, but what he is doing is lawful.
Marijuana shouldnt even be classified with harmful substances. Its a medicine!! I'm guessing he hasnt read all the tests done on the plant and all the people its helped so far!