Sessions Cannabis Idiocy
When Jeff Sessions rescinded the Cole Memo this past week it defined everything wrong with this current administration. They are living in the past and any data-driven factual information is not calculated into any decisions that they make. It is frightening.
I could start by pointing to the coal industry that they feel a need to keep alive although every other country is phasing it out. Or how about their interest in drilling for more oil although it doesn’t take much to see that there is a lot of change happening in the energy space that is a win for the environment and creates new jobs but that would be asking too much of them to focus on new big picture opportunities. It is a pack of white men who have industries cash deep in their pockets to keep them in power and has nothing to do with intellect or representation of the people who elected them. On top of it all, the office of the President has lost all respect when on a daily basis we see tweets from anyone calling out all these officials with vile, derogatory language. In only one year we have sunk to an all-time low level of decency. Sad for all of us.
Back to cannabis. As a nation we are legally killing people with opiates and alcohol yet nobody has ever died of a cannabis overdose. It would be worthwhile for Sessions to understand the benefits of cannabis proven by medical institutions who are digging deeper to understand the multitude of health benefits that can also fight disease. If he would read the facts he would discover that we should continue to move forward with legalization in every state. The Cole Memo has allowed more Americans to enjoy the health benefits, the economic benefits (taxation and regulation) and not see friends and family members put in jail for possession which is costly and destroys people lives and families over something so inconsequential. Our prisons are filled with people for small amounts of marijuana possession. For 70 years we have used cannabis to lock up young black men and it is disgusting. Although our Government officials have had zero problems making sure opiates and alcohol are legal while taking money from lobbyists in those industries to make sure that cannabis is treated just like heroin even though it is an opioid epidemic that is killing communities across the country.
It is unfortunate that Sessions is such a backward thinker and an intellectual lightweight. History will not be kind to him or this administration’s social policies. The smart states will break away and benefit from the taxes and regulation. Rescinding the Cole Memo will backfire as there are a lot of pot smoking Republicans out there who don’t like paying taxes and read Breitbart. Sessions isn’t putting this genie back in the bottle. The ship has sailed. If anything, his backward thinking without any data and his super right pious conservative views are only costing the Republicans votes. Over 64% of Americans think that cannabis should be legal and 89% believe in medical legalization.
We should be federally legalizing cannabis now as it will happen at one point in the future and it will good for our economy as well as the health and well being of many. Honestly, someone should give that man a joint.
Comments (Archived):
I don’t let myself call people idiots often but he is one.And there is too much money involved for him to get away with this. If it was an ethical issue no amount of noise could impact it. Dollars thought, it will get overturned.
I read this the same way until I delved into @GabrielMalor’s Twitter feed. He’s an atty. Sessions did a legal move that could pave the way to legalization. Basically he just said the federal law is that pot is illegal-as it was under our previous President. I sincerely doubt that if someone is growing pot plants on their porch in states where it is legal there will be any change.However, it’s now up to lawmakers to act. Change the law. Wouldn’t it be nice if they removed the ambiguity between state and federal statutes on pot?The war on drugs has left a trail of tears. There are better and cheaper ways to combat drug abuse.
where is most of the world’s supply of cannabis grown?
No idea. I believe South Africa.
I am for marijuana legalization and think Sessions is dead wrong in saying marijuana is as dangerous as heroin. However part of legalization has to be done by Congress, which passed the Controlled Substance Act (CSA) in 1970. This act lists marijuana on the same Schedule I as heroin and more dangerous than fentanyl and oxytocin (Schedule II). The DEA can actually amend the list in the law but declined to do so in 2011. Congress has amended the law many times but never changed the schedule.Two reasons we need FEDERAL legalization as well as state regulation are:1. even where medical use is legal under state law as it is in Vermont and New Hampshire, federally funded care institutions won’t give marijuana treatment for pain (so they give opiates!) because they don’t want to run afoul of federal law.2. We really don’t want Jeff Sessions or any AG deciding which congressionally-passed laws to enforce or not.Congresspeople are being hypocritical in condemning Sessions for allowing the enforcement of a law they passed and won’t change. Hopefully the result of his rescinding the Jones Memo will be that Congress will stop blowing smoke and do its job. Delisting marijuana will put it in the same category as alcohol and tobacco which are already exempt from CSA and leave its regulation to the states. We shouldn’t give Congress a hall pass on this.I blogged on the same subject yesterday http://blog.tomevslin.com/2….
Bravo
Trump is creating a bargaining chip to force California to play ball with Immigration reform. He doesn’t care about marijuana legalization, one way or another, and neither does his base. California is a big hurdle to passing his Immigration policy and he knows California sees legalization of marijuana as revenue for their struggling budget so when weighed against Immigration, I think money will trump votes for California, Sessions will back off and Immigration reform will pass. Same scenario with Jerusalem being named the capital of Israel – that’s a move to secure Florida – and possibly make NY and battleground – in 2020.
Doesn’t California’s “Struggling budget” have a pretty good surplus this year (for the past few — since Democrat was elected heh heh 🙂 ?
Not much to add but just wanted to chime in and say great post 🙂
.I think you are totally misreading the significance of this move.The Trump admin has taken a number of issues which have been kicked down the road by prior admins and forced them to be dealt with – DACA, North Korea, immigration, trade agreements, taxes.By doing this, he is forcing the Congress and the states to deal with it.The Trump admin is not going to champion the legalization, but they are going to let the Dems do it. It is a good campaign issue.Note that Trump did not fall into the social issues political trap in the 2016 election. I doubt he cares.There is not a single US Attorney looking to make domestic marijuana cases. Distribution yes. Possession no. Simple workload, priority issue.There are no Federal marijuana prisoners. Those are state prisoners. Most of the Federal drug cases involving weed are plea bargains from hard drug distribution cases because of Federal sentencing guidelines.You will look back on this one day and recognize this action forced the US Congress to act. There is no possibility that weed will not be legal one day. This action makes it sooner rather than later.There will be plenty of legal weed in the right states.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…