Donald Trump’s nominee for Attorney General, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, harbors some very strong views about cannabis, most of which are uninformed, dangerous and expensive, when you consider the billions states spend on mandatory prison sentences for drug offenses.
Sen. Sessions was a true disciple in Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” war on drugs. More recently he said that “Good people don't smoke marijuana,” he warns that cannabis is a “real danger,” even though many patients find genuine relief from its properties, and he even favored the death penalty for anyone convicted of selling drugs a second time, including marijuana.
During Sen. Sessions’ confirmation hearing this week, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, who was around 30 years ago to vote against Sessions’ nomination to the federal bench, asked Sen. Sessions whether he still favored death for pot dealers:
Leahy: You’ve had some very strong views. You even mandated death penalty for anyone with a second drug traffic offense, including marijuana. Even though mandatory death penalties are unconstitutional.
Sessions: Well, I’m not sure under what circumstances I said that. But I don’t think that sounds like something I would normally say. We’re glad to look at it.
Leahy: Would you say that’s not your view today?
Sessions: It is not my view today.
Well, happy day! The incoming U.S. Attorney General no longer supports mandatory death sentences for pot dealers! At least Sessions went that far. What he wouldn’t commit to, however, was allowing states to legalize weed for medical or recreational use, which a majority of Americans support, and more than half of the states have passed decriminalization laws.
Whereas AG Eric Holder issued an order directing his office to allow states to experiment with cannabis laws, Sen. Sessions will not commit to that same policy. Nor are we any closer to knowing what he will do when it comes to federal-state conflicts over weed.
If anything, his comments are a cause for concern and can be interpreted as leaving the door open for enforcing federal law in legalized states.
When pressed about the federal-state schism, Sen. Sessions said it’s not his office’s job to create the law, only to enforce it, and thus far Congress has ruled that cannabis is illegal, while the DEA continues to categorize it alongside heroin. Until Congress changes federal law and DEA’s boneheaded policy, Sessions said, he’s obliged to uphold that law.
Given that view, combined with the senator’s past statements about cannabis, states that depend on the revenue from marijuana, as well as tokers who depend on the relief, may find their brief moment in the sun in jeopardy, along with many other social advances during the last eight years, from healthcare to LGBT rights. Up in smoke!